Sweet Corn Ravioli With Blistered Grapes
Chef Brian Pawlak
The Mooring Seafood Kitchen & Bar
Newport, R.I.
House-made pasta dough encloses a corn and mascarpone filling for a sophisticated vegetarian ravioli. A bit of pesto and a lemon emulsion add herbal and citrus notes to the sauce, and blistered red grapes create a colorful and fruity finish. Although this recipe is a little labor-intensive, several of the steps can be done ahead.
Ingredients
Pasta dough
3½ cups all-purpose flour
4 eggs
1 tsp. salt
Sweet corn filling
Vegetable oil
¼ cup finely chopped garlic
¼ cup finely chopped shallots
10 ears fresh corn
1 cup madeira or sherry wine
1 cup mascarpone cheese
Parsley pesto
1½ cups fresh parsley
1 cup basil leaves
1 cup shelled pistachios, almonds or pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Lemon emulsion
14 lemons, divided
1 cup sugar
4 sprigs thyme
15 grams agar-agar
4 drops yellow food coloring
Blistered grapes
2 lb. red seedless grapes
1 tbsp. sugar
3 tbsp. vegetable oil
Salt, to taste
Steps
- For pasta: Place flour in large bowl. Make a well in flour; add eggs and salt. With fork, blend eggs into flour. Form dough into ball, adding extra flour if needed. Turn dough onto lightly floured board; knead 10 minutes. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare corn filling: Coat saute pan with oil and place over low heat. Add garlic and shallots; saute until tender. Add corn; cook until mixture begins to caramelize. Stir madeira into pan; continue cooking until reduced by half.
- Stir mascarpone into mixture. Cool in refrigerator until thickened.
- Run dough through pasta machine on setting #6 to create 2-inch squares. Fill squares with 1 tablespoon sweet corn filling; pinch edges to seal. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
- For pesto, combine all ingredients in food processor; process until pureed. Set aside.
- For lemon emulsion: Zest 10 lemons, then juice them. In saucepan, combine lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, thyme and 2½ cups water. Place over medium heat and simmer until mixture reduces to 2 cups. Puree mixture in blender with 4 drops yellow food coloring.
- In another saucepan, measure 1 cup water; add agar-agar and stir to dissolve. Over medium heat, bring to a boil. Add lemon mixture; return to boil. Strain and cool. (Once cool, lemon emulsion will firm up; place in blender, adding just enough liquid to thin.)
- For grapes, preheat oven to 350 F. In bowl, combine stemmed grapes with sugar, oil and salt. Spread grapes on baking sheet; bake until they begin to pop.
- Cook ravioli: Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop ravioli in water and cook 3 to 4 minutes or until done. Toss ravioli with pesto.
- To serve, spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons lemon sauce onto plate or shallow bowl. Place ravioli on top and sprinkle with blistered grapes.
Photograph courtesy of California Table Grape Commission