This dish is definitely not for the faint hearted weekend cook. It demands a love for cooking and the will to put in an effort to serve a dish that would leave a diner satisfied and raise you status as a cook by many notches. Junior Sous Chef Dhruv Pathak of The Park, New Delhi, who has shared this recipes with the readers, calls it one of his personal favourites.
Smoked Chicken and Roman artichoke cappelletone with garlic cream emulsion
Ingredients
110 gms flour
1 egg
25 ml milk
10 ml olive oil
5 gms garlic
20 gms butter
50 ml fresh cream
540 gms apple wood smoked chicken breast
2 Roman artichoke
10 gms spinach
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Basil leaves for garnish
3 cherry tomatoes
Water as required
10 gms Mascarpone cheese
5 gms Parmesan cheese
Method
For the dough
Sieve the flour with salt and make a heap of flour and a hole in the middle. Pour the egg and a teaspoon of milk to it and knead the dough. Sprinkle only a little water keeping in mind that the dough does not go to dry nor to moist and it develops elasticity. As the dough is elastic, which it would be in 10 minutes, wrap it with a clean film and let it rest.
For the filling
Dice the Roman artichoke and shred the smoked chicken breast in fine shreds. Mix both of them in a bowl with mascarpone cheese and add seasoning.
How to make the cappelletone
Roll out the pasta sheet in the dough-sheeter and cut each portion with a round mould of 4 inches diameter. Stuff the centre with the filling and apply egg on the sides to seal the pasta. Fold into a half moon shape and then join both the ends to make it a cappelletonne.
For the sauce
Boil the milk and set aside to cool. In a heavy bottom pan, mix equal quantity of flour and butter and make it a blonde roux. Mix the milk whisking continuously over slow flame to make a sauce. Add seasoning and strain.
How to blanch the pasta
In a pasta blancher, boil water with salt. Put the cappelletone in boiling water and let it stay for over 3 to 4 minutes. The filling and the size of the pasta is so heavy that it will not rise as a gnocchi or a small ravioli will rise up to the surface so we have to keep it in mind that the pasta will not rise and will get cooked in 3 to 4 minutes.
How to finish the pasta
Shred spinach and in a pan. Sautee it and keep aside. Add olive oil into a pan and add chopped garlic and sautee. Add the white sauce to it and finish it with some grated Parmesan and cream.
How to serve it
In a pasta plate cover the base with the cream sauce and set the base of sautéed spinach over which the cappelletonne will rest. As the cappelletonne is blanched, place it over the bed of spinach and pour the remaining sauce over the cappelletone. Add a quenelle of the remaining smoked chicken, mascarpone and Roman artichoke mixture on top of the pasta. Put three sautéed cherry tomatoes in olive oil as garnish along with fried basil leaves. Add few flakes of Parmesan cheese and pan-seared half of the roman artichoke.
