Lobster Ravioli in a Sweet Corn and Asparagus Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 lbs PEI lobster tails (or about ¾ lb (350 grams) cooked lobster meat)
• 2/3 cup ricotta
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, grated
• Salt, to taste
• Freshly ground pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
• ¼ cup white wine
• 1 ½ cups asparagus, cut into ½ inch pieces on a bias
• 2 ears of corn, kernels cuts from cobs (or 1 ½ cups frozen corn kernels)
• 1 cup 35% cream
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• ¾ cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• ½ cup fresh basil leaves

Directions:

Pasta dough:

On a clean countertop, make a well with the flour, add the eggs and egg yolk to the centre. With a fork, break and start to whisk eggs gently, slowly starting to incorporate the flour from the inside of the well working towards the outside. Once you have combined the dough as much as you can with the fork, start to knead the dough with your hands. Knead dough together for 3 -5 minutes until dough is a smooth, elastic ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Pasta dough can be made one day in advance.

Filling:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, once boiling add lobster tails, cook until they turn bright red, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a bowl of ice water, let cool for 2 – 3 minutes, drain. Once they are cool enough to handle, remove the shell and finely chop the lobster meat.

In a large bowl mix together lobster, ricotta, lemon zest, grated garlic, season with salt and pepper.

Filling ravioli:

Divide pasta dough into 4 pieces, working one at a time, keeping the other pieces wrapped while you work on one. Set your pasta machine to the widest opening, flatten the dough into a rectangle (no large than the opening), roll through once, and then fold in both sides and roll through again repeating this process two more times on the widest setting. Then begin to roll the pasta through the thinner settings, going up one setting at a time, adding a small dusting of flour if needed to prevent the dough from sticking. Roll out the dough until it is almost paper thin, about 1/16 of an inch. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Cover rolled out pasta with a damp kitchen towel.

On a lightly floured surface, working with 1 length of pasta at a time, spoon ½ tbsp of filling on the pasta 4-inches apart from each other. Lightly spray or brush the dough with water around the filling and carefully place another pasta sheet on top. Press down around filling, pushing out any air pockets and sealing the dough around the filling.

Cut out the ravioli with a round cookie cutter and transfer to a flour dusted parchment covered baking tray, cover with a damp towel. Repeat with remaining dough and filling, re-rolling discarded dough scraps if needed.

Once all ravioli have filled, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.

In a large sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter, add shallots and garlic, cook until they begin to soften about 5 – 6 minutes, season with salt and pepper. Add ¼ cup white wine to de-glaze, and let reduce until it is almost gone, 1 – 2 minutes. Add corn and asparagus, cook for 3 – 4 minutes, until they begin to brighten and are slightly tender. Add cream, bring to a simmer over medium high heat and then reduce to medium low, let cook for 5 minutes until cream slightly reduces. Stir in half the Parmesan cheese.

Once the sauce is almost done, add ravioli in 2 batches to the boiling water, let cook for 2 – 3 minutes, until the ravioli rises to the top of the water, transfer directly to the saucepan. Gently toss the ravioli in the sauce. Divide ravioli among plates, garnish with remaining Parmesan, freshly ground black pepper and tear over basil leaves.