The Omnivore New York Professional Master Classes were divided into 6 segments. In each of these segments, an Omnivore chef would present a dish and discuss cooking methods and techniques.
Omnivore Lesieur Créateur (Chef of the Year), Giovanni Passerini, who currently cooks at Rino in Paris, started the first session. Giovanni recently moved to Paris from Rome about 4 years ago. He describes his cooking as cooking with an Italian spirit, but with French ingredients.
For the Omnivore F*** Dinner, he chose to cook Ravioli with Sugar Snap Peas. “Ravioli is a way to say welcome.” It’s a typical Italian recipe, just seasoned with Pecorino and black pepper. The sugar snap peas are American.
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| Giovanni Passerini |
The Method
- To make the pasta, Passerini uses twenty egg yolks per kilo, 1 kilo flour and about 220 kg of water.
- The most important thing about pasta – you’ve got to work it a lot. Passerini spends about 45 minutes working the pasta by hand
- Passerini uses less Semolina because the grain is too big, and it will make the pasta too thick.
- You can tell if the pasta is done when you break it in half – you should not see the “turns.”
- Be sure to let the dough rest.
- When making pasta for ravioli, be sure to try to make it thin, and cut the edges with a knife
- Squeeze ravioli filling (ricotta, pecorino, agar) onto the pasta sheet. Cut little circles with the mold. Form the ravioli – you want “to make it look like a hat,” so pinch the edges.
- Boil and cook for 3 minutes
- In another pot, heat olive oil, some pasta water, and sauté the peas for a few seconds. Season with salt, pepper and add a little more pasta water. The peas should be crunchy.
The end result
- The pasta should shine, as what a German chef once told Passerini. Just add a little olive oil
- The green peas should be very green, and should be really poppy and crunch in the mouth.
- The Percorino is really salty and intense…”BANG.” It will contrast with the green and sweet
- All ingredients should have a really nice harmony
- Finish the dish with pea leaves as garnish. The pea leaves will give a slight bitterness to the dish.
- Finally add licorice butter, pea flowers, and fresh pepper.
