A Nutty Cocoa Ravioli Recipe

Ravioli al cacao ripieni di gorgonzola e noci
Cocoa ravioli stuffed with gorgonzola and walnuts
 
The cocoa gives the pasta a gorgeous nuttiness in flavour and a rich chocolate colour that contrasts brilliantly with the melting gorgonzola and crunchy walnuts inside. Try to find creamy gorgonzola dolce, which has a sweet, mellow flavour instead of the harsher crumbly gorgonzola piccante. Any leftover cocoa pasta can be rolled out again and cut into tagliatelle, which is lovely with a cheese sauce.
 
Serves 6 (makes 30 ravioli)
 
For the pasta
200 g (7 oz/12/3 cups) ‘00’ flour
2 whole eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
15 g (1/2 oz) cocoa powder
1 tablespoon water, if necessary
Make the pasta by following the video below, but mix the cocoa powder into the flour first and add in the extra egg yolk. You may need to add the water if the pasta is very dry as the cocoa powder is very absorbent.
Click Video Below to See Giancarlo making his Cocoa Pasta using a blender…

For the filling

50 g (2 oz) walnuts, finely chopped
200 g (7 oz) gorgonzola dolce
100 g (31/2 oz) ricotta
25 g (1 oz) finely grated parmigiano
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine all the ingredients for the filling in a bowl and season to taste.

Mix well until all the ingredients are combined

For the sauce
75 g (21/2 oz) salted butter
1 sprig rosemary
squeeze of lemon juice
25 g (1 oz) pecorino or parmesan, finely grated, to serve

To make the sauce, heat the butter in a large frying pan with the rosemary for a couple of minutes. Add a squeeze of lemon juice and shake the pan to blend it together.

Ravioli
Roll Out …

Cut into equal squares

Add walnut sized spoonfuls of the filling

Cover with the other square of pasta and gently push out air around the filling

Using a cutter or wine glass (be careful!) cut out individual ravioli

Bring to the boil a large saucepan of well-salted water and cook the ravioli for around 5 minutes or until al dente.

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce pan.

Shake the pan to coat the ravioli in sauce. Serve on warm plates or shallow bowls with parmesan. Discard the sprig of rosemary.
See Giancarlo making them by clicking below.

This is a recipe from our latest book ‘The Long and Short of Pasta’ published by Hardie Grant and available for pre-order here.