2021 Tour de France - Stage 10: Albertville to Valence
I hope you all had a great Fourth of July weekend. After a rest day, yesterday, the riders hit the road and Mark Cavendish is starting to make some noise: 1 more stage win and he will be tied for most ever stage wins in the Tour...pretty big stuff for a guy who wasn’t even supposed to be in the race until an injury to a teammate opened up a spot on his crew. While the riders were still in the Rhône-Alps region, they traveled from the Savoy to the Drôme departments of the region; essentially from top-to-bottom.
Drôme, and particularly Valence, long had (and still do) influences from the Roman empire in their cuisine...Italy is just across the border after all. So, today, I got to make some ravioli. I stuffed them with traditional ingredients: parsley, hard-boiled eggs, fresh cow’s milk cheese, as well as some delicious comté cheese. They were finished with a butter sauce, basil, and more cheese with freshly cracked black pepper.
Drôme Raviola
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped fine
1.5 cups grated Comté
1/2 cup shredded fresh cow’s cheese (preferably French)
Fistful of parsley leaved, minced
1 raw egg scrambled
Prepare the pasta dough per link above from a prior recipe. Meanwhile, place 2 eggs in a small pot of water. When it comes to a boil, cover and turn off the heat. Let the eggs sit in the hot water for 10 minutes, then transfer to an ice water bath.
When the boiled eggs have chilled, peel and chop them and place into a bowl along with the remaining ingredients, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir to combine and reserve.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
After the dough has rested, roll it into four long sheets. Using a half tablespoon measurer, place little dollops of the filling on the lower half of the pasta dough. Dip your finger in some water and make a ring around the filling. Fold the top half over the filling and press to seal and remove any air bubbles. Use a pizza roller or pasta wheel to separate the raviola.
Heavily salt the water and return to a boil. Drop in half of the pasta and cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, melt half a stick of butter in a sauté pan. When the pasta is cooked, using a slotted spoon, transfer the ravioli to the warm butter, add in a ladleful of pasta cooking water and give the pan a good shake to get the sauce over everything. While that pasta finishes in the sauce, drop the remaining raw ravioli into the boiling water and repeat the process.
Plate the ravioli, distributing the sauce evenly among the plates. Garnish with more grated comté, a chiffonade of basil, and freshly cracked black pepper.
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Copyright 2021, Brendan McCann, All Rights Reserved.
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