Enjoy Pasta Perfection with This Moreish Recipe from Elise Pulbrook
If you’re anything like the team from St David Dairy, you’ll be itching to try this delicious pasta recipe from renowned foodie and MasterChef contestant Elise Pulbrook. Made using rich and creamy St David Dairy Unsalted Cultured Butter, give this recipe a go to enjoy restaurant-quality food in the comfort of your own home.
Brown butter pumpkin agnolotti with Calabrian chillies
This dish is inspired by the classic Piemontese dish of pumpkin agnolotti with brown butter. I like to add roasted garlic and Calabrian chillies to my pumpkin filling before finishing the dish with a little drizzle of chilli oil from my jar of Calabrian chillies.
Ingredients:
Pumpkin, roasted garlic and fermented chilli agnolotti
4 cloves of garlic, skin on
300g jap pumpkin, diced
1 tablespoon Calabrian chillies
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
250g 00 flour
4 egg yolks (for a high protein, bright yellow coloured dough)
1-2 tsp water (to assist with binding the dough if needed)
Brown butter with sage and chilli oil
200g unsalted butter
1 sprig of sage, about 8 leaves picked
1/2 tbsp Calabrian chilli oil (skimmed from the surface of the jar)
Method:
Preheat your oven to 200°C.
For the agnolotti filling, toss diced pumpkin and garlic with fermented chilli paste, salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil. Spread out onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Bake for 30 minutes or until the pumpkin is beginning to caramelise. Once baked, refrigerate to cool. Once cooled, squeeze the garlic from its skin then blitz with the roasted pumpkin into a puree using a food processor. Taste and adjust seasoning if required. Add additional chilli paste if so desired.
For the pasta dough, pour flour into the bowl of a stand mixer fixed with a dough hook. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the egg yolks. Turn the mixer onto a low speed and, as the dough forms, push flour from the edges of the bowl using a spatula. Add a little water if the dough is too dry. Turn the machine off and feel the dough to ensure it is not too damp or crumbly. Adjust accordingly. Once the dough comes together, allow the machine to work the dough for 5 minutes until it is glossy and smooth. Wrap dough in glad wrap (or a reusable alternative) and set aside to rest for 20-30 minutes in the refrigerator.
To make the agnolotti, pass the pasta dough through the pasta machine, folding and laminating your sheets 3 to 7 times on number 1 of the sheeter attachment to build gluten in your dough. You should begin to see lines in glossy sheets of pasta dough. Agnolotti requires quite a thick sheet of pasta, so pass the dough through the machine to a thickness whereby the sheet is still thick enough so you can only just see the shadow of your hand through the dough. For agnolotti, I am happy by the time I take the pasta to number 4 on a Kitchen-aid pasta attachment.
To shape the pasta, first ensure you have lightly floured your working surface. Cut the sheets down the middle of their lengths and then pipe 1 tsp of filling every 2cm in a line down the centre of the narrow sheets. Lightly brush water along the edges of the lengths of the pasta and in between the little mounds of filling. Fold the length of dough in half so that the filling is now covered. Seal the long edge by pressing down into the dough with a firm touch. Pinch upwards in between each section of pasta filling rather than pressing down. The sealed dough should be standing up perpendicular to the table you’re working on. Using a pasta roller, cut in between each section of pasta, curling the agnolotti onto itself to create an envelope shape.
Bring a pot of water to boil.
For the brown butter, melt the butter in a saucepan with the sage until the butter begins to froth. When the milk solids within the butter begin to brown, carefully watch these solids deepen to become dark amber in colour and then pour the butter into a glass bowl to stop it from cooking. Add salt to season.
To bring the dish together, cook the agnolotti for 3-4 minutes or until al dente. While the pasta is cooking, gently warm some brown butter in a pan. Transfer the cooked pasta and about half a ladle of pasta water to the pan with the brown butter, swirling to emulsify the sauce. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning or add a little extra pasta water if the sauce is a bit thick.
To plate, arrange agnolotti and spoon over a generous serving of the sauce. Drizzle a little Calabrian chilli oil on top and enjoy!
Check the ingredients of the brand of Calabrian chillies you use and taste it before use. Adjust the quantity of chilli paste you use according to its sweetness and heat. The brand I like is sweet and funky with a mellow chilli hum.
