Yolk ravioli with ricotta, asparagus & brown butter

This rich and scrumptious fresh ravioli dish is clearly a tribute to the original version: Uovo in Raviolo with truffle from restaurant San Domenico, in Imola, near Bologna.

The original recipe is from the mid 70ies and it is still unchanged to this day at the 2 michelin starred restaurant where I once trained.

In my take, the yellow pasta became green with spinach, the filling has a touch of marjoram and the luxurious truffles are swapped for a more common ingredient (but still very much special), green asparagus. Runny yolk, asparagus, brown butter and cheese, an obvious marriage that works well every time, even in a ravioli!

Serves: 4 // Preparation Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 200 g of fresh ricotta

• 8 green asparagus

• 4 bright yolks

• 1 extra yolk for the filling

• 200 g of grated Grana Padano cheese

• 200 g of unsalted butter

• 1 sprig of fresh marjoram

• Salt, pepper, and nutmeg (to taste)

Fresh pasta:

• 250 g of 00 flour

• 2 whole eggs

• 50 gr of blanched spinach

• Pinch of salt

Preparation:

Start with the pasta, squeeze the cooked spinach to remove the water and either chop it very finely and mix them with the eggs or blitz them together with the eggs to obtain a green mixture. Now knead by hand or with a standing mixer the flour with the egg mixture, until you have a smooth and elastic dough. Have some extra flour at hand, dough making could need adjustments, if after kneading for a few minutes the dough still feels too sticky add a touch of flour, if it feels to dry and not binding well together, simply add a splash of water or egg and keep kneading until it does.

Wrap the dough in film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Start to prepare the filling. Mix the ricotta with a few leaves of marjoram, add two spoons of grated cheese, the yolk, a pinch of salt, black pepper and a little grated nutmeg.

Put the filling into a pastry bag and with the help of a pasta machine, roll the pasta out. Pass the dough gradually through the narrower setting to make thin pasta sheets. Cut the pasta into about 12-centimetre disks. Create in each pasta disk a “circle” of filling large enough to encase an egg yolk. Gently place an egg yolk on each disk, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. Brush the edge of the pasta disk with water. Cover with another disk and seal the edges.

 Trim the edges of the raviolo with a knife or a pastry wheel.

Bring a pot of salter water to boil. Before lowering the raviolo into the boiling water, melt butter on high heat in a separate casserole until brown (keep always an eye on it) and wash, trim and slice the asparagus into 3 to 4 cm segments. Blanched the asparagus in the boiling water for just 30 second then drop the ravioli into the boiling water. Cook for approximately 2 minutes, depending on the thickness of the ravioli. Do not cook for more than 3 minutes or you will cook the yolk until firm.

Drain and place gently the ravioli into deep plates. Sprinkle with abundant grated cheese, the asparagus segments and a few leaves of marjoram and finish with a nice spoonful of brown butter. The egg yolk should be runny, giving its flavour to the dish.