Cavatelli, morel mushrooms & Escargot

4 oz fresh cavatelli (process below)

9 ea cleaned and blanched fava beans not split (Next page)

12 pieces of ¼ in diced carrots. (Next Page)

1.5 each roasted cippolini onions in ¼’s  (Next page)

1/3 cups seared morel mushrooms (two page)

¼ cup 70% reduced veal stock(pg # coming)

7 each cooked snails (Next Page)

2 each nubs of butter (equivalent shown in two pages)

2 tbls chopped flat leaf parsley

A few squirts of madeira and sherry vinegar

 salt and pepper for taste.

Zest of lemon

2 tbls parmesan cheese and chopped parsley

pinch of brunoise shallots and garlic.

For Cavatelli Dough

16 oz. Ricotta Cheese


2 Eggs
1 Pinch of Salt


3 Cups (1 pound) All Purpose Flour

1 each nutmeg microplained into flour

1.Pour 2 1/2 cups of the flour and nutmeg into a bowl and make a well in the middle.


2. Drop the 2 eggs and the ricotta cheese into the well.

3. Using a circular motion, slowly incorporate the flour into the eggs and cheese.


4. Once all of the flour has been combined with the eggs and cheese, knead the dough together until a soft, but not sticky dough is formed.  It can depend on the day, but if the dough still remains sticky add more flour.

5. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for at least a half an hour.

Formation

1. Take your ball of dough and divide it into quarters.


2. Working with one quarter at a time, lay the dough out on a lightly floured surface and divide it into quarters again.


3. Take a piece of the divided dough about a 16^th of the recipe and roll it into a long tube about 1/4 inch in diameter.

4. Divide the tube into pieces 1 inch long with either a pastry cutter or a knife.

5. Using the edge of a butter knife or bench knife, holding your desired utensil at a 45 degree angle, press on each piece of dough and pull across the length of it.  You’ll find that the motion causes the dough to roll up the edge of the blade.

6. When you are done with each cavatelli, have a lightly floured pan near by so you can toss them in and repeat the process.

For Escargot

Get fresh snails if possible if not use a can.

Start a court bouillon  (Fennel, onion, carrot, celery, leeks, parsley, bay leaves, thyme, peppercorns, water, lemon) and bring to a boil, then reducing to a simmer.

While waiting for the boil wash off about 36 to 40 snails by soaking them in ice water for about 5 min agitating frequently , pull the snails out of the water and transfer into another pot of ice water and repeating until water baths are clear and snails are clean. Court bouillon should be at a simmer by now, placing a large metal bowl with your snails, in a larger bowl with an ice bath in it, pour simmering court bouillon over the snails, give them a stir once covered in liquid, let cool completely and remove snails, strain the liquid and reserve. Now using the back side of a small pairing knife pull gently of the heads of the snail till you can grab with your fingers, twisting it out as they curl inside of the shell. Place in a small container and cover with reserved liquid.

For carrots

Using bunched carrots wash thoroughly,  cut into workable sizes approximately 3 inch logs cut into ¼’s lengthwise depending on thickness of carrot. Your main goal is to make sure the carrots are all about the same size, reason being they will all cook about the same amount of time.

After cutting your carrots, toss them in a bowl, add some salt and some fresh ground black pepper, 1 tsp chopped thyme, coat the veggies in olive oil and lay out on a sheet tray in an even layer and roast in the oven at about 375 degrees Fahrenheit 12 to 15 minutes, stir and continue to roast until some color has been achieved on the carrot.

For Cippolini onions.

In a pan add 2 tbl canola oil, bring to a light smoke, add enough onions to make an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Cook  in the pan until the first side has developed some caramelization, rotate each onion onto the uncooked side, wait for the same caramelizeation now add a few tablespoons of sherry wine and deglaze with veal stock cooking until the onions are soft, pull out of the liquid and let cool on a plate. Reduce the rest of the veal stock and sherry until almost set and reserve for later use.

For Fava beans

Stating with the fresh beans, pop open the pod and clear the beans with a gentle finger trying not to break the bean.  Bring 1 quart water a bay leave, 3 sprigs of thyme, 1 sliced shallot up to a boil and add 3 tbls salt. Have 1 cup of fava beans already prepped for blanching. Add the 1 cup of fava beans to the boiling quart of salt water for about 1 min 30 seconds. The bean will still be in a pod so peel that away and try a bean. There should be a small bite in the middle but cooked almost all the way through. Once cooked, drop in an ice bath to shock the cooking process.

For Mushrooms

¼ cup shallots brunoise

2 tbls brunoise garlic

5 sprigs of Chopped thyme

¼ cups canola oil

1 Tbls madeira

5 nubs butter (about 3 tbl)

About 1 pound fresh mushrooms

Usually all mushrooms are dirty and need cleaning. How I process mushrooms is fill a deep container full of cold water and crushed ice if you have the availability, fill a second container full of cold water. Add the mushrooms to the ice water mix and agitate gently not to break up the mushroom, count to 15 while agitating. Once you have hit 15 let stand for another 30 seconds, so the dirt and sut will sink to the bottom of the container. After 30 seconds pulling from the bottom of the mush room float if you will, transfer the mushrooms to the second tub, agitate again gently. Dump out the first tub, clean out the sink and refill the tub with fresh clean cold water and repeat the process until water is clean and clear. Once water is clean and clear and mushrooms are clean, remove them from the water and lay them out on a towel to dry, 1 day is preferable.

In a large flat bottom pan add oil and heat till light smoke. Add shallots and garlic and sauté until translucent over medium high heat once cooked add mushrooms and continue to cook. There will be a release of a lot of water from the mushrooms, continue to cook until the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are starting to fry a little, at this point add the thyme and madeira cook until madeira is absorbed add the butter and cook until the butter is frothy and toasted add salt, pull the mushrooms and let drain on a towel. This process is good for any dark mushrooms, crimini, hen of the woods, morel, black trumpet etc.

To assemble the dish

all of these ingredients need to be completed as shown above for optimal flavor.

Set a pot of salted water for cooking pasta. Bring to a boil. Set a strainer in the water to catch the pasta when added to the water.

In a medium sized sauté pan bring up some oil to a light smoke, add the shallots and garlic cooking until soft, add the mushrooms, carrots, and cipollini onions, cook till hot deglaze with madeira, add veal stock and fava beans and snails, at this point drop pasta in the boiling water with the colander, cook till tender. Now the sauce should be reduced by about 70%. Add nubs of butter and mount in, toss in the pasta and parsley into the mixture and cook till glazed and coated, adjust flavor with sherry vinegar.