HOW I MAKE RAVIOLI

Ravioli making is simple so long as the basic principles are followed. With these basic principles ANY type of ravioli can be made. Actually, 'ravioli' means a pasta envelope containing various savoury fillings, usually served with a sauce. But sweet ravioli can be made as well. Thus it is necessary to make the ravioli filling first. Whilst I have supplied two recipes (at the end of this post) for making different ravioli fillings - 1000’s upon 1000's of different ravioli fillings are available and can be made!

How I make MY ravioli.

I make ravioli using either one of two moulds. LARGE ravioli are made using a special mould available from Lebanese stores – eg: ‘A1 Bakery’ in Sydney Road, Brunswick or ‘Oasis Bakery’ in North Road, Murrumbeena. This mould was intended for the making of Maamoul (small pastries with dates and nuts) but serve equally well for making ravioli – Fig 1.

Fig 1 – Maamoul mould

The second smaller mould type  is actually a ‘ravioli mould’ available from, for example, the ‘Essential ingredient’ in Prahran, or ‘Chefs Hat’ in South Melbourne – Fig 2.

Fig 2 – ravioli moulds


The very best pasta for making ravioli (other than making it yourself) is available quite cheaply from Asian stores – it is called pastry WON TON SKINS – Fig 3, and it comes in packets of 250 gm; 500 gm; and 1 kg – I use the 500 gm routinely, but if you are making a lot or a little – you can adjust the packet size accordingly. These wrappers are found in the freezer section of Asian stores, and may be refrozen a number of times. The wrappers MUST be defrosted before use, and you use two sheets of this pasta per ravioli – one on the top and one on the bottom.

Fig 3 – pastry Won Ton skins

Basically, it doesn’t matter which mould you use, so long as you proceed in the following manner:-
1). Put a sheet of Won Ton pastry - Fig 4 down on the surface of the mould and carefully mould the pastry around the walls of the mould – the pastry MUST be defrosted for this otherwise the pastry will split thus negating the whole process - Fig 5.

Fig 4 - a sheet of Won Ton pastry

Fig 5 - the sheet of Won Ton pastry adapted to the mould


2). Once the pastry is moulded to the mould surface, you brush around the edges with egg wash - Fig 6.

3). Then sufficient ravioli filling is placed inside the depression to come very slightly above the level of the mould - Fig 6.

Fig 6 - the outside of the pastry is covered with egg wash and the depression is filled with filling of your choice

4). The second Won Ton pastry sheet is taken and used to cover over, initially half the contents of the mould - Fig 7 making sure that half that is covering the ravioli contents in fully adherent to the sheet of pastry below – not a problem if the egg wash has been put on.

Fig 7 - the second Won Ton pastry sheet covering up part of the filling

5). Carefully using your fingers, continue to apply the remainder of the sheet pressing out all air bubbles as you go.
6). When the filling has been fully covered, check that the second Won Ton pastry skin is completely adherent to the first Won Ton pastry skin - and thus you have a ravioli! Fig 8.






















Fig 8 - the completed ravioli

7). I find it best to cook the ravioli in salted boiling water soon after they are made - Fig 9(a) and (b), and then they can be stored for anything up to 2 – 3 days in the refrigerator. The ravioli is ready when it floats to the surface of the water - approximately 2 – 3 minutes.

Fig 9a - broad based strainer

Fig 9b - two ravioli are plunged into boiling salted water at a time


8). Once the ravioli has had its ‘initial’ cook, the ravioli is taken out of the boiling water with the same broad strainer and plunged into cold water to stop the cooking process – Fig 10

Fig 10 - the ravioli are plunged into cold water

9). The ravioli is taken out of the cold water and the final shape given – Fig 11(a), (b) and (c) using a circular cutter, making sure there is at least 1 ½ mm of adherent pasta between the cut surface and the ravioli filling. The ravioli is covered with Rice flour - Fig 12(a) and stored between plastic sheets Fig 12(b). The rice flour dries the ravioli and when they are ready to reheat, can be washed off gently under cold running water.

Fig 11a – circular cutters – choose one to suit the size of the ravioli

Fig 11b - ravioli with a circular cutter in position

Fig 11c - the completed ravioli

Fig 12a - the Rice flour used to dry and store the ravioli in

Fig 12b - ravioli covered with rice flour


10). When ready to re heat, the ravioli are placed inside oiled Chinese steamer baskets - Fig 13(a) and (b) placed above boiling water, and steamed for 10 minutes – Fig 14. The oiling is essential to stop the ravioli sticking to the basket.

Fig 13a – Chinese steamer basket

Fig 13b - the Chinese steamer basket filled with ravioli

Fig 14 - Chinese steamer basket above a pot of boiling water



11). The ravioli are then taken out of the steamer baskets, placed in their appropriate sauce and served. It is as easy as that! Fig 15.

Fig 15 - the completed ravioli in their sauce


Two recipes for making the filling of ravioli:


SWEET ONION AND GOAT CHEESE RICOTTA RAVIOLI WITH SAGE AND BURNT BUTTER – serves 8
Ingredients:
Step 1 – the ravioli
4 medium onions
100 ml olive oil
130 gm ricotta
70 gm goats cheese
white pepper
2 sprigs Thyme - diced
1 egg - beaten with a splash of water for egg wash
Step 2 – the sauce
250 gm Butter
sage

Preparation:
Step 1 – the ravioli
Peel and cut the onions finely, and in a heavy pan, warm the oil and sweat the onions very slowly for 30 minutes or until they are an even, golden colour but are not burnt. As the onions sweat down – they become sweeter and sweeter. Drain and allow to cool. When cold, add the ricotta and goats cheese, some pepper and the thyme leaves.
Step 2 – the sauce
Heat the butter in a small saucepan. Once the butter finishes frothing, it will start to turn a hazelnut colour; remove it immediately from the heat then add the sage leaves. Spoon the burnt butter over the ravioli and serve at once.

PUMKIN RAVIOLI WITH SAGE AND BURNT BUTTER – serves 8
Ingredients:
Step 1 – the ravioli
2 tablespoons olive oil
500 gm pumpkin – peeled and cut into small sections
½ clove garlic – minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
50 gm goats cheese
1 pinch freshly ground nutmeg

Preparation:
Step 1 – the ravioli
Place the pumpkin, garlic, salt, pepper and nutmeg in the olive oil in a saucepan and cook till the pumpkin becomes a puree – normally 30 – 40 minutes. Set aside and when cool - add the goat cheese.

Presentation:
Have the ravioli with burnt butter and sage – see before.

Both these recipes have been adapted from 'Gourmet Traveller'. All stores mentioned in the post above are in Melbourne, Australia.

MY GLUTEN FREE BAKING – TO DATE!

For a long time now, my best lady friend has been on a gluten free diet. I have not, in the past, paid a great deal of attention to this, other than make sure that everything is gluten free when ever she comes over for a meal.

But this year, whilst in America, we visited the Culinary Institute of America, and I noticed that one of the prominent bakers in that Institute had written a book on Gluten Free Baking – ‘Gluten Free Baking by Richard J Coppedge Jr. Published by Adams Media, USA’ - Fig 1.










Fig 1 - definitive work on gluten free baking by Richard J Coppedge Jr.











For some reason, this got me all excited, so I bought the book, and when I returned home, made up all the ‘flour mixtures’ and started baking. I found that all the breads rose quite well if you followed the instructions in the book, but to me, a gluten or normal eating person, the recipes didn’t taste 'normal'. I felt that the taste would be completely different from the tastes of normal bread, but there must be some way of baking gluten free bread that has a ‘similar’ taste to the normal breads.

So I got ‘looking on the internet’ – an enormous amount has been written on gluten free diets – and got 'experimenting', and I came up with a bread that is not too dissimilar to one that was published already – and what is more – the taste of that bread is not too dissimilar to the taste of normal bread. The bread dough doesn’t rise excessively but it tastes delightful.

So here is my version of multigrain bread, which is quite easy to make as long as you have the necessary ingredients – keeping in mind that some of the ingredients are a little more expensive than normal.

GLUTEN-FREE MULTIGRAIN BREAD

Ingredients:
Step 1
80 gm brown rice flour
80 gm sorghum flour
40 gm amaranth flour
40 gm tapioca starch
40 gm cornstarch starch
50 gm Chia seeds
3 teaspoons xanthan gum
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
Step 2
2 eggs
2 additional egg whites
1 ¼ cup water at room temperature
40 gm vegetable oil
40 gm honey
10 gm apple cider vinegar

Preparation:
Step 1
Sift the flours, yeast and all other dry ingredients together into a medium bowl. Stir in chia seeds and combine.
Step 2
Combine the wet ingredients in a separate large bowl using a hand-mixer on low speed. When fully combined, slowly add dry ingredient mixture and mix until fully blended, with no lumps.
Step 3
Grease a 23 cm x 12 cm bread tin thoroughly (otherwise the finished bread WILL stick!), and pour the dough into the pan, and cover it with glad wrap. Turn on the oven to 45°C and immediately place the pan in it. Allow the dough to rise for 90 minutes. It should rise to near the top of the pan.
Increase heat to 180°C and bake for approximately 40 minutes. The crust should be golden-brown. Allow to cool slightly before removing it from the pan to finish cooling. Do not slice until the bread is no longer hot. It tastes really nicely! Fig 2 - a cut slice of the multigrain bread.







Fig 2 - grainy nature of the gluten free bread







Just to give you an indication of the ‘price’ of the various items in Australian dollars:

brown rice flour - $4.95 for 500 gm
sorghum flour - $8.50 for 623 gm
amaranth flour - $12.95 for 623 gm
tapioca starch - $2.10 for 410 gm
xanthan gum - $5.65 for 100 gm

so that all the ingredients for 1 loaf of bread come to approximately $6.50; normally, a loaf of bread ranges between $3.00 and $5.00.

I also wanted to make a pastry dough that stayed upright, intact and tasted quite reasonably. On the previous times that 'd attempted to do so - I ended up in a terrible mess, with the 'dough' not standing up at all! This I found in the Gluten Free Baking book that I previously mentioned – it tasted very nice but very different, but there are quite a number flour blends to make up before you start.

FLOUR BLEND NUMBER 1
INGREDIENT/ VOLUME/ WEIGHT
White rice flour/ 1 3/4 cup/ 295 gms
Potato starch 2 cups 225 gms
Tapioca starch/ 1 ½ cups/225 gms

FLOUR BLEND NUMBER 2
INGREDIENT/ VOLUME/ WEIGHT
White rice flour/1 ¾ cup/315 gms
Brown rice flour/1 ¼ cup/220 gms
Potato starch/¾ cup/90 gms
Tapioca starch/1 cup/125 gms

FLOUR BLEND NUMBER 4
INGREDIENT/ VOLUME/ WEIGHT
White rice flour/1 ½ cups/250 gms
Tapioca starch/1 ¾ cups/250 gms
Soy flour/2 ¼ cups/250 gms

FLOUR BLEND NUMBER 5
INGREDIENT/ VOLUME/ WEIGHT
White rice flour/1 ¾ cups/280 gms
Tapioca starch/1 ¼ cups/185 gms
Soy flour/1 ¾ cups/185 gms
Whey powder/½ cup/90 gms


3-2-1 PIE DOUGH
INGREDIENT/ VOLUME/ WEIGHT
BUTTER - COLD/12 Tablespoons/185 gms
FLOUR BLEND 2/2/3 cup/135 gms
FLOUR BLEND 4/¾ cup/125 gms
FLOUR BLEND 5/2/3 cup/125 gms
WATER - COLD/2/3 cup/165 gms








Fig 3 - 3-2-1 pie dough in 23 cm tart pan, already baked










BLUEBERRY STREUSEL TART (GLUTEN FREE) - one 23 cm pie

Ingredients:
Step 1 - Streusel topping
165 gm flour blend 1
¼ teaspoon baking soda
60 gm butter – cold
75 gm walnuts or pecans
115 gm brown sugar
Step 2
185 gm sugar
45 gm flour blend 1
1/4 teaspoon salt
600 gm Blueberries - fresh or frozen
1 x 3-2-1 pie dough – par baked
30 gm butter

Preparation:
Step 1 - Streusel topping
Rub together the flour blend, baking soda, butter and brown sugar until crumbly and then mix in the nuts – you can use the Kitchenaid.
Step 2
Whisk together sugar, flour blend number 1, and salt. Toss together with the blueberries - Fig 4,









Fig 4 - blueberries mixed with the other ingredients except the butter










and immediately place in the par baked pie shell - Fig 5.








Fig 5 - the blueberry mixture placed in the pie shell







Top with the butter - Fig 6









Fig 6 - the butter placed on top of the blueberry mixture







and then the streusel topping - Fig 7.










Fig 7 - the streusel topping







Step 3
Place the pie on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the crust and streusel are golden brown and the filling is bubbling - Fig 8.








Fig 8 - the completed pie with some blueberry mixture coming 'through' the streusel topping









Thank you to Richard J Coppedge of 'Gluten Free Baking' for the above flour blends and the recipe for this tart.

So being a 'non gluten free' person and an ameteur baker - I feel quite proud of myself that I've come this far!!

AFTERNOON TEA AT THE BERKELEY HOTEL, LONDON

I was delighted to be taken by my daughter, Aviva, to the Berkeley Hotel in Knightsbridge, London - Fig 1, to have afternoon tea together.



Fig 1 - the Berkeley Hotel




The afternoon tea which is known as a 'Prêt-à-Portea', is inspired by the themes and colours of the fashion world. The menu is changed every six months to follow the changing seasons in fashion.

This is a creative twist to the classic traditional English afternoon tea of, cakes and pastries, the Prêt-à-Portea resembling the latest catwalk designs for the style conscious, Fig 2,3,4.







Fig 2 - a 'Prêt-à-Portea' afternoon tea with fine-bone china by Paul Smith for Thomas Goode

















Fig 3 - Aviva reading the Prêt-à-Portea menu



















Fig 4 - the Prêt-à-Portea menu










The selection of loose leaf teas and herbal infusions include Loose leaf English breakfast, Earl Grey, Ceylon, Lapsang Souchong, Organic Assam, Vanilla, Pear Caramel, White Peony and the Herbal infusions Camomile Citron, Wild Blossom and Berries, Chocolate Mint Truffle and African Amber. ‘Well Being’ fruit infusions include Funky Fruits, Posh Pomelo & Melon, Gorgeous Ginger, Luscious Lemon and Amazing Apple - Fig 5









Fig 5 - the interesting array of teas








The mouth-watering selection of miniatures include savoury skewers, taster spoons, elegant canapés and tea sandwiches, as well as a collection of little cakes and pastries in in the colours of the fashion season and in the style of the world’s finest designers - Fig 6,7.









Fig 6 - the range of fashion designers featured in the afternoon tea














Fig 7 - the afternoon tea 'tray'











Such delicacies include:-

Valentino orange and ginger clutch cake closed with oversized chocolate bow - Fig 8;








Fig 8 - Valentino orange and ginger clutch cake closed with oversized chocolate bow









Bottega Veneta colour blocking pink and gold pear mousse and clementine cremeux coat with matching macaroon button - Fig 9;










Fig 9 - Bottega Veneta colour blocking pink and gold pear mousse and clementine cremeux coat with matching macaroon button









Dolce and Gabbana signature gold starred chocolate éclair dress filled with hazelnut cream - Fig 10;







Fig 10 - Dolce and Gabbana signature gold starred chocolate éclair dress filled with hazelnut cream






Stella McCartney must-have polka dot sponge cake dress - Fig 11;










Fig 11 - Stella McCartney must-have polka dot sponge cake dress










Burberry Prorsum stylish black and white double breasted chocolate biscuit coat with snow white vanilla icing - Fig 12;










Fig 12 - Burberry Prorsum stylish black and white double breasted chocolate biscuit coat with snow white vanilla icing








Miu Miu winter spice glittery high-heeled shoe biscuit - Fig 13;







Fig 13 - Miu Miu winter spice glittery high-heeled shoe biscuit








Jill Sander pomegranate and grenadine mousse dress topped with colourful chocolate flower pattern - Fig 14;








Fig 14 - Jill Sander pomegranate and grenadine mousse dress topped with colourful chocolate flower pattern








Lanvin show-stopping cassis bavarois dress with crème de mûre jelly topped with signature folded meringue - Fig 15;









Fig 15 - Lanvin show-stopping cassis bavarois dress with crème de mûre jelly topped with signature folded meringue










Sonia Rykiel striped chestnut cream and almond sponge cake dress complete with trendy metallic sparkles - Fig 16.








Fig 16 - Sonia Rykiel striped chestnut cream and almond sponge cake dress complete with trendy metallic sparkles







Various other 'items' came with the afternoon tea, including duck liver mousse on a spoon - Fig 17; a beef roll, various sandwhiches and an egg mousse roll - Fig 18.






Fig 17 - duck liver mousse on a spoon










Fig 18 - a beef roll with relish, various sandwhiches and an egg mousse roll





Prêt-à-Portea afternoon tea includes champagne and/or coffee if you want it, and all the afternoon tea is served on fine-bone china by Paul Smith for Thomas Goode.

Wording in part from the the Berkeley Hotel website.

HESTON BLUMENTHAL'S RESTAURANT AT THE MANDARIN ORIENTAL HOTEL, IN HYDE PARK, LONDON - 'DINNER'.

'DINNER' is the name of Heston Blumenthal's new restaurant in Hyde Park, London. In the past, the main meal - 'dinner' - was eaten at midday, whilst it was still light outside. But candles and, later, gaslight saw 'dinner' shift to later times. People working in the cities were taking a 'lunch' to work and having their main meal - dinner - at 5.00 pm when they got home. But even today, depending where you are in the British Isles, 'dinner' might still be served at lunchtime, but suppertime is the more preferable.

Ashley Palmer-Watts joined Heston Blumenthal at The 'Fat Duck' in Bray in 1999 when it had just received its first Michelin star. Within two years, he was promoted to Sous Chef and he became Head Chef in 2003. Since 2008, he has been the Executive Head Chef for the Fat Duck group. Ashley currently heads up the kitchen at 'DINNER' - Fig 1.










Fig 1 - the 'Dinner' restaurant with the 'pineapple logo' - the idea behind this is explained later on.









Aviva, James and I had a late sitting at 9.30pm. Walking in to the restaurant, you were immediately struck by the design of the whole space. You walked through 'wine storage areas' that were temperature controlled depending on the type of wine. Then you stepped into an 'open planned' room, that had partial walls to reduce the level of the noise. There was an 'open' kitchen' behind glass walls, and a 'chefs table' next door to the kitchen. In the 'open kitchen' the main courses are made; but there are two kitchens hidden in which cold things are prepared. There is also another kitchen downstairs where all the preparation is done. The waiting staff at 'dinner' were truly excellent, friendly and an absolute wealth of information about the 'dinner' menu.

We were seated at the table - Fig 2, on which was already placed the 'dinner' menu - Fig 3.






Fig 2 - Aviva, Barry and James at the 'dinner' table















Fig 3 - the 'starters' on the 'dinner' menu












We then had the opportunity to peruse the menu, which has its basis, cooking wise, from the 1300's onwards. Boston sourdough bread was served that was just delicious. Then the three of us chose different 'starters' - Figs 4a and b, 5 and 6.






Fig 4a - Aviva chose 'Meat Fruit' (c. 1500) which is mandarin jelly coated chicken liver parfait and grilled bread. The mandarin jelly tastes, and is real mandarin












Fig 4b - the mandarin split open to reveal the chicken parfait













Fig 5 - Barry had 'Savoury Porridge' (c. 1660) which consisted of snails cooked sous vide, girolles, garlic and fennel - it was absolutely delicious















Fig 6 - James had 'Rice and Flesh' (c. 1390) which consisted of saffron, calf tail and red wine - truly scrumptious!








Then we had the main course - Figs 6 and 7







Fig 6 - Aviva and James had different varieties of steak. The steak was cooked sous vide and was absolutely tender and extremely tasty. These steaks were served with mushroon ketchup, red wine juice and the famous Heston Blumenthal triple cooked chips













Fig 7 - Barry had Powdered Duck Breat (c. 1670) which was a piece of duck breast cooked sous vide with smoked confit fennel and umbles (liver, kidney and other portions of the inside of venison and other animals)









And then we shared two desserts - Fig 8 - Tipsy Cake (c. 1810) and Fig 9 - Taffety Tart (c. 1660)









Fig 8 - Tipsy Cake is pineapple brioche with split roasted pineapple. Hence the 'pineapple' as the logo for this restaurant













Fig 9 - Tafferty Tart with apple, rose, fennel and blackcurrant sorbet









The Sommeliars are expert in their choice of wine, and whilst we only had a few glasses of wine - it was really terrific wine that we chose.

The meal finished with a small shot glass of mint chocolate ganache, which was super.

So that was the ending to a fabulous dinner at 'dinner'. Bookings are at a premium, but if you happen to be in London - then try and go to 'DINNER' - it is fantastic and one worth the fabulous experience!