Apple, chestnut and pancetta ravioli with a sage butter

Making your own pasta is great fun and really rewarding. You do however need a pasta roller, I wouldn’t try making it with a rolling pin. You can cheat in this recipe and buy frozen wonton wrappers and use those instead. 

The filling for this might sound add but try it, it’s beautiful. The apple sweetens it all up but leaves the chestnuts as the star of the show. 

Method

To make the pasta

1. Pop the flour and the eggs into a food processor and blend until it forms the texture of crumbs.
2. Tip out onto a surface and squeeze together into a ball.
3. Wrap in cling film and allow to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
4. With your pasta roller, set it to the widest setting and roll your pasta. Fold in half once rolled and pass through on the widest setting, repeating the folding and rolling until the texture of the pasta is smooth.
5. Now roll out at each narrower setting until you have the thinnest pasta you can handle and form without splitting it.
6. Place the pasta onto a lightly floured surface to build your ravioli on.

For the filling

1. Setup your Egg for a direct cook at 200°C with your stainless steel grid.
2. I like to either use a cast-iron skillet or a Tefal Ingenio frying pan to make the filling.
3. Melt some butter and fry off your pancetta until it starts to brown.
4. Add the onion and bruised garlic clove and cook until the onion softens.
5. Add the chopped chestnuts and water and simmer until the water has reduced by half.
6. Remove the garlic clove and take the pan off the heat.
7. Use a potato masher to crush the chestnut into a coarse paste.
8. Add the 3tbsp of the cubed apple, parmesan and parsley with some salt and pepper to taste and mix.

Assembling your ravioli

1. Place a tablespoon of the mix onto one half of the pasta. Repeat this keeping the filling blobs about 10 cm apart. 
2. Use a pastry brush to wet the pasta around the filling. 
3. Now carefully place the second half of the pasta sheet over the top. Using the side of your hand, push down around the filling to expel the air and seal the two layers of pasta together. 
4. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the ravioli disks. 

Cooking the pasta

1. Drop the ravioli into a saucepan of boiling water and allow to cook for about 3 minutes. The pasta will start to float. 
2. In another pan melt 4tbs butter and allow it to foam. 
3. Now add the sage and a little salt and pepper to season. 
4. Drain the pasta and put it into a bowl. 
5. Pour over the sage butter.
6. Squeeze over the lemon juice.