Gingered Trout Ravioli

After spending four days camping out in the musical dustbowl that is the Lorne Falls Festival, eating my way through the wide, and I mean wide, spectrum of festival snacks; from the best lentil burger I have ever had the pleasure of scooping into my mouth, to the sloppiest, runniest excuse for a 'breakfast burrito' this side of Cancun, I was ready for some freshness. Fresh clothes and fresh fish to be exact.

So to the beach we went, a Christmas pasta machine under my arm.

The second half of my holiday pretty much consisted of a strictly enforced routine that I have coined

The Palm Beach Method:

  1. Beach

  2. Pasta

 3. Pool

  4. Pasta

5. Nap

 6. Pool

  7. Pasta

Sounds tough doesn't it but I made it through unscathed, apart from some odd tan lines and a light dusting of flour, I'm pretty much still the same person. 

Not unlike the Christmas ham, a staple in our celebration menu is smoked trout. We had nearly a metre long slab of smoked trout left over in the fridge that we turned into every dish possible trying to use it all up. Trout Nicoise salad, smoked trout dip, did I mention salad? Got pretty sick of the salad. We were running out of options fast, and so the trout ravioli was born.

I have given a run down on pasta before and I have used the same method here, although I mixed the dough by hand this time, rather than using a mix master, which worked extremely well. I also found it easier to use a ravioli cutter, rather than a ravioli roller as it gives you more consistency and control over the size of the squares.  If you are not going to eat the ravioli within the hour, I would freeze it in a single layer on a baking sheet, as the pasta tends to get very sticky and soggy, freezing does not change the texture or quality of the pasta one bit.

This ravioli filling is very simple, perfect for a light summer lunch tossed with some fresh pesto. The trout is given some zing with fresh ginger, lemon zest and juice, and finely chopped spring onion. If you're feeling like you need a pick me up after stuffing yourself with gingerbread houses and mince pies over the festive season, slow down, make some pasta, float in some water, drink fresh lemonade. Enjoy.

A couple more holiday snaps here

Gingered Trout Ravioli:

an original recipe

Pasta Dough

(this recipe serves about five, you can alter the measurements easily - approx 100g flour and 1 egg per person)

300g plain flour, sifted

3 eggs, room temperature

To make the pasta dough place the flour into a large bowl, make a well in the centre and crack the eggs into the well. Incorporate together with a fork and bring together to form a rough, shaggy ball. Take the ball out of the bowl and kneed on a lightly floured bench top until the dough is smooth. Good pasta dough should not stick to your hands at all, it should be smooth. Cover and leave to rest for 30 mins.

Meanwhile, while the pasta is resting, make the trout filling.

Filling

approx 300g fresh smoked trout, skin removed

4cm knob fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated

zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 spring onions, finely diced

sea salt and pepper

Flake the fish into a medium sized bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and using your fingers, mix until the fish is all broken down and there are no big chunks and all the ingredients are incorporated. Set aside.

Cut the pasta dough into three pieces so it's easier to handle. Set your pasta machine to the widest setting and feed the piece of dough through, fold it in half and feed it through again, keeping the same width open. Repeat this about 5 times until you have a smooth rectangular piece of dough. Turn the pasta dial down one setting and feed the dough through, turn the dial down again and so on and so on until you have a nearly translucent long piece of flat pasta (on my machine it went down to setting three out of seven numbers, you should just be able to see the outline of your hand through the dough). Cut the pasta in half.

Each half of the pasta will act as either side of the ravioli. On one side, make indents with your ravioli cutter, do not cut all the way through, this is just so you have a rough guide where to place your filling. Once you have filled the pasta up with squares place about 1 tablespoon of trout filling inside each square. Once all the squares are filled, dip your finger in water and wet all four sides of the squares so the top layer of pasta will stick. Gently place the other sheet of pasta on top of the other, pressing your fingers around the filling, making sure there are no air bubbles trapped inside. Cut out your squares around the filling (like the above picture) and lay the ravioli on a lightly floured baking sheet or flat platter in a single layer.

If you are not going to eat the pasta straight away, cover it with cling wrap and place it immediately in the freezer so it doesn't get soggy. Boil a large pot of lightly salted water and boil the pasta for about 5 minutes (extra flour will come off in the water so don't worry about that), test a piece when it has been floating for about a minute and it should be al dente. Toss with fresh basil pesto and serve immediately with shaved Parmesan.