If you’re out to impress, these delicate ravioli are the perfect starter.
Ingredients
- For the sauce
- 40g/1½oz
butter - 1
onion, roughly chopped - 2 large
carrots, roughly chopped - 4 sprigs fresh
thyme - 50ml/2fl oz
brandy - 750ml/1pint 6fl oz
chicken stock - 110ml/4fl oz
double cream
- 40g/1½oz
- For the lobster ravioli
- 300g/11oz ’00’ pasta flour, plus extra for dusting
- 4 free-range
eggs - 125g/4½oz
salmon fillet, skinned - 50ml/2fl oz
double cream - ¼
lemon, juice only - salt and freshly ground
black pepper - 1 x 750g/1lb 11oz cooked
lobster, meat removed and sliced, shell reserved - 1 tbsp
olive oil - 2 tbsp roughly chopped fresh
chervil
- For the sautéed courgettes and leeks
- 50g/2oz
butter - 2
leeks, sliced into 7.5cmx1cm/3inx1in ribbons - 2
courgettes, sliced into 7.5cmx1cm/3inx1in ribbons - 12 fine
asparagus
- 50g/2oz
- To serve
- 1 punnet micro
cress
- 1 punnet micro
Preparation method
For the sauce, heat a frying pan, add the butter and reserved lobster shell and fry for 5-6 minutes. Add the vegetables and fry for 3-4 minutes.
Add the brandy, allow to heat briefly, then slowly tilt the pan towards the flame, or light with a match. Let the flames flare up then die down. Cook for 2-3 minutes longer, then add the stock. Bring the mixture to the boil and cook for a further 20 minutes.
Strain the sauce into a clean saucepan, add the cream and cook for a further minute. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Keep warm.
For the lobster ravioli, place the flour and three of the eggs into a food processor and pulse until it forms small crumbs. Tip the mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and bring together to form a dough. Knead lightly for 2-3 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
Lay a sheet of pasta onto the work surface and place spoonfuls of the salmon mixture at intervals along the sheet, leaving a gap of 6cm/2½in between each pile. Spoon out eight piles of salmon and top each pile with the sliced lobster meat.
Beat the remaining egg in a bowl. Lightly brush the beaten egg around the piles of lobster. Top with a second sheet of pasta and press down lightly around the edges of the lobster. Using a pastry cutter, stamp out eight ravioli in 6cm/2½in rounds.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the ravioli for 1-2 minutes, or until they float to the top of the pan. Drain, then mix with the chervil, olive oil and season with salt, and freshly ground black pepper.
For the sautéed courgettes and leeks, heat a frying pan until hot, add the butter and the vegetables and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until just softened. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
To serve, spoon the sautéed courgettes and leeks into the centre of serving plates. Top with the lobster ravioli and asparagus spears. Drizzle over the sauce and finish with a scattering of cress.
James Martin recipes from Saturday Kitchen Best Bites
Less than 30 mins preparation time
1 to 2 hours cooking time
Serves 4
