This Raviolo, Blue Cheese, Sage and Pumpkin is what I call The Winter Cheese Plate.
I set myself a little cooking challenge to use up the Blue d’Affinois I still had left after making my Blue Cheese Tart.
Naturally my son, Skater will not eat any thing more exotic than Extra Mature or Vintage cheddar ( from the supermarket) so there has been no chance of this cheese being randomly nibbled from the fridge between my recipes.
I love playing with cheese in different ways. This makes what I call “The Winter Cheese Plate”. Its a good way to think about a cheese plate in another way. Cheese doesn’t just have to come with crackers.
Really, this is just some fun for Winter. I think the Winter Cheese plate is a goer!
It took me about an hour to make, and cutting into this ravioli produces a river of creamy warm d’Affinios that mixes with pancetta, apples and the sweet and sour crunch of pancetta and praline. It would make a special entree or starter. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
I was having a little practise being on MasterChef so I used what I had in my “pantry” to whip this up. It has sweet, crunchy, salty and creamy. Everything you want when eating cheese.
Ingredients | Unit: |
- 300 gm flour
- 3 eggs
- sea salt
- 5 ml olive oil 1 teaspoon
- 1 Egg
- 20 ml milk
- 500 gm pumpkin Butternut or Kent a nice sweet orange one
- 40 ml olive oil
- 5 gm salt & pepper
- 50 gm butter
- 1 sage small bunch picked away from the stems
- 6 pancetta slices
- 1 apple granny smith (green)
- 30 gm butter
- 20 ml vinegar white wine
Instructions
- Put all the ingredients into the food processor and process until just combined.
- Turn out onto a bench and push the dough together, wrap it in plastic and put into a cool place to rest.
- Once the dough has rested it will be soft and relaxed. Work the dough to smooth and elastic. Then begin the rolling process. Using flour to stop it sticking, work down to the lowest setting until you have a fine smooth piece of dough. Cut it in half and lay two equal sized strips of pasta onto a bench. Put pieces of cheese along the pasta at even distances of about 5-6 cm (2 1/2 -3 inches)
- Mix the egg and 20 ml (1 Tablespoon) of milk and use this as the egg wash glue to stick your pasta together.
- Paint around each piece of cheese with the egg wash, and lay the other sheet of pasta on top sealing around each blob of cheese and making sure there are no air bubbles.
- Cut them into rounds with a large cutter or just into squares with a knife. Place each on to a tray or plate side by side on plastic wrap and cover with a tea towel of plastic to stop them from drying out.
- Cut the pumpkin into small chunks and toss in olive oil tossed it in oil and salt and pepper,and put it in the oven until soft and lightly golden. Once roasted put it into a blender with some the butter (or use a stick blender) and puree it until silky smooth. Add more butter and salt as needed. Set aside.
- Put the pancetta under the grill in flat lengths to cook and crisp up, then drain on paper. Set aside
- Cute an apple into 1 cm dice. (1/2 inch). Put 4 plates under the grill to warm.
- Put a pot of boiling salted water on and add the Raviolo cooking till they float to the top and they are cooked, approx 8 minutes. Meantime put a spoon of the pumpkin sauce on to the warm plates and a piece of pancetta. Follow this with the cooked Raviolo.
- To finish add a 30 gm piece of butter to a frypan and gently melt adding sage and apples tossing the apple in the butter until lightly golden, the butter is lightly nutty and foamy and the sage leaves crisp. I add a splash of vinegar to cut the richness, and now spoon a little over each dish along with sage leaves and apple.
- Serve with a sprinkling of Pancetta praline.
- Look for the praline recipe in the link below
Recipe Notes
What makes the dish extra special is Pancetta Praline. Use a food to blitz 2 slices of cooled crisp pancetta with a 2 cm piece of praline. You can find a recipe for praline in the link below this recipe. It makes this dish EXTRA good.
Raviolo, blue cheese, sage, pumpkin puree, apples and pancetta add hazelnut praline and pancetta crumble……….delicious.
Watch a video on how to make praline HERE
Wow, this looks amazing! Love all the flavors going on here, they sound really amazing…and it’s awesome you came up with all of it in just an hour! 🙂
sara recently posted..Blackened Shrimp on Kale and Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Andouille Cream
Thank you Sara, sometimes the brain is working when you need it……..I look forward to reading your post
that looks delicious! esp that crispy strip of pancetta!
Thanks Susan. It was sooo delicious
You did a fabulous job! I love how you described it after you cut it open. Mmmm! 😛
Thanks very much, Lorraine