Michael Natkin’s Shiitake & Morel Ravioli
Posted by Avi
Saturday September 18, 2010I’ve been following the excellent and vegetable-centric Herbivoracious blog for some time now. In my Cinco de Mayo post, to take one recent example, I linked to blogger Michael Natkin’s Grilled Tofu & Pepper Tacos. I’ve always been inclined towards vegetarian cooking, and Michael has a great talent for spiffing up vegetarian cuisine. Those tacos were simple to make and quite delicious.
Now, I wish I could brag that Shiitake & Morel Ravioli en Brodo is a Harvard Common Press original recipe, but we can’t take credit for it. Michael Natkin made it as well, but this one is for the Pacific Natural Foods’ Everyday Chef Challenge. For the contest participants are required to use a Pacific Natural Foods broth along with any kind of mushrooms to make a dish of their choosing.
Knowing he would use a flavorful mushroom broth, Michael needed something great to go in it, so he mixed all-purpose flour with whole eggs and extra egg yolks and rolled out fresh pasta, which he made into ravioli. Note that for home cooks who might not have the time to make pasta from scratch, Michael says that wonton wrappers are an adequate substitute.
Then, the filling: “The ravioli filling,” he writes, “is simple shiitake and morel duxelles, which is a fancy French word for mushrooms chopped up small and sautéed with garlic, butter, and sherry until they give up all of their liquid and taste amazing.” Indeed. I love how he plated his dish, too: in a shallow bowl, the beautiful, handmade ravioli float in a clear mushroom broth. “Packed with umami,” he says. Indeed again.
You’d have to go a long way (Italy itself?) to find a dish that’ll beat this one. So click over to the Everyday Chef Challenge site and vote for Michael Natkin’s Ravioli en Brodo!
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