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.
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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.
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Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus in a saucepan of boiling salted water for 2-3 minutes, or until tender.
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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.