Caramelle with confit garlic ricotta and Grana Padano

Caramelle with confit garlic ricotta and Grana Padano

(serves 4)

Preparation time – 35-45 minutes

Resting time – 30 minutes

Cooking time – 5 minutes

Ingredients

For the caramelle pasta:

300g ‘00’ flour/pasta flour (plus extra for dusting)

8-9 egg yolks, around 220g

Sprinkle of salt

Semolina, to avoid pasta sticking to your work surface once made up into caramelle

 For the Grana Padano Riserva filling 

250g ricotta- drained

1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

35g finely grated Grana Padano Riserva

Zest of ½ lemon

Sprinkle of sea salt flakes

For the garlic confit

12-14 cloves of garlic- peeled (two bulbs)

300ml rapeseed oil

2 slices of lemon rind

½ tsp of pepper corns

2 sprigs of thyme

40g butter

150g girolles, cleaned

4 sprigs of rosemary, broken up into bite sized portions 

Several turns of freshly ground black pepper

Method

For the carmelle pasta:

1.     Begin by making your pasta as this will need to rest and be refrigerated for 30 minutes ahead of rolling

2.     Pour the flour out onto your work surface and make a well in the middle. Crack in the egg yolks and combine using a fork

3.     Create a ball of dough and then knead for 5 minutes, building the gluten. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the fridge for 30 minutes

4.     Cut the dough into 3 pieces (make sure you keep any dough you’re not rolling out wrapped up)

5.     Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it’s thin enough to be passed through the largest setting of your pasta machine. Pass it through once, fold in two then begin to pass through each setting twice until you reach the penultimate setting. I like to keep the pasta a little thicker. Repeat until you have used up your three pieces of dough

For the garlic confit:

1.     Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan with enough oil so all the cloves are submerged. Then, place over a medium to low heat and simmer for around 35 minutes. Allow to cool before using. 

For the Grana Padano Riserva filling:

1.     Combine all ingredients, mixing thoroughly, until you have an evenly zested and seasoned ricotta, being mindful to mash the confit garlic cloves so they’re well combined. 

To make the caramelle:

1.     Cut your strips of pasta into even sized rectangles - roughly around 4cm x 3.5cm. – and lay them out on your work surface (dust the surface with flour or semolina to prevent the pasta sticking)

2.     Either spoon or pipe even dollops of ricotta along the bottom of each rectangle, (around 2cm long). Next, roll the pasta longways to create a tube around the ricotta, pat down each end of the tube flat, then bring/pinch the edges together to create the sweetie-like shape.  Place the pasta on parchment paper with plenty of fine semolina to avoid sticking

3.     Cook in a large pan of boiling, generously salted water until the caramelle pasta floats to the top- around a minute or two. 

4.     In a large frying pan, melt the butter then add in the girolles and fry until crisp. Add the rosemary then prior to serving add in your cooked caramelle pasta and coat in the flavoured butter. Serve with grated Grana Padano Riserva. 

 I am working with Grana Padano to create this delicious recipe as part of their festive Tastemaker programme. The ritual of making pasta requires commitment, it’s not something that is done on the hop. It needs to be scheduled, prepped and looked forward to. The methodical, repetitive nature of the process requires your complete attention. For me, it’s meditative.

I savour the opportunity to make up these sweet-like bundles. The process itself is incredibly soothing and the results are very special. This is more than a plate of pasta; this is a gift to your guests and to yourself.

The immediate but delicate hit of zest is duly followed by the warm, sweet and creamy notes of garlic, perfectly offset by the Grana Padano Riserva, which has been aged for over 20 months and brings beautifully nutty flavour. These flavours are beautifully wrapped up in the softest of shells and each shell is truly one of life’s great pleasures. 

Caramelle means candy in Italian, which is where this pasta shape draws its inspiration from. It can be made by simply twisting the pasta case as if it’s a sweet wrapper in opposing directions or pinched together like I’ve done here. 

FOR MORE INFO ON GRANA PADANO HEAD HERE