PEAS OF MIND

English Pea Ravioli with Merguez Sausage Ragu and Mint

This recipe is a perfect pairing. The spicy North African Lamb sausage and the sweet pea ravioli all tied together with cooling mint. So.......
How many peas equal 1# of shucked and split?That would be One thousand Two Hundred and Eighty One in case you were wondering. I have been trying to perfect the filling for an english pea ravioli and unfortunately this was my only remedy. You see when you process all of the peas with there skins it is like eating little shards of plastic, that inter-fear with the filling. Remove each skin and you are left with a creamy bright filling that melts in your mouth. Now if i was patient enough to use a food mill then i think it would pass the pea through the mill and leave the skins behind. Please let me know if this works. I encourage you when english peas are not in season to use frozen. They are picked at there peak and blanched just right. Allow about 2 hours for shucking time. Feel free to split this recipe in half if you are not up for the challenge. A full batch will make about 50 raviolis.

FOR THE FILLING

You will need; 1 # of shucked frozen peas with their skins removed. 1.5 cups of blanched and chopped mint leaves, 3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 1/2 a cup of cream and season with salt and pepper.

Put all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse to form a coarse paste.

FOR THE MERGUEZ SAUSAGE RAGU

You will need 1 # of merguez sausage removed from casing.
1 28 oz can of peeled tomatoes. I use Carmelina from Italy. It is almost mandatory to use a Italian canned tomato product. A half of Carrot grated. A half of a sweet onion diced, two cloves of garlic, two tablespoons of thyme leaves, three tablespoons of Olive Oil and about 5 mint leaves torn in half.

First we are going to start off by sweating the onions and chopped garlic in the olive oil. When the onions start to get golden around the edges add in the carrots and thyme. Sweat for a couple more minutes to cook out the raw flavor from the carrots and then add in the canned Italian tomatoes. Let simmer adding a little water if it becomes too thick. Cook for about 30 minutes and then puree. Pass through a fine mesh strainer into a pot. Add in your merguez sausage and skim off some off the fat. Cook through. Add in the mint leaves and then pulse in a food processor until you have a smooth but course ragu.




FOR THE PASTA

The renowned Italian Chef from Philadelphia Mark Vetri gave us this recipe when I worked at Tavern. It uses all egg yolks which give it a nice color and fat content which creates a nice elasticity to form around a filling. It also uses tipo "OO" Caputo flour from Naples Italy and Extra Fancy Durum wheat flour both found on Amazon.com. I have altered his recipe and added milk instead of water to the dough which is a trick I learned from my old Chef Alex Stratta. When rolling out the dough it is important to get it very thin but not too thin. You don't want the filling to be lost with too much pasta. But you want to taste the pasta as well. You will need;

6.5 oz of Tipo "00" Flour, plus more for dusting
2.5 oz of Durum Wheat Flour
9 Large egg Yolks
3 to 4 Tablespoons of Milk
1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Combine All ingredients in a Stand Mixer fitted with a dough hook. And mix on Medium speed for about 5 minutes until shiny and elastic. If the dough is not coming together add a couple drops of milk until it comes clean from the side of the bowl.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Cut the dough into 6 pieces and roll on the largest setting on a pasta machine. I use an Atlas pasta roller. You can find them at Sur La Table. On my machine with 9 being the thinnest I roll it out to a 7. Make sure to dust the counter with flour to prevent form sticking. Also dust a plate with flour that you are going to put your finished raviolis on. You are going to cut your sheets into 3 inch squares. Turn the squares so the points are at 12 O'clock. Pipe a little pea filling into the center of the sheets and brush with a little egg whites. Form a triangle from the 6 O'clock position to the 12 O'clock position. Roll the filling side upward and grab the two corners tucking them downward and underneath the filling, one on top of the other like you are crossing their legs or forming an X. This is called Cappelacci. You can find variations on youtube if you need a visual.

To finish the dish heat up the Merguez Sausage Ragu and add a little chopped mint.
Get another pan on medium heat and drop a decent amount of butter into the pan.
At the same time drop about 10 raviolis into a pot of lightly salted boiling water.
Add whole mint leaves and some sugar snap peas sliced on the bias into the butter and allow to slightly brown.
Dropp the pasta in the brown butter and gently toss in the brown butter
Place a small pool of the Merguez Sausage ragu onto a plate and top with the raviolis, peas and mint.
Garnish with Parmesan Shards.