Veal, Portobello Mushroom and Carrot Ravioli with Browned Butter and Fresh English Peas

Drawing blank on new ideas and wandering Whole Foods Market in hopes of inspiration, I remembered it's been a while since I'd made any ravioli.  It was a good day for a kitchen excursion.  Various projects and work have taken up much of my day lately, so the luxury of spending quality time in the kitchen has been scarce.  But today was a good day.  I had thought of making osso bucco, as Maggie has requested it a few times now, but in my effort to Spring forward, I decided against braising a veal shank.  No other cuts of veal were available, so I went with ground veal and hence the ravioli.


1 lb ground veal
2 cups finely diced portobello mushrooms
1/4 cup Madeira
1 tbsp minced fresh sage leaves
salt and pepper to taste


2 cups roughly cut carrots
1/2 cup small shallots, peeled
2 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper


1/2 cup flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
1 1/2 cups grated comte cheese
1 cup whole milk ricotta
1 tbsp good balsamic vinegar


In a large skillet, brown ground veal, then add portobello and saute until softened.  Add madeira and stir to incorporate.  Once madeira has evaporated, add sage and salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside to cool.

Roast carrots and shallots with olive oil, salt, pepper in a baking dish at 375f until softened, about 20-25 minutes.  Puree in a food processor.


Combine veal, portobello mixture with carrot, shallot puree.  Then stir in parsley, cheese and balsamic vinegar and adjust seasoning with more salt and pepper as needed.
Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the shells, you can either buy fresh already prepared sheets of pasta, or make your own.  It being kitchen project day, I decided to roll my own fresh pasta, again following Marcella Hazan's recipe.   My only addition was a drizzle of truffle oil in the mixture.  I used a pasta roller attachment on my standing mixer and rolled the dough to #4 setting.

Fill one side of the sheet with dollops of filling and fold the sheet over lengthwise.  Cut using a rolling pastry cutter.  I froze a good portion of the ravioli for future use.  For tonight's portion, I boiled for just 2-3 minutes and served browned butter, blanched English peas, candied pecans, drizzle of balsamic vinegar and freshly grated pecorino romano cheese.

I have to say, it was excellent.  Next time I may do more carrots in the mixture.  The peas added a sweetness and freshness to the dish.  The girls gobbled everything down as did I!