MUSHROOM RAGU,
EGG YOLK PAPPARDELLE
SERVES 4-6
You will need a pasta machine for
this recipe.
(^1) / 4 cup (60ml) extra virgin olive oil
150g unsalted butter, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
150g pancetta, trimmed, cut into
lardons
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
600g chestnut mushrooms, trimmed,
thickly sliced
25g dried porcini, soaked in^1 / 4 cup
(60ml) boiling water
2 cups (500ml) white wine
5 thyme sprigs, plus extra to serve
2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
100g Montasio cheese (substitute
Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana
Padano), finely grated
PASTA
16 (300g total weight) egg yolks
2 cups (300g) tipo ’00’ flour
For the pasta, place egg yolks and flour in
the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the
dough hook. Mix until combined and
smooth. Cover and rest for 30 minutues.
Cut the dough into 4 pieces, cover and
set aside. Using a pasta machine, pass
each piece of dough through the machine,
starting at the widest setting and working
down to the thinnest. Repeat this process
for all 4 pieces of dough. Cut the sheets
into 20cm-long pieces and stack them on
top of each other. Roll them up and cut
into 2cm-wide noodles. Dust with flour and
store either in nests in the fridge, or dry by
draping them over a rack.
To make the mushroom ragu, heat half
of the olive oil and half of the butter in a
large frypan over high. Reduce heat to low,
add onion, pancetta and garlic and cook,
stirring frequently, for 6-8 minutes until
onion is translucent. Strain, reserving oil,
and set onion, pancetta and garlic aside.
Add the remaining 30ml oil, reserved oil
and 75g butter to the frypan and place
over high heat. Drain the porcini, reserving
liquid. Chop porcini and add to pan with
chestnut mushroom. Cook, stirring
occasionally for 5-6 minutes until softened
and coloured. Return the reserved
pancetta mixture to mushroom mixture
and toss to combine. Season to taste. Add
the wine, scraping the bottom of the pan
with a wooden spoon and reduce the wine
by one-third. Stir in thyme sprigs, reserved
porcini liquid and chicken stock. Bring to
the boil, reduce heat to medium and
simmer for 8-10 minutes until sauce is
thickened. Season to taste and set aside
and keep warm until ready to serve.
Meanwhile, bring a large saucepan
three-quarters full with salted water to
the boil. Make sure the mushroom ragu is
next to the saucepan and hot. Cook the
pappardelle in 2 batches, stirring gently to
separate pasta, for 1-2 minutes. Remove
using large tongs and immediately add to
the mushroom ragu. Toss well to combine.
If the pasta looks too dry you can add a
little of the cooking water. Scatter with
cheese and extra thyme to serve.
SPICED PEAR STRUDEL
SERVES 8-10
Begin this recipe 1 day ahead.
(^1) / 4 cup (40g) raisins
(^1) / 2 cup (80g) sultanas
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon and
1 orange
(^3) / 4 cup (105g) currants
1 tsp each ground cinnamon and
ground mixed spice
(^1) / 2 tsp ground nutmeg
90g brown sugar
(^1) / 4 cup (60ml) dark rum
(^1) / 4 cup (35g) slivered almonds
250g unsalted butter, melted
70g fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbs plain flour
16 sheets filo pastry
(^1) / 2 cup (50g) flaked almonds
Icing sugar, to dust
Cream, to serve
STEWED APPLES & PEARS
30g unsalted butter
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored
and sliced
3 Packham or Beurre Bosc pears,
peeled, cored and sliced
150g caster sugar
To macerate the dried fruit mixture,
combine the raisins, sultanas, lemon and
orange zest, currants, spices, sugar, rum
and slivered almonds in a large bowl with
90g of the melted butter and allow to
macerate for 3 hours or overnight.
Meanwhile, for the stewed apples and
pears, melt the butter in a large non-stick
frypan over medium heat. Add the fruit
and scatter over sugar and 1 tbs water.
Cook, tossing frequently, for 15-16
minutes until the sugar has dissolved and
the fruit has softened slightly. Remove
from heat and cool completely. Once
cooled, add to the macerated fruit
mixture with the fresh breadcrumbs
and flour, and mix to combine.
Heat oven to 200ºC. Place 4 sheets of
pastry on top of a large piece of fabric,
overlapping pastry edges by about 4cm.
Brush overlapped edges with melted
butter to seal the edges together to form
a rough 80cm x 50cm rectangle. Brush
with melted butter and layer 4 more
sheets of pastry on top. Repeat brushing
and layering with all the pastry. Place the
pear and apple mixture in a strip about
45cm long along one of the short sides
of the pastry, leaving 6-8cm around the
short edge border. Using the fabric, roll
strudel into a log and tuck the ends
underneath. (Make sure you roll from the
end of the pastry that has the filling on it
to the opposite end, not the other way
around.) Place log carefully onto a lined
baking tray. Brush the top with more
butter, sprinkle over flaked almonds and
dust with icing sugar. Bake for 25-30
minutes until golden. Dust strudel with
more icing sugar, cut into 8-10 even
slices, and pour over cream, to serve.
IN SEASON.