Ricotta agnolotti with anchovy butter

SERVES 8 AS AN ENTRÉE // PREP TIME 45 MINS // COOK 10 MINS (PLUS CHILLING, INFUSING) Note

“Making filled pasta with your hands is a bit of a process, but in the end it’s very satisfying and rewarding to see these little parcels come to life,” says Pepperell. “The ricotta filling is a simple and effective vehicle for the butter and colatura di alici.”

1 egg 6 egg yolks 1 tbsp olive oil 225 gm (1¼ cups) “00” flour, plus extra for dusting Extra-virgin olive oil, to serve

Espellete pepper (see note) or chilli powder, to serve RICOTTA FILLING

250 gm well-drained ricotta 50 gm finely grated parmesan Finely grated zest of 1 lemon

ANCHOVY SAUCE 25 gm shio kombu (see note) 100 gm butter, at room temperature 2 tsp colatura di alici (see note) or fish sauce

1 To make pasta, whisk egg, egg yolks and olive oil together in a bowl. Place flour in a pile on the bench and make a well in the centre. Pour in egg mixture and gradually mix together, bringing the flour in from the edges until combined. Knead until smooth, adding a little extra flour if needed; dough should be quite hard. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours to rest. 2 For ricotta filling, blend ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste, and transfer to a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain nozzle. Chill.

3 For sauce, bring 250ml water to the boil in a small saucepan, add kombu, then remove from heat and steep for 15 minutes. Strain through a sieve, and, while still hot, transfer to a small food processor with butter and colatura di alici and blend until fine.

4 To make agnolotti, cut dough in half, keeping remaining half wrapped. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface to a rectangle about 1cm thick.

Roll dough through the widest setting of a pasta machine, fold the two short ends over each other into the centre to enclose (business-letter style). Roll out to 1cm thick, then roll through pasta machine on the widest setting. Repeat folding and rolling another 3 times until dough becomes very smooth, then continue rolling dough through the machine, reducing settings notch by notch, until 1mm thick, dusting with flour if needed. Cut into 25cm x 10cm rectangles, then on a lightly floured surface, pipe a straight line of filling the length of the rectangle, about 2cm from the long edge closest to you and leaving 2cm at each end. Run a wet finger along the edge closest to you and ends next to filling, then fold pasta and filling two-thirds of the way over to create a snug tube with an exposed flap of pasta along the long edge. Press to seal. With the side of your hand, press down firmly on filling at 5cm intervals to make 5 agnolotti. Fold the flap of pasta over the filled pasta, then cut between agnolotti with a fluted cutter. Repeat with remaining pasta.

5 Cook agnolotti in a large saucepan of boiling salted water until they float and are cooked through (2-3 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon and coat with anchovy sauce, adding a little pasta water if needed to coat. Spoon onto plate and serve drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkled with Espellete pepper to taste.

Espellete pepper is available from Herbie’s Spices. Shio kombu is available from Japanese grocers. Colatura di alici, a fermented anchovy sauce, is available from Simon Johnson and select Italian delicatessens.

Wine suggestion 2018 Vigneti Vecchio Sciare Vive Bianco. A smoky, nutty, saline white from the slopes of Mount Etna.

“The ricotta filling in these agnolotti is a simple and effective vehicle for the butter and the colatura di alici.”