Raffioli de herbe

Cheese-filled ravioli in saffron and herb sauce

This is a stunning dish to serve. The plump ravioli are filled with three kinds of cheese, bathed in glorious saffron sauce and decorated with aromatic leaves. The recipe is an adaption of the original by the Anonimo Veneziano, created by Sergio and Mario at the restaurant Bistrot de Venise, where it forms part of their historical Venetian menu.

SERVES 4 AS A MAIN OR 6 AS A STARTER

FOR THE FILLING

⚫ 200ml milk

⚫ 50g ‘00’ flour

⚫ 100g cheese, such as pecorino, fontina or asiago

⚫ 60g soft goat’s cheese

⚫ 50g Parmesan or grana padano, finely grated

⚫ 2 egg yolks

FOR THE PASTA

⚫ 200g ‘00’ flour, plus a little for dusting

⚫ 2 large free-range eggs

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FOR THE SAUCE

⚫ 50g salted butter

⚫ 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

⚫ 2 celery stalks with leaves, chopped

⚫ 2 leeks, chopped

⚫ 1 litre chicken stock

⚫ 1 heaped tsp grated fresh ginger

⚫ ½tsp saffron

TO SERVE

⚫ 50g salted butter

Large handful aromatic herbs

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(leaves only) such as rosemary, thyme, sage or marjoram

30g toasted flaked almonds

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30g smoked cheese, such as

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ricotta, scamorza or smoked Cheddar, coarsely grated

1 For the filling, heat the milk in a medium pan over medium heat, whisk in the flour and continue whisking over the heat until thick and any lumps have disappeared. Turn the heat to low and add the cheeses, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and whisk through. Take the pan off the heat and whisk in the egg yolks. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary, then allow to cool to room temperature.

2 Meanwhile, prepare the pasta. Pour the flour into a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle. Crack the eggs into the well. Using a table knife, gradually combine the flour into the eggs, starting with the flour around the eggs and working your way out. Keep mixing the egg and flour until they form clumps of dough. Use the fingertips of one hand to incorporate any remaining flour, bringing everything together until you have a ball of dough. Try to squash all the crumbs of dough into the ball, but discard any that don’t make it. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a floured work surface. Knead the dough by flattening and folding it for around 5-7min, adding a little more flour if it is very sticky. Do this until it stops sticking to the palm of your hand. The dough should form a soft but firm ball that bounces back to the touch when prodded. If the dough becomes really dry and has many cracks, add 1-2 drops of water – do this in a bowl or food processor to rescue it. Leave the pasta to rest covered in clingfilm for 20min or for up to a day in the fridge.

3 After resting, roll out the pasta through a pasta maker using the thinnest setting, so the pasta is thin but not too breakable. You should be able to see your hand or the pattern of a tablecloth through it. Lay a sheet of pasta around 40cm in length onto a floured work surface, keeping the top surface of the pasta flour-free. Dot heaped teaspoons, around 10g, of filling onto the sheet, 3-4cm apart to leave sufficient space to cut and seal the pasta. Lay another longer sheet of pasta over the top and press around each pile of filling to squeeze the air out and seal the pasta together. Use a 6cm round cutter, or the rim of a wine glass, to cut around each piece. Lay the ravioli onto a flour-covered tray and continue making them until you run out of filling.

4 To make the sauce, in a large frying pan, heat the butter and oil and fry the celery and leeks over medium heat until softened. Add the stock, ginger, saffron and some seasoning, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15min. Taste and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Purée in a blender and set aside.

5 To assemble the dish, melt the butter in a frying pan and add the herbs. Fry them for around 2min, take off the heat and set aside. Bring a large pan of well-salted water to the boil and cook the ravioli for around 5min or until al dente. Reheat the sauce in a large pan and add the drained pasta to it. Arrange the ravioli on each plate with a little of the sauce poured over the top. Drizzle the herby butter around the plate. Scatter over the flaked almonds and grated cheese, then stand back and admire your work!

‘Venice’s doors were always open to the world, from crusaders and pilgrims to revellers and romantics drawn to the carnival atmosphere and the magical experience of floating on water past stunning palaces, villas and narrow alleyways amid the ever-changing light’ ~ Katie Caldesi

Sweet and sour sardines with onions, pine nuts and raisins

Sarde in Saor was mentioned in a few of Carlo Goldoni’s plays, which helped spread its popularity, and is traditionally eaten during the Redentore celebration on the third Saturday of July. Almost every bacaro and restaurant serves its own version of the dish, either on polenta or crostini. This is Sabrina Busato’s recipe, a young Venetian girl who learnt it from her grandmother.

SERVES 8-10

⚫ 1kg sardines

⚫ 120ml sunflower oil

⚫ 1 large white onion (about 300g), sliced into half-moons

⚫ 1 bay leaf, optional

⚫ 100ml white wine vinegar

⚫ 100ml white wine

⚫ 30g sultanas

⚫ 30g pine nuts 1 If the sardines have scales, scrape them off using a dinner knife under running water. With a sharp knife, remove the heads, from just behind the gills, and tails of the sardines. Using scissors, cut down the belly of each fish, open out and remove the guts. Use your fingers and thumbs to push away the spines and discard. Pull out the dorsal fin – this will remove the remnants of the backbone too. Wash the sardines and dry on paper towels.

2 Heat the oil in a large frying pan and, when the oil is hot, fry the sardines, in batches if necessary, for about 2-5min on each side, depending on thickness, until just firm to the touch. They should be slightly underdone rather than overcooked. Carefully lift the sardines from the pan, keeping them whole, and lay in a dish. Leave the remaining oil in the pan. Taste a little piece of one of the sardines and add salt if necessary. If the fish are really fresh they are full of salty seawater so you won’t need to.

3 In the same pan, cook the onion and bay leaf (if using) over gentle heat for around 10min so that the onion softens but does not take on any colour. Pour in the vinegar and continue to cook for 5min. Add the wine and cook for 5min more. Remove the onion from the pan with a pair of tongs and lay on top of the sardines. (If your dish is small or you are doing double this quantity, you can layer up the sardines and onions.) Discard the pan juices.

4 Scatter the sultanas and pine nuts over the onions. Cover the dish with clingfilm and leave in the fridge for at least 2 days (Sabrina suggests 5 days). The sardines will keep for up to 10 days and are usually served on or with polenta. Don’t worry about keeping the fish whole; they will break up as you take a serving.

Sea bass and clams on lamon beans

We ate this at the perfect little restaurant Carampane, in the area near Rialto. Francesco and his staff make you feel very welcome, despite the sign on the door saying ‘No tourist menu, no pizza and no pasta’. He takes his food very seriously and rightly so. My fish was so fresh and perfectly cooked it was weeping lagoon water as I ate it. We loved the sea bass on velvety smooth beans. Francesco likes to use the smooth, creamy gialét beans, which are a Slow Food organisation approved product, grown in Lamon, Belluna, just north of Venice. Bring some back in your suitcase or use haricot or cannellini instead. If time permits, use dried beans, soaked overnight. If time is very short, a tin of beans will do.

SERVES 4

⚫ 200g dried gialét or cannellini

beans, or similar, soaked

⚫ 1 shallot

⚫ 1 bay leaf

⚫ 6tbsp extra virgin olive oil

⚫ 20 cherry tomatoes, halved

⚫ 3 thyme sprigs, leaves picked

⚫ 1 garlic clove, whole, lightly crushed

⚫ 300g fresh clams, washed and checked for sand

⚫ 2tbsp white wine

⚫ 4 sea bass fillets

⚫ 100g fine dry breadcrumbs

⚫ 1tbsp roughly chopped parsley, leaves and stalks

1 Put the soaked beans into a heavybased pan with a lid. Add the shallot and bay leaf and cover with water 5cm deep on top of the beans. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10min. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1hr until they are tender. Drain and transfer ½ of the beans to a blender. Purée them and then mix back into the pan. Season to taste and add 1tbsp olive oil. Cover and keep the mixture warm.

2 Put the tomatoes onto a grill pan, season and sprinkle over the thyme leaves. Grill for 10min or until lightly browned and soft. Set aside.

2 Heat 2tbsp oil in a large pan (that has a lid), add the garlic and fry for 1min, add the clams and wine. Put on the lid and cook for just a few min, shaking the pan frequently, until the clams have all opened. Discard any that haven’t. Pick out most of the clams from the shells and put them back into the cooking liquor, keeping aside a few whole for garnish.

3 Season the fish and dip into the breadcrumbs; tap off the excess. Heat remaining oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the fish, skin down, for around 3-4min, then turn to the other side and fry for a further 2-3min or until golden brown on both sides.

4 To serve, pour the warm beans into warm, shallow bowls, top with the fish and scatter over a few clams, a little cooking liquor, the cherry tomatoes and parsley.