Provolone and pancetta ravioli Recipe

I have a passion for ravioli. I have already written about how to make the dough so please check earlier ravioli recipes. I recommend you make the dough fresh as always. The dough used to make pot stickers (wonton wrappers) is just horrible in my honest opinion so I suggest you make the dough.

Ingredients (serves 8):

Stuffing:

1/3 pound – pancetta, diced
10 ounces – mild provolone, grated
8 ounces – Romano cheese, grated
2/3 cup – sour cream
3 tablespoons – fresh chives, chopped
2 tablespoons – fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Pasta dough – double the linked recipe

Sauce:

1 cup – beef broth (I try to use Better Than Bullion brand)
4 tablespoons – butter
1 tablespoons – fresh chives, chopped
1 tablespoons – fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Preparation:

Brown the pancetta over medium high or high heat until it browns, about 15 minutes. Pour off grease and let cool to room temperature. Mix the provolone and Romano cheese along with the sour cream, chives, Italian parsley and pancetta (add salt and pepper to taste) in a bowl.

Cheese and pancetta mixture

Make the pasta dough according to the recipe (double) and form pasta sheets — use setting 3 if you are using the KitchenAid pasta maker (see link to Botticelli’s Stoli ravioli). I recommend that you also use the KitchenAid ravioli attachment (see photo). In addition, the KitchenAid is great for mixing the dough (use the hook that comes with the mixer – see photo).

The dough on the mixer hook.

Ravioli sheets made by the ravioli maker, before they are broken into individual ravioli.

Add the ravioli to salted boiling water and cook for about 6 minutes. You may wish to cook in batches, but I usually manage to cook it all at once. Place the ravioli in a bowl. Make sure that it does not remain in the bowl too long – the ravioli will stick together. One way you can avoid this is to add a bit of olive oil if you have to delay serving.

Meanwhile, boil the broth in a small but heavy sauce pan and then add the butter so that it melts. Continue to boil for about 5 minutes (until the mixture is reduced to about ¾ of a cup). Whisk the chives and parsley into the broth.

Beef broth, butter, chives, and parsley.

Add the ravioli to each plate and ladle the broth over the ravioli in the bowl and serve. Enjoy!

Provolone and pancetta ravioli

Jack Botticelli

You can read more Italian recipes here

Does anyone know an Italian recipe for wild mustard?

I live in Northern New York. At this time of year all the fields and open areas are filled with a yellow weed my parents called wild mustard. Once, when I was a child, my parents had friends who, on one visit , brought a friend from Italy. I cannot remember what he cooked them with, but I remember my sister and I tried to refuse to eat it and ended up liking them. Any ideas or recipes?

Answer
You could substitute them for the sharper Brassica leaf vegetables like ‘Cime di Rapa’, Broccoli Raab, as well as for Endive, Chicory etc. Here’s a Broccoli Raab one to give you an idea, and I have left a clutch more for you in ’sources’ below:

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Cavatelli with Broccoli Raab, Scampi and Baby Cuttlefish

INGREDIENTS:
3/4 pound (300 g) cavatelli [a shape of pasta, use penne, orecchiette or farfalle instead if need be]
1/2 pound (200 g) broccoli raab [you replace these with the wild mustard or a mixture of both]
3 ounces (75 g) shelled, deveined scampi or shrimp
1/4 pound (100 g) cleaned baby cuttlefish (you can also use baby squid)
1 clove garlic
1 fairly sweet hot pepper
5 tablespoons olive oil
Salt

PREPARATION:

Bring abundant lightly salted water to boil.

In a large skillet, heat the pepper in the oil until it begins to brown, then remove and shred it. Stir in the broccoli raab, shrimp, and cuttlefish; salt the mixture to taste and cook it for a few minutes over a medium flame.

While the shrimp are cooking, cook the pasta. Drain it when it’s al dente, reserving a little of the water it cooked in, and stir it into the skillet. Cook for a minute or so, tossing the pasta as if you were flipping an omelet, and stir in the reserved water if the dish looks too dry (it may well). Stir in the shredded pepper and serve at once.
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If you’d like to search for recipes for them specifically by name, wild mustard is “mostaza silvestris” in Italian. Hope this helps.