Bacon & spinach stuffed ravioli with seabream fish on miso broth

I’m still getting used to the new job, finding my way around a completely new system and new way of life, really. I can already see a few things that’ll probably frustrate me in future but other than that, I think I’ll be happy here. There’s prospects for academic growth as well, at a bit of a price, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I am enjoying my colleagues; different characters and personalities but all well; good at their jobs and they seem to enjoy it too. And this is quite rare to find in our line of work, in our country.

Back onto the food, I’m starving. Tonight’s dinner is actually inspired by one of my new colleagues, who apparently has the same love of pasta as my husband. Hopefully she’ll like this and then go cook it at her kitchen. Crossing fingers it doesn’t end as a disaster, which is very likely!

I’m making ravioli for the first time ever tonight, using my pasta maker my husband bought for me as a ‘please make more pasta dishes’ bribery but I don’t mind much.

Dinner tonight, original plan: Homemade bacon and spinach stuffed ravioli on miso broth with fresh seabream fish, off the boat this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I actually went past the harbour on my way home from work, looking for fresh red snapper. And there was a boat coming in from sea with, as fresh as it gets fish. They had panga which is the red seabream I’m cooking tonight; black seabream and a big thresher shark! They caught a shark in the waters and it s so huge and the tail so long! Apparently they had to chop off the head for safety reasons and now they’re selling it.

 

What do you need? Serves 4

• 300g wheat flour

• 3 eggs

• fish- gutted, descaled, head removed

• baby spinach

• 3 x rashes of back bacon

• 1 x chicken thigh

• herbs – garlic, spring onion, onion, carrot, leek, celery stick

• spices- salt & pepper, cinnamon stick, bay leaves

• 1 tbs miso paste.  –  200 ml beef stock   – 50 ml coconut milk    – 25 ml lemon juice.                 – 25 ml lime juice.   – 1 tbs sweet chili sauce.

The Method

The Ravioli – on a clean surface pour out 300g of flour, making a whole in the middle for the 3 eggs. Combine and knead until it becomes a ball and no flour is sticking on your fingers. Then refrigerate for 30 min.

 

 

 

After 30 min, remove from fridge and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll out gently, just flat enough to fit through the pasta maker. Then roll through several times into long sheets, dialing it up to thinner and thinner until you can see the shadow of your hand on the other side of the sheet.

 

Then place the ravioli attachment and proceed as per manual’s instructions. I delegated this process to my husband, it was his idea in the first place after all. After my long day I need all the assistance I can get.

 

It’s looking good, the pasta sheets are perfect so far.

 

 

 

But the making of the actual parcels, is a bit more complicated and intricate.

 

The good news is there was some ravioli produced, and the bad is that it didn’t really look right and not enough. Some of the parcels leaked out the filling.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contingency plan: I’m now supplementing the ravioli with Chinese Vermicelli. The ravioli was cooked in salty boiling water for 5-7 min, al dente. Then strained.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the same salty water, cook the vermicelli. These should be done in 3 min, then strain as well.

 

 

 

 

 

• The filling – Brown diced rashes of bacon back in a non- stick pan, then add 1 tbs of garlic and 2 handfuls of baby spinach. Wilt the spinach, adding 25 ml of coconut milk. Season well with salt & pepper, then off the heat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• The broth- Roughly chop veggies( 1 onion, 1 spring onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick , 1 leek, 4 cloves of garlic). Also add 3 bay leaves, 2 cinnamon sticks, 200 ml of beef stock, 100ml water. Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer for 40 min, to extract flavour from the veg and spices. Then 1 tbs of miso paste, season with salt & pepper, continue simmering for 5 more min, then strain the broth.

• The fish – rub generously with salt, then place in a hot pan with a drizzle of olive oil, skin down. Press the fish down onto pan as the skin will curl up at this point. Turn on the other side in a min and when also crisp, deglaze the pan with 25 ml lime juice, add more salt & pepper and pop onto 230 deg oven for 3 min. You need more oven time for bigger fish.

Contingency plan no. 2: My husband is not a big fan of fish and I’m seeking browny points 🙂  so I’ll make him this dish with chicken. Cook the same as the fish, rubbed with salt & pepper, pan seared until both sides brown, but deglaze the pan with 25 ml of lemon juice and 25 ml of white wine. Then oven with the fish, different pans obviously, for 10-15 min. When cooked through, glaze the chicken with sweet chili sauce.

 

 

Assemble your dish, garnish and serve.

Bon Appetit! Don’t forget to enjoy!

And thanks husband, you did a good job and it tastes delicious :).