Nicois Ravioli Recipes

NICOIS RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season oxtail with salt, and place in an even layer in a Dutch-oven over medium-high heat, working in batches if necessary. Cook until well browned on all sides, 3 to 5 minutes per side. Remove oxtail from Dutch-oven and set aside. Return Dutch-oven to stove and warm over medium heat; add onion. Cook, stirring, until caramelized, about 10 to 15 minutes. Add 8 garlic cloves and cook, 2 minutes more.
• Transfer onion mixture and oxtail to a Dutch-oven. Add beef stock, orange zest, and juice of 2 oranges. Place thyme in a piece of cheesecloth; tie with kitchen twine to enclose and add to Dutch-oven. Season with salt and pepper. Cover and transfer to oven. Cook, until meat is falling off the bone, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
• Remove meat from Dutch-oven and let cool; discard bones. Strain braising liquid into a small, clean saucepan through a fine-mesh sieve, pressing down on solids; discard solids. Place saucepan over medium heat and cook until reduced by 3/4; set braising liquid aside.
• Transfer meat to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
• In a large skillet, heat 1/4 cup olive oil over medium heat. Add 5 cloves garlic and cook, stirring, until softened; remove from skillet and discard. Add Swiss chard and cook, stirring, until tender. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Squeeze out any excess liquid from Swiss chard; set aside 3/4 cup and keep warm. Add remaining Swiss chard to the bowl of a food processor; pulse until finely chopped. Add to bowl with oxtail, along with cheese, 3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 egg, and juice of 1 orange; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• Sprinkle a baking sheet with semolina flour and set aside. Set the rollers of a hand-crank or electric pasta machine at their widest opening. Unwrap one piece of dough; flatten with the palms of your hands and run it once through the machine. Fold the dough in thirds like a letter and run through the machine again. Repeat this step two or three times, until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Now change the rollers of the pasta machine to the next lowest setting, and roll out the dough once without folding. Keep rolling the sheet through the machine on decreasing settings until you have rolled it through the last (thinnest) setting. Transfer pasta to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat process with remaining pieces of dough.
• Sprinkle a second baking sheet with semolina flour; set aside. Lay one sheet of pasta flat on work surface with the long side facing you. Beat remaining egg and brush over right half of the pasta. Transfer oxtail mixture to a disposable pastry bag and snip the end, or using a spoon, place about 1 tablespoon oxtail mixture, 2 inches apart, down the center of the right side of pasta. Fold the left side over filling. Using the blunt side of a 1 1/2-inch round cutter, gently press around each mound of filling, but do not cut through. Using a 2-inch round cutter, cut out ravioli. Transfer ravioli to prepared baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Repeat process with remaining sheets of pasta and oxtail mixture. Set ravioli aside.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Generously salt water and return to a boil. Meanwhile, transfer reserved braising liquid to a large skillet. Add butter and cook over medium heat until butter is melted and liquid is heated through.
• Add ravioli to boiling water and cook until just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer ravioli to butter mixture and stir to coat. Divide reserved Swiss chard leaves evenly between 4 to 6 serving dishes; top with ravioli and sauce. Garnish with shaved Parmesan and serve immediately.

CLASSIC NICOISE SALAD

Steps:

• Put the potatoes in a medium saucepan; cover with cold water and season with salt. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook until fork-tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and transfer to a medium bowl; drizzle with the wine and let cool. Reserve the saucepan.
• Meanwhile, bring a separate saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with salted ice water. Add the haricots verts to the boiling water; cook until crisp-tender and bright green, 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and immediately plunge into the ice water to cool; drain and pat dry.
• Place the eggs in the reserved saucepan and cover with cold water by about 1 inch. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover, remove from the heat and let stand, 10 to 12 minutes. Drain, then run under cold water to cool. Peel under cold running water.
• Make the dressing: Whisk the vinegar, shallot, mustard, thyme, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and pepper to taste in a bowl. Whisk in the olive oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified.
• Toss the tomatoes ian a small bowl with salt and pepper to taste. Add about 1/4 cup dressing to the potatoes and toss. Quarter the hard-cooked eggs.
• Divide the lettuce among 4 plates. Arrange the potatoes, haricots verts, radishes, hard-cooked eggs and tuna on top. Pour any juices from the tomatoes into the dressing, then add the tomatoes to the plates. Drizzle with the dressing and top with the olives.

SALAD NICOISE

Steps:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and cool.
• In a large bowl, combine the potatoes, parsley, olives, onion, tuna and green beans. Refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
• In large bowl, toss greens with vinaigrette and top with chilled potato mixture. Garnish with eggs, tomatoes, capers and anchovies.

NIÇOISE PASTA

Steps:

• Trim the beans and cut in half. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add 1 tsp salt. Add the penne, bring to the boil and cook following pack instructions. Throw in the beans 5 mins before the end of the cooking time.
• Meanwhile, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the garlic and anchovies, and fry gently for a couple of mins, stirring to dissolve the anchovies in the oil. Add the tomatoes and cook for a few mins until softened but not pulpy.
• Drain the pasta and return to the pan, then add the tomato sauce and olives. Flake in the tuna and add the lemon juice and basil. Heat through and serve.

RAVIOLI (DOUGH AND CHOICE OF 4 FILLINGS)

Steps:

• MAKING THE FILLING: Ricotta Filling#1: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
• Ricotta Filling#2: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
• Beef and Spinach Filling: Brown beef and veal in butter with the whole clove of garlic.
• Remove garlic and let meat mixture cool.
• Mix spinach, parsley, eggs, cheese and nutmeg into cooled meat until well blended, set aside filling until needed.
• Sausage Filling: Brown sausage in frying pan, drain fat and allow sausage to cool.
• When sausage has cooled, mix in eggs and cheese, set aside filling until needed.
• MAKING THE RAVIOLI DOUGH: Sift flour and salt together.
• Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
• Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly.
• Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
• Knead dough well, until smooth; cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick).
• FILLING THE RAVIOLI: Drop about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart all along the dough.
• When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover filling with other sheet of dough.
• Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
• Cut ravioli into squares with a (zig-zag edged) pastry cutter, or very sharp knife.
• DRYING THE RAVIOLI: Allow ravioli to dry for one hour before cooking.
• COOKING THE RAVIOLI: Drop ravioli into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling, salted water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender.
• Remove cooked ravioli from pot carefully with a skimmer or a large slotted spoon, and drain well.
• Place drained ravioli on a serving platter in layers, alternating layers with your favorite sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese between each ravioli layer.
• Serve hot.

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Place 5 cups flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Beat the eggs, water and oil; pour into well. Stir together, forming a ball. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes, adding remaining flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes., Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, combine sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally., In a large bowl, combine filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use., Divide pasta dough into fourths; roll 1 portion to 1/16-in. thickness. (Keep pasta covered until ready to use.) Working quickly, place rounded teaspoonfuls of filling 1 in. apart over half of pasta sheet. Fold sheet over; press down to seal. Cut into squares with a pastry wheel. Repeat with remaining dough and filling., Bring a soup kettle of salted water to a boil. Add ravioli. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer; cook until ravioli float to the top and are tender, 1-2 minutes. Drain. Spoon sauce over ravioli.