Signature · about 3 h 30 min, with the filling and jus the day before · Serves 4
Braised ham sorrentinos in cheese fonduta, toasted cured ham jus and mint peas
The root is the ham and cheese sorrentinos (large, round, puffed stuffed pasta) of the pasta shops of Mar del Plata: round egg pasta with a filling of cooked ham, mozzarella and ricotta. This version keeps the ham and cheese bite, but separates it in two: the ham goes inside, braised and shredded, and the cheese stays outside, in a silky fonduta that acts as the sauce.
The twist lies in three decisions. The filling is made with a piece of cooked ham browned and braised with butter and white wine, shredded and bound with ricotta and a little mustard, which has more flavor and texture than chopped ham. The sauce is a Piedmontese cheese fonduta, bound with yolk below 80 °C (176 °F). And to cut that richness, a jus made from toasted cured ham trimmings, reduced like a short consommé, and fresh peas with mint, the classic Italian combination of ham and peas.
Special equipment: pasta machine; 7 cm cutter; kitchen thermometer; fine sieve; hand blender
Ingredients
Braised ham filling
- 300 g natural cooked ham in one piece
- 20 g butter
- 1 shallot, finely chopped
- 60 ml dry white wine
- 150 g well-drained ricotta
- 30 g finely grated Parmesan
- 1 teaspoon whole-grain mustard
- White pepper and a pinch of nutmeg
Egg dough
- 250 g 00 flour
- 50 g fine durum wheat semolina
- 1 egg
- 4 yolks
- 10 ml olive oil
- 2 g fine salt
- 10–20 ml water, only if needed
Toasted cured ham jus
- 120 g cured ham trimmings and ends, in small pieces
- 10 ml olive oil
- 1 shallot, sliced
- 60 ml dry white wine
- 500 ml unsalted poultry stock, or water
- 15 g cold butter
Cheese fonduta
- 200 ml whole milk
- 150 g Fontina, Gruyère or semi-hard (Gouda-style) cheese, in small cubes
- 50 g provolone, grated
- 2 yolks
- 15 g butter
- White pepper
Mint peas
- 160 g fresh or frozen peas
- 10 g butter
- 6 mint leaves, in chiffonade
- Fine salt
Shaping and cooking
- Semolina, for the tray
- Plenty of salted water
Finishing
- 4 thin slices of cured ham
- Pea shoots or small mint leaves
- Freshly ground black pepper
Method
Braised ham filling
- Braising. Cut the ham into 2 cm cubes. Brown them in the butter over medium heat 5–6 minutes, until they have toasted edges, add the shallot 2 minutes and deglaze with the wine. Cover and cook over low heat 10 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed. Cool.
- Mixing. Shred the ham with two forks or chop it coarsely by knife, and mix it with the ricotta, Parmesan, mustard, pepper and nutmeg. Taste before salting: the ham already brings salt. It should be firm, with visible strands. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.
Egg dough
- Kneading. Make a well with the flour, semolina and salt, put the egg, yolks and oil in the center and combine with a fork. Knead 8–10 minutes, to a smooth, firm, satiny dough, adding water by the teaspoon only if it cracks. Wrap and rest 45 minutes.
Toasted cured ham jus
- Toasting. Brown the cured ham trimmings in the oil over medium heat 8–10 minutes, stirring, until the fat is translucent and the meat toasted and crisp, without burning. Add the shallot 2 minutes.
- Reduction. Deglaze with the wine, scraping the bottom, and reduce. Add the stock and cook at a very gentle simmer 30 minutes, without stirring. Strain through a fine sieve without pressing and reduce to 120 ml: it should be amber, clean, with a deep ham flavor. At serving, heat it and mount it with the cold butter, whisking, without boiling.
Cheese fonduta
- Soaking. Cover the Fontina cubes and the provolone with the milk and leave 1–2 hours in the refrigerator: the hydrated cheese melts without making strings.
- Binding. Move the milk with the cheeses to a bowl over a pot of barely boiling water, or to a small saucepan over very low heat, and stir until the cheese melts, 5–6 minutes. Add the butter and then the yolks, whisking constantly, and cook to 75–78 °C (167–172 °F), when the fonduta thickens and coats the spoon like a cream. Do not exceed 80 °C (176 °F): the yolk curdles and the cheese releases fat. Keep warm in a water bath, off the heat.
Mint peas
- Blanching and sautéing. Blanch the peas 1–2 minutes in boiling salted water and cool them in ice water. At serving, heat them in the butter 1 minute and add the mint off the heat.
Shaping and cooking
- Assembly. Roll the dough to 1 mm. Put on one sheet about 20 g of filling with the piping bag, spaced 7 cm apart, brush with water around, cover with another sheet and press around the filling to push out the air. Cut with the 7 cm cutter; this makes 20 sorrentinos. Set aside on semolina.
- Cooking. Cook them in plenty of salted water at a gentle boil 3–4 minutes, until the edges are tender. Lift them out with a slotted spoon and drain.
Finishing
- Ham crisps. Bake the cured ham slices between two parchment papers and two trays at 180 °C (355 °F) for 12–15 minutes, until dry and brittle.
The dish
Use low, deep plates in light ceramic, warmed. Put in the center 3 spoonfuls of warm fonduta and spread it into a circle with the back of the spoon. Set on top 5 sorrentinos in a circle, with the puffed side up. Pour 1–2 spoonfuls of mounted toasted jus between the sorrentinos, so it forms amber eyes on the fonduta without mixing with it. Scatter the mint peas around and in the center, and stand a piece of cured ham crisp upright, leaning on one of the sorrentinos. Finish with a few pea shoots or small mint leaves and black pepper. Final look: pale golden sorrentinos on a glossy ivory fonduta, the amber jus in eyes, the bright green of the peas and the pink, translucent crisp standing high.
Key points
- Taste the filling before salting: the cooked ham and the Parmesan already salt.
- Soak the cheese in the milk before the fonduta, so it melts without strings.
- Bind the fonduta with the yolk below 80 °C (176 °F).
- Toast the ham trimmings without burning them and reduce the jus without pressing the sieve.
- Mount the jus without boiling and serve it separate from the fonduta.
Pairing
A Chardonnay with moderate aging or a delicate Pinot Noir. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon and mint.
Notes
- Fonduta: it stays warm up to 30 minutes in a water bath off the heat. If it splits, blend it with a spoonful of hot milk.
- Trimmings: delis sell cured ham ends and trimmings at a low price; they work just as well for the jus.