Friday, January 20, 2012

I've been reading the January 2012 issue of Food and Wine, and I've found a couple of really fascinating dishes.  Thomas McNaughton, a 28 year old chef from San Francisco's Flour + Water presented a recipe for Parsnip Triangole with Aged Balsamic Vinegar.  I didn't change his recipe other than I made raviolis instead of triangoli.  The sweetness of the parsnip and caramelised onions with the buttery Balsamic sauce just perfectly balanced.  This dish really does require a genuine aged Balsamic vinegar-most cheap supermarket Balsamics are not very good.

Dough
2 cups "00" flour-I used all purpose
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tespoon Kosher salt

Chef McNaughton makes his dough in the processor, I just made it the old fashioned way of placing the flour on a pastry board making a well in the center and cracking in the eggs.  Gradually stir the flour into the eggs until a soft dough forms, knead briefly wrap with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 1/2 hour.

Filling
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup finely diced parsnips
1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 teaspoon Champagne vinegar

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan.  Add the onion and cook until soft.  Add the parsnips and 1/2 cup water, cover and simmer until tender-about 15 minutes.  Uncover and raise heat to evaporate any excess liquid.  In a processor, puree the vegetables, fold in the cheese and season with the vinegar and some salt to taste.  Let cool.

I used my hand crank pasta machine and rolled the dough to number 6 out of 7-one being the thickest and 7 being the thinnest.  Chef McNaughton cuts his pasta dough into squares using a fluted pastry wheel, fills the center with the parsnip puree with a pastry bag, moisten the edges and fold the squares in half to form a triangle.  I just placed the dough over my ravioli form, pressed it into shape and just spooned the filling in the center of the square, moisten the edges of the dough, top with a second sheet of pasta, and press the dough.  Unmold your ravioli.

For serving
1 cup unsalted butter
snipped chives and parsley
Aged Balsamic

Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water-cook to al dente about 5 minutes.  Meanwhile melt the butter in a saute pan, when the ravioli are cooked, lift them into the saute pan and coat with the melted butter.  Add some of the pasta water 2 Tablespoons at a time until a nice creamy sauce forms.  Garnish with the herbs and drizzle the aged Balsamic vinegar over the top.