Essential · about 2 hours, with a 30-minute dough rest · Serves 4
Trout and ricotta ravioli with lemon brown butter, capers and dill
The same root as the trout agnolotti del plin: thin egg pasta, a soft Patagonian trout filling bound with ricotta and a lemony butter sauce. This version moves it to square ravioli, which are quick to assemble and forgiving to cook, for a fresh, bright Sunday dish.
The twist is to take the complexity out of the sauce and put it into the finish. The trout is baked until it flakes apart and mixed with ricotta, Parmesan, lemon zest and chives. Instead of a beurre blanc, lightly browned butter is emulsified with pasta cooking water and lemon juice, and the capers and dill supply the salt and perfume that the roe and fennel provide in the Signature version.
Special equipment: pasta machine or rolling pin; cutter or wheel
Ingredients
Pasta dough
- 300 g 00 flour
- 3 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 pinch of fine salt
Trout filling
- 300 g fresh trout fillet, skinless and boneless
- Olive oil, a drizzle
- 250 g well-drained ricotta
- 40 g finely grated Parmesan-style cheese
- Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
- 6 g chives, finely chopped
- Fine salt and white pepper
Shaping and cooking
- Semolina or flour, for the tray
- Plenty of water and salt
Lemon, caper and dill butter
- 100 g butter
- 25 g capers, rinsed and dried
- 100–150 ml pasta cooking water
- 20–30 ml lemon juice
- 8 g fresh dill, chopped, or parsley if dill is unavailable
- Freshly ground black pepper
Finishing
- Finely grated lemon zest
- Grated Parmesan-style cheese
Method
Pasta dough
- Kneading. Make a well with the flour and salt and put the eggs and yolk in the center. Work them together with a fork from the edges and, once the dough comes together, knead by hand for 8–10 minutes, until smooth, elastic and dry to the touch. If it cracks, wet your hands and keep kneading; if it sticks, add flour a teaspoon at a time. Wrap in plastic film and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Trout filling
- Baking. Heat the oven to 180 °C (355 °F). Place the trout on an oiled dish, salt it lightly and bake for 8–12 minutes, depending on thickness, until the flesh turns from translucent to opaque and flakes apart when pressed with a fork. Let it cool and flake it, checking that no bones remain.
- Mixing. Mash the ricotta with a fork until smooth and add the cheese, zest, chives and pepper. Fold in the trout with gentle movements, without mashing it, so that flakes remain. Taste and adjust the salt at the end. It should be firm enough to hold on a teaspoon; if it is wet, add one more spoonful of cheese. Refrigerate until shaping.
Shaping and cooking
- Rolling. Divide the dough into four and work one portion at a time, keeping the rest covered. Pass it through the pasta machine starting at the widest setting, folding it twice at first, and reduce one setting at a time down to 1 mm, or the second-to-last setting of the machine: it should just show your hand through it.
- Assembly. Lay a strip on the floured work surface and place heaped teaspoons of filling, about 12 g each, in two rows, 4 cm apart. Brush lightly with water around the filling, cover with another strip and press with your fingers from the filling outward to push out the air. Cut into 5 cm squares with a cutter or wheel and set them on a tray with semolina, without overlapping. This makes about 36–40 ravioli.
- Cooking. Boil plenty of salted water and cook the ravioli at a gentle boil for 3–4 minutes, until the pasta is tender at the edges. Lift them out with a slotted spoon; do not tip them into a colander.
Lemon, caper and dill butter
- Browned butter. While the ravioli cook, heat the butter in a wide pan over medium heat until it stops sputtering, foams and takes on a light golden color with a hazelnut aroma. Add the capers and fry for 30 seconds, until they open up.
- Emulsion. Add 100 ml of cooking water and the lemon juice and swirl the pan vigorously to a glossy, bound sauce; if it splits or is thick, add more water. Transfer the ravioli to the pan, toss for 30 seconds to coat and turn off the heat. Add the dill and pepper and taste: it should be bright and fresh, with the lemon not covering the trout.
Finishing
- At serving. Have the lemon zest and the cheese ready.
The dish
Use warm, low, wide bowls. Divide 9–10 ravioli per plate, slightly overlapping in a circle or in two rows, and spoon over the sauce left in the pan with the capers and dill, without fully covering the pasta. Finish with a fine grating of lemon zest, a little grated cheese and pepper, and serve at once. Final look: glossy pale-yellow ravioli, the golden butter just visible at the bottom, the dark capers and the green of the dill.
Key points
- Drain the ricotta well and do not mash the trout: a wet filling splits the ravioli open.
- Push out all the air when sealing, pressing from the filling outward.
- Cook at a gentle boil and lift the ravioli out with a slotted spoon.
- Brown the butter without burning it and emulsify it with pasta cooking water.
- Add the dill at the end, off the heat.
Pairing
A Patagonian Sauvignon Blanc or an unoaked Chardonnay, with acidity to match the lemon and capers. Without alcohol, sparkling water with lemon and a few dill leaves.
Notes
- Freezer: uncooked ravioli freeze well on a tray with semolina and then in a bag, for up to 1 month. Cook them without thawing, adding 1–2 minutes.
- No pasta machine: roll out with a rolling pin until the dough is translucent; cut slightly larger ravioli.