Recipes Make Magic
Senior Cook
Here`s the recipe for you Andy, and anyone else who would care to try it:
Recipe for Shrimp Ravioli with a Sherry/Basil Rose Cream Sauce:
Note: It's the same recipe I use to make lobster/shrimp ravioli filling - simply omit the diced lobster if you want shrimp only filling. Otherwise, the filling is 50/50 small dice pieces of cooked shrimp and lobster.
The Ravioli Pasta
I'm assuming you will use a hand crank or other pasta machine to roll out the pasta dough sheets to say, the first or the 2nd thinnest setting - and use a food processor to knead, then rest, the dough using a normal ingredient base of: 2 & 1/4 cups of flour, 2 large eggs, a pinch of salt, 1/3 cup water, & 1 Tbspn. of olive oil - which should be sufficient to make 5 to 6 dozen ravioli, shaped the way you like them ( e.g. square, round, crescent-shaped; or hat/navel-shaped, as in tortelloni).
The Filling:
- If/when using only shrimp or prawns - I like to use jumbo prawns - 16-20 to the lb. - a bag of 300 grams - or approx. 2/3 lb. - will yield 12 or 13 large prawns - ample for this recipe when cooked, cooled, and diced up to about the size of a lady's small finger nail & 1/4" or so in thickness.
Adjust the number accordingly if using smaller shrimp - e.g. if the shrimp are roughly 1/2 the size of the large prawns I mentioned - then 2 dozen smaller shrimp should do nicely.
If making a lobster/shrimp combination, use 6 cooked (boiled or steamed for 2-3 minutes) and then cooled jumbo prawns, along with meat of 2-3 small lobster tails (again, meat only boiled or steamed, and diced similarly to the shrimp.
Place the seafood dice into a bowl and add the following - then mix all well together:
- 1 small shallot, finely diced, then first sauteed in butter to soft/sweated stage, and cooled
- 2/3 of a small 250 gram plastic tub of ricotta cheese - say 150 grams or so
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese
- 1/4 cup whipping cream, or other cream
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/2 tspn. fine grated lemon zest
- 1 tspn. each of finely chopped parsley and green onion (green portion only)
- Pinch of each of nutmeg, sugar, salt & pepper
- Couple of dashes of hot sauce (optional)
The resulting mixture should be quite moist, but hold well together - not be mushy. If overly wet, add more cheeses - & if not moist enough, add some milk or more heavy cream .
When filling the prepared pasta ravioli cut into the desired shape - either covered squares or rounds of pillows of approx. 2"-2.5" in size, or folded over rounds to make crescent shapes, use an approximate 1" round 'glob' quantity of filling.
I've found that it's easiest to cut (use a roller pizza cutter) each sheet of thinly rolled out pasta lengthwise, to produce 2 lengths of dough of similar size - i.e. around 2" or so wide X approx. 14"-15" or more in length.
You can then place a number of (suitably sized amounts) of filling portions along the length of one sheet piece section, spaced about 1" or slightly more apart - then brush- moisten both sides of the full outside length of the pasta section, as well as between each bare portion of dough between the filling amounts, with an egg/water slurry mix, over top of which you then place the other similar 2" wide length of dough, and press down around & between each filled portion to remove air and seal all the edges.
Then cut into squares with a pizza cutter, and crimp the dough edges with the end tines of a fork.
Note: Before adding to the finished sauce for serving, any number of ravioli pasta pieces should be boiled in salted water for 6-8 minutes to a desired doneness (when all pieces have floated to the top of the water & stayed there for a couple of minutes, it's basically done) after which the ravioli pieces should be strained and set aside, to be placed in the finished heated sauce below for serving.
Any of the uncooked/temporarily unused ravioli pieces may be frozen for later usage.
* Reserve say, a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add one T a t a time to the ravioli sauce as it simmers & reduces somewhat, to return it to a fairly thin consistency just before adding in the cooked ravioli pieces.
The Sauce:
The quantity of sauce which the following recipe produces should be sufficient to accommodate 2 servings of the ravioli - i.e. suggest approx. 24 ravioli pieces, or around a dozen or so per person for a meal.
The sauce should not be too thick - but about the consistency of a 'thin-ish' gravy.
- Start the sauce by adding a couple of T's of O.O. to a fairly wide skillet.
- Heat up and add 1 small finely diced shallot to saute for a couple of minutes to soften -
- Then add 1 or 2 finely diced garlic cloves & simmer for a minute.
- Turn up the heat, and add 1/2 cup each of white wine and chicken broth, mixed with 1/3 cup of dry sherry, into which you've added approx. 1/2 tspn. of grated lemon zest, and perhaps a few threads of saffron if you have it available. Simmer to reduce by about 50%.
- Whisk in 1 heaping T of tomato sauce, or 1/2 tspn. tomato paste
- Then add 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese - & whisk in to melt
- Add in 1 tspn. of finely chopped parsley, and 4-6 finely chopped fresh basil leaves ( cut into slivers)
- Finally, whisk in 1/3 cup of heavy (whipping) cream
- Finish by adding a bit of salt & pepper to taste, along with a pinch of sugar, & a few drops of hot sauce, or a few red pepper flakes.
* This is when you may want to add some reserved pasta water to achieve a desirable consistency before adding the previously set aside ravioli pieces to reheat in the sauce before serving.
Note:
A quick & easy alternative option to making the sauce above, which tastes every bit as good, is to buy a ready-made brand-name, or generic, rosé pasta sauce - which usually comes in a 10 ounce plastic container - approx. 1 & 1/4 cups.
Heat this sauce in a skillet to which you add a 1/4 cup of sherry & simmer for a bit to cook off the alcohol before whisking in a 1/2 cup of 50% milk & heavy cream mix; several cut up fresh basil leave slivers, some lemon zest, fresh parsley, and a few red pepper flakes, same as per the recipe above.
Recipe for Shrimp Ravioli with a Sherry/Basil Rose Cream Sauce:
Note: It's the same recipe I use to make lobster/shrimp ravioli filling - simply omit the diced lobster if you want shrimp only filling. Otherwise, the filling is 50/50 small dice pieces of cooked shrimp and lobster.
The Ravioli Pasta
I'm assuming you will use a hand crank or other pasta machine to roll out the pasta dough sheets to say, the first or the 2nd thinnest setting - and use a food processor to knead, then rest, the dough using a normal ingredient base of: 2 & 1/4 cups of flour, 2 large eggs, a pinch of salt, 1/3 cup water, & 1 Tbspn. of olive oil - which should be sufficient to make 5 to 6 dozen ravioli, shaped the way you like them ( e.g. square, round, crescent-shaped; or hat/navel-shaped, as in tortelloni).
The Filling:
- If/when using only shrimp or prawns - I like to use jumbo prawns - 16-20 to the lb. - a bag of 300 grams - or approx. 2/3 lb. - will yield 12 or 13 large prawns - ample for this recipe when cooked, cooled, and diced up to about the size of a lady's small finger nail & 1/4" or so in thickness.
Adjust the number accordingly if using smaller shrimp - e.g. if the shrimp are roughly 1/2 the size of the large prawns I mentioned - then 2 dozen smaller shrimp should do nicely.
If making a lobster/shrimp combination, use 6 cooked (boiled or steamed for 2-3 minutes) and then cooled jumbo prawns, along with meat of 2-3 small lobster tails (again, meat only boiled or steamed, and diced similarly to the shrimp.
Place the seafood dice into a bowl and add the following - then mix all well together:
- 1 small shallot, finely diced, then first sauteed in butter to soft/sweated stage, and cooled
- 2/3 of a small 250 gram plastic tub of ricotta cheese - say 150 grams or so
- 1/3 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese
- 1/4 cup whipping cream, or other cream
- 1 beaten egg
- 1/2 tspn. fine grated lemon zest
- 1 tspn. each of finely chopped parsley and green onion (green portion only)
- Pinch of each of nutmeg, sugar, salt & pepper
- Couple of dashes of hot sauce (optional)
The resulting mixture should be quite moist, but hold well together - not be mushy. If overly wet, add more cheeses - & if not moist enough, add some milk or more heavy cream .
When filling the prepared pasta ravioli cut into the desired shape - either covered squares or rounds of pillows of approx. 2"-2.5" in size, or folded over rounds to make crescent shapes, use an approximate 1" round 'glob' quantity of filling.
I've found that it's easiest to cut (use a roller pizza cutter) each sheet of thinly rolled out pasta lengthwise, to produce 2 lengths of dough of similar size - i.e. around 2" or so wide X approx. 14"-15" or more in length.
You can then place a number of (suitably sized amounts) of filling portions along the length of one sheet piece section, spaced about 1" or slightly more apart - then brush- moisten both sides of the full outside length of the pasta section, as well as between each bare portion of dough between the filling amounts, with an egg/water slurry mix, over top of which you then place the other similar 2" wide length of dough, and press down around & between each filled portion to remove air and seal all the edges.
Then cut into squares with a pizza cutter, and crimp the dough edges with the end tines of a fork.
Note: Before adding to the finished sauce for serving, any number of ravioli pasta pieces should be boiled in salted water for 6-8 minutes to a desired doneness (when all pieces have floated to the top of the water & stayed there for a couple of minutes, it's basically done) after which the ravioli pieces should be strained and set aside, to be placed in the finished heated sauce below for serving.
Any of the uncooked/temporarily unused ravioli pieces may be frozen for later usage.
* Reserve say, a 1/2 cup of the pasta water to add one T a t a time to the ravioli sauce as it simmers & reduces somewhat, to return it to a fairly thin consistency just before adding in the cooked ravioli pieces.
The Sauce:
The quantity of sauce which the following recipe produces should be sufficient to accommodate 2 servings of the ravioli - i.e. suggest approx. 24 ravioli pieces, or around a dozen or so per person for a meal.
The sauce should not be too thick - but about the consistency of a 'thin-ish' gravy.
- Start the sauce by adding a couple of T's of O.O. to a fairly wide skillet.
- Heat up and add 1 small finely diced shallot to saute for a couple of minutes to soften -
- Then add 1 or 2 finely diced garlic cloves & simmer for a minute.
- Turn up the heat, and add 1/2 cup each of white wine and chicken broth, mixed with 1/3 cup of dry sherry, into which you've added approx. 1/2 tspn. of grated lemon zest, and perhaps a few threads of saffron if you have it available. Simmer to reduce by about 50%.
- Whisk in 1 heaping T of tomato sauce, or 1/2 tspn. tomato paste
- Then add 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan or romano cheese - & whisk in to melt
- Add in 1 tspn. of finely chopped parsley, and 4-6 finely chopped fresh basil leaves ( cut into slivers)
- Finally, whisk in 1/3 cup of heavy (whipping) cream
- Finish by adding a bit of salt & pepper to taste, along with a pinch of sugar, & a few drops of hot sauce, or a few red pepper flakes.
* This is when you may want to add some reserved pasta water to achieve a desirable consistency before adding the previously set aside ravioli pieces to reheat in the sauce before serving.
Note:
A quick & easy alternative option to making the sauce above, which tastes every bit as good, is to buy a ready-made brand-name, or generic, rosé pasta sauce - which usually comes in a 10 ounce plastic container - approx. 1 & 1/4 cups.
Heat this sauce in a skillet to which you add a 1/4 cup of sherry & simmer for a bit to cook off the alcohol before whisking in a 1/2 cup of 50% milk & heavy cream mix; several cut up fresh basil leave slivers, some lemon zest, fresh parsley, and a few red pepper flakes, same as per the recipe above.
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