Raviolo di Uovo

Raviol-o, you ask? Yup, because it’s just one. And how, you wonder, do you justify serving just one raviolo on a plate? Well, when the ravioli is about 4 1/2 inches in diameter and houses not only a hefty portion of truffled ricotta but an entire farm egg? Yup, that’s how! So without further ado we introduce to you to Ravioli di Uovo, a single ravioli made with a whole raw egg yolk that cooks for a mere a minute and then oozes as you break into it with your fork.

The idea arose while planning for an epic New Year’s Eve feast defined by “indulgence.” The initial idea was to fly in a white truffle from Italy and serve simply with fresh linguine, a bit of butter and parmesan. Unfortunately, the white truffle season ended early and the exorbitant prices made us re-think this indulgent pasta dish. Next on the list? The Raviolo di uovo, suggested by Mike of Rooftop Gourmet. For a meal that revolves around all things glamorous and decadent, his suggestion seemed just the thing, and I happily took on the challenge.

While the egg is certainly the star of this dish, you can’t forget about the cheese. So off to South End Formaggio I went to buy our favorite ricotta from Narragansett Creamery, parmesan, and of course, some farm fresh local eggs.

The filling was composed of just a few quality ingredients: ricotta, freshly grated parmesan, salt, pepper, sliced black truffle in olive oil (I had a sample in the pantry that I’ve been eyeing for over a year now) and freshly grated nutmeg.

Next came the dough. Since I made the pasta by hand, I altered the Nella recipe a bit to include more all-purpose flour which is much easier to work with if you aren’t using a machine. Once the dough was rolled out, I used a glass I had in the house to trace a circle, piped in the filling and oh-so-carefully dropped in the yolk from a separated egg.

This is one of those don’t-stomp-touch-anything-breathe-etc. recipes where you just need to concentrate on being super careful with the ultra fragile egg. The result was worth it. Once topped with another layer of pasta, I was left with a beautiful raviolo, filled to capacity with a brilliant orange egg yolk still entact, visible from the thin sheet of dough that covers it. I treated the ravioli (now were talking multiple ravioli, so the -i works) like tiny sleeping babies on the walk over to Mike’s, walking carefully and not letting a sole touch them until it was time to cook.

When the time came, the ravioli took a quick 1 minute swim in boiling water, then another minute in some bubbling butter with thyme and reserved mushroom liquid and then for the shining moment…..the fork pierced the yolk and just as we had been anticipating from the moment the recipe came to mind, the gorgeous ooze of the semi-raw farm egg.

Sometimes I laugh when food is referred to as sexy…but this, my friends, defines sexy food. Try these at home and I promise you won’t be disappointed. Thanks Rooftop Gourmet for the inspiration to create this incredible dish!