Ever eat something so outrageously good at a restaurant, you find yourself buying the ingredients to make it at home from memory? Trouble is, with the pandemic, we were dining al fresco at night, I could barely see my plate. So recreating it from sight was difficult. This dish is on the sweeter side, with the pear and cranberry alone, it should be paired with a dry wine. Is it time consuming? Yes. Will it impress your friends? Of course. -C

Gorgonzola Pear Ravioli with Cranberry Spinach Cream Sauce

Ingredients:
For the pasta dough:
4 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 cups semolina flour (such as Bob’s Red Mill)
1 cup “00” flour (such as Granoro Farina)
extra flour for the rolling process
side dish with water

For the ravioli filling:
3 T. unsalted butter
3 ripe pears, peeled, cored, and chopped into 1/2 inch dice
1 t. finely chopped fresh sage
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 t. kosher salt
4 oz. gorgonzola cheese crumbles, room temperature

For the cream sauce:
4 T. unsalted butter
3 T. all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
8 oz. freshly grated parmesan cheese
4 oz. mascarpone cheese
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup VSOP brandy

For garnish:
walnuts, chopped and toasted

Directions:
For the pasta dough:
1. Pulse the eggs, salt, oil, together in a food processor.
2. Add in the flours. Pulse until it forms a large ball of dough.
3. Empty out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. With floured hands, squeeze together the dough and knead 4-6 times until the dough begins to become a smoother consistency. Form into disk shape.
4. Wrap the dough disk in plastic wrap and let rest while the ravioli filling and sauce are made.

For the ravioli filling:
1. In a sauté pan over medium low heat, melt the butter and cook the pears with the sage, nutmeg, and salt until softened. This process should take about 10 minutes.
2. Once the pear is softened, turn off the heat and add the gorgonzola. Stir into the pear mixture until it begins to melt into the pears. You may slightly mash some of the mixture, if you wish. Set aside.

For the cream sauce:
1. In a small bowl, soak the cranberries in the brandy for about an hour. You can accelerate the process, by putting them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds. Set aside.
2. In a deep sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour to create a roux.
3. Add in the milk and cream and whisk constantly until it begins to simmer and thicken.
4. Add in the parmesan cheese and mascarpone and whisk until smooth. Add in the spinach, and cranberries with the brandy. Continue to stir until the spinach is wilted. Turn off the heat and set aside.

For the ravioli assembly:
1. Start your pot of boiling salted water on the stove. Prepare a spider strainer nearby. Assemble a pasta roller, if you have one.
2. Divide dough into eighths. Form the divided dough pieces into flat disks, flouring very lightly. Using a pasta roller machine, roll out the disks of dough, and fold into thirds, running it through the machine at the widest setting (usually a “10”) again open end first. The goal is to have a rectangle shaped piece of dough. Repeat as needed, folding in half or in thirds, and running through the wide setting of the pasta roller until the dough is in the desired rectangular shape. Repeat with the other sections of dough.
3. Run all of the sections of dough through the pasta machine. Allow the dough to rest on a lightly floured surface, before turning the pasta roller down to the next smallest setting. Repeat at the next setting until all of the dough has been run through the “0” setting. Stop and allow the sheets of dough to rest on the counter for 5 minutes.
4. Cut the ravioli dough into 4×4 inch squares, and place about a teaspoon of the filling into the center. Run a finger dampened with water in a circle around the filling, gather up the sides of the ravioli, and pinch into a purse shape. Repeat for all of the filling, you may have some leftover dough.
5. Gently place the assembled ravioli onto a lightly floured cookie sheet. When all of them are made, gently drop a few at a time into the boiling water. Watch to make sure they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot. The ravioli should cook completely after 3-4 minutes.
6. Fish out the cooked raviolis from the water with a spider strainer, let the water run off in the spider strainer well, plate and top with the warmed cream sauce.
7. Garnish each dish with toasted chopped walnuts.

Notes:
We don’t know how many this makes, because we’ve eaten too many before we had the chance to count. Sorry.
A good serving size for a meal for an adult would be between 6 and 8 ravioli purses. Alternatively, 2-3 makes for a great appetizer or amuse bouche as well.
Make Ahead Strategies: You can make the cream sauce ahead of time and reheat on the stove over low heat. The filling can also be made up to 3-4 days ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator until assembly time. The dough can also be made a day ahead and kept in the refrigerator. Allow it to come to room temperature before rolling into pasta sheets.

© 2021, Blue Willow Kitchen
bluewillowkitchen.com