Mezzaluna stuffed with mushrooms

From Bradnor

⇐ The Green Book ⇐ Pasta

This is my interpretation of a dish we had in Spazio, Hyllie which was really good. Plenty for 4 small appetites or starter


Ingredients

for the pasta
pasta
pasta made with 2 eggs
mushroom duxelles
200g mushrooms - I used chanterelles and porcini but any will do
a shallot, finely chopped
a clove garlic, finely chopped
2 Tbsp butter
a splash cognac, dry sherry, dry white wine or vermouth for deglazing
2 Tbsp cream
small handful chopped parsley
salt and pepper, nutmeg to taste
for the filling
mushroom duxelles above
± 100g ricotta
± 1 Tbsp grated parmesan
for the sauce
70g double cream
2 Tbsp butter
25g parmesan cheese, grated
taleggio - the restaurant's version had taleggio in the sauce but I haven't tried that
to finish
chopped toasted hazelnuts or walnuts
grated parmesan

Method

  1. mushroom duxelles. Finely (as in really finely - 2-3mm cubes) chop the mushrooms. Melt the butter in a frying pan and sweat the shallots for a minute or two. Add the garlic and gently cook for another ½ minute. Turn heat up a little and add mushrooms. Cook down the mushrooms till all the liquid has gone and deglaze with the cognac or whatever. Add the parsley, cook doen the liquid, then season and stir through the cream. You should have a thick paste.
  2. filling. Combine the cooled duxelles with enough ricotta and parmesan to make a nice filling. Check for taste and seasoning.
  3. pasta. Make the pasta and roll out thin sheets. Cut out 7-8cm circles with a pastry cutter. Place a dollop of the duxelles on a circle, fold the pasta in half and seal the edges to make a plump semicircle or mezzaluna - half moon. Repeat until all the filling/pasta is used up.
  4. to cook. Start making the sauce by melting the butter, cream and cheese together at a very gentle heat to thicken - take off heat till pasta is done. Meanwhile get a large pan of salted boiling water going and cook the pasta - 5 minutes if freshly made - a little longer if they were made earlier and dried somewhat. When cooked, lift the pasta out of the water and add to the sauce over gentle heat. Coat the pasta with the sauce - add ingredients a little pasta water if the sauce is too thick. Serve sprinkled with the chopped nuts and parmesan cheese.

My interpretation of a dish from Spazio, Hyllie

italian