Egg yolk ravioli (and oriecchette)

I spent much of the weekend getting in the mood for Christmas: I cooked brussels sprouts, we bought a tiny tree, I caught up with family and their Christmas plans, I made zimtsterne, put up Christmas decorations, we bought and initiated an advent calendar, stayed in playing games and eating Lebkuchen... And overnight last night it snowed and capped off my indoor decorations with a beautiful (if rapidly melting) outdoor sprinkling of white. I do feel a bit more festive now.

With the three egg yolks remaining after making zimtsterne (I decided Christmas / zimtsterne was enough of a special occasion to warrant buying eggs... fancy, multicoloured ones) I decided to try out making egg yolk ravioli. We'd seen an egg yolk raviolo on Professional Masterchef a few years ago and it looked awesome (think we are usually inordinately excited whenever they make something vegetarian, but in this case it seemed justified). I used the eggless pasta dough recipe I have used before, and decided to try turnip as an additional filling (the traditional version seems to involve ricotta; I was intrigued by the idea of turnip though and had some in the fridge).

For the pasta dough:
(note: this makes way too much for 3 ravioli, hence the oriecchette - estimate enough for ~15 ravioli)
1/2 cup pasta flour
1/2 cup plain flour
1/2 tbsp gram flour
1/2 tsp salt
water

For the filling:
(note: the mashed turnip is probably enough for about 10-12 ravioli, depending on size of turnip)
1 large turnip (the white kind)
salt
~ 1/2 tbsp thyme leaves
1 tbsp soy yoghurt (or fake milk, or nothing)
1/2 tbsp olive oil
pepper
3 egg yolks, carefully separated from the whites so as not to break the membrane
a little bit more egg for closing

First prepare the pasta dough: mix the flours and salt in a pile on a clean worktop, then made a pit in the middle and add the water a little at a time, mixing with your fingers (while being careful not to break the ramparts), until it comes together into a kneadable dough. Knead for a few minutes then wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge for at least 30 min / up to a few days.

While the dough is chilling, peel the turnip, chop into large chunks and then put into a pan of salted water to boil. Boil for ~10-15 min, until tender, then drain thoroughly and transfer back to the pan. Add the thyme, yoghurt (if using), olive oil and some salt and pepper and mash with a fork until fairly smooth. If it seems liquidy at all heat a little while to evaporate off the extra liquid. Set aside and let cool until handlable.

Take out the dough and make six small balls (each about the size of a large marble). Flour a clean worktop and rolling pin, then roll out each ball until it is super thin and you can see through it (try and keep the shape roughly circular). Choose three base pieces and space them out flat on a board. In the centre of each make a little nest of ~ 1 1/2 tbsp turnip mash, with a dent in the middle for the egg to go in. Wet your hands (and anything else you plan to touch the egg yolks with), and carefully transfer one egg yolk into each nest. Gently place the top pieces of rolled-out pasta dough over the egg yolks and press into place carefully, trying to exclude large air bubbles from getting in with the filling. Make a ring around the filling using any remaining egg yolk and/or white and press down firmly all around the circle to close the ravioli. Use the back of a fork to press some more if you want to be really sure of a firm closure. Trim the edges to remove excess pasta (keep the offcuts - you can cook them as random pasta shapes).

Bring a large pan of slightly salted water to the boil. Add the ravioli. Boil for ~3-4 minutes. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon, drain, transfer to plates and eat.


I cooked the offcuts as irregular fettucine. I also made oriecchette (wanted to try making a shape that didn't involve rolling!) with some of the remaining dough to make this into more of a meal: pinch of pieces about the size of a small marble and flatten into discs about 7 mm thick. Put on a clean surface, then roll your thumb across the disc, pressing firmly all the way across. It should roll up into an oriecchette (little ear) shape. These will take a little longer to cook than the ravioli as the pasta is quite thick - perhaps 5-6 min. They can be dried and stored if desired.


The egg yolk ravioli were amazing. The turnip and thyme went beautifully, and I felt like it was nice / important to have something extra to complement the egg yolk taste and also for structure when building the ravioli. Really fun to cut into the ravioli and have the orange yolk gush out. S was excited, and that was my main aim, so I'd call this a success. The mashed turnip was also pretty tasty on its own, and what's more reminded me of S's favourite celeriac pasta sauce, so I mushed it in with the oriecchette and that worked quite well too.

Christmas Eve turnip salad

We had dinner with a few friends on Christmas Eve. Among other things, I made a salad with small turnips. I was excited about these when Alvin dropped them off to me among other CSA goodies - I had some once before and roasted them, which was the wrong thing to do - I realised after doing it that I should have followed my gut and made salad. This latest lot were beauties: white and perfectly smooth, with lovely, green, healthy leaves. The leaves tasted lovely - slightly peppery, less so than rocket, quite similar to mizuna, also in texture (quite juicy and big, not tough in the slightest). (NB I thought the cinnamon and cranberries made it Christmassy?).

1 bunch of small (~ping pong ball sized) turnips, greens and roots separated, trimmed, washed and dried
juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
salt+pepper
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
handful pumpkin seeds, toasted
handful dried cranberries
petals of 3 agamous marigold flowers

Scrape the turnip roots if they need it, then slice them thinly. Put in a serving bowl with the lime, vinegar, oil, maple syrup, cinnamon, salt and pepper, toss and leave while you prep the rest of the stuff. Roughly chop the turnip leaves. Right before serving, add the pumpkin seeds, cranberries, turnip leaves and marigold petals to the turnip root mixture and toss.


This was prob the best thing I made. Really into the turnip leaves and roots: both are lovely and softly peppery / crisp. And the marigolds were probably the last thing I'll harvest from the balcony this year.

Roasted turnips with turnip greens

Another delivery from Alvin, another vegetable I rarely buy. This time a bunch of cute little white turnips, doing their best to disguise themselves as ping pong balls to escape being cooked. I didn't have much idea what to do with them, so decided to roast the turnips and saute the greens, with plenty of garlic and rosemary, then see how it all went together.

1 bunch of small white turnips, greens and roots separated
5 cloves garlic
olive oil
water
salt and pepper
small bunch of rosemary
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Heat oven to 350F. Wash the roots, top and tail them, chop into wedges (or leave whole, depending on the size), and arrange in a baking dish.  Add 3 whole garlic cloves (unpeeled) and 4 sprigs of rosemary. Pour over about 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tbsp water, season and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the turnips are soft and savoury.

Meanwhile, wash and roughly chop the greens, and peel and chop the remaining garlic. Heat 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a frying pan and saute the garlic until just starting to brown. Add the greens, cover, and saute until wilted. Season.

When the turnip roots are done, remove them from the oven and add the balsamic vinegar to the pan, tossing to deglaze. Remove the skins from the garlic and any twiggy bits of the rosemary. Allow to cool, then toss together with the greens, checking for seasoning and oil / vinegar.


The greens were surprisingly good: very tender and tasty, slightly peppery. The turnip roots I may have overcooked a little, as I mixed them with some beetroot that might have needed a bit longer. Came out tasting fine, just a bit squishy. I tasted some turnip root raw and it was very good - kohlrabi-like crunch and juiciness and colour - would perhaps have made a good salad, lightly pickled / with coriander and chilli.