Ultimate Cook Book_ 900 New Recipes, Thousands of Ideas - Bruce Weinstein [123]
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10. Crab Filling
Makes about 1½ cups
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 medium shallot, minced
½ pound crabmeat, picked over for shell and cartilage
¼ cup plain dried bread crumbs
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a medium skillet set over medium heat. Add the shallot and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 1 minute. Add the crab, stir well, and remove from the heat.
Stir in the bread crumbs, mustard, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Set aside for 5 minutes to cool, then use at once.
Step 2: Make the dough.
You only need to do this if you’re using fresh pasta; dried pasta is already shaped so you can skip to step 3. For fresh pasta, follow steps 1 through 3 in the instructions for making fresh pasta from a pasta machine. Once you get to step 3, continue stretching and flattening the pasta sheet to the thinnest possible setting on the machine to create a very long, paper-thin sheet of pasta. Place this sheet on a clean kitchen towel spread out on your work surface, then continue with more pasta balls until you have several of these long sheets.
For fresh manicotti: Cut the prepared pasta sheets into 6-inch sections. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, drop the sections in, and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from the pot with a slotted spoon and place in a colander in the sink. Rinse with cool water, then lay the sections on your work surface. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of filling about ½ inch from the side borders along one side of each section. Roll them up like cigars (not tightly, but together). Place them seam side down in a lightly oiled 13 × 9-inch baking sheet.
For fresh ravioli: Place a scant tablespoon of filling in small balls down the prepared pasta sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Fold the sheet in half lengthwise so it covers the filling, keeping each dot in a distinct pile. Use a ravioli cutter (with a crimped edge), a pizza cutter, or a paring knife to cut between the fillings and make the ravioli. Working with floured fingers, pick up the ravioli and press the edges closed—a ravioli cutter is supposed to seal them, but often it doesn’t. Set aside to dry for 10 minutes, then cook, following the instructions for cooked pasta on section Pasta and Noodles. Do not let the water come to a full boil. Instead, drop the ravioli in when it’s lightly simmering, then reduce the heat so it doesn’t roll too much and break open the pasta. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the ravioli to a colander set in the sink.
For fresh cappelletti: These little rounded “hats” with pointy tips are often called tortellini in the United States. Cut the prepared pasta sheets into 2-inch squares, using a pizza cutter or a sharp paring knife; you may be able to get double rows of squares out of the sheets if they’re wide enough. Separate the squares. Place about ½ teaspoon filling in the center of each. Fold closed, opposite corner to opposite corner, so that it makes a triangle. Flour your fingers, pick up the triangle, and seal the edges. Turn the triangle so the point farthest from the filling is at the top, then bend the other two points gently around your finger so that they meet. Pinch the two points together, then gently slide the cappelletto off your finger. The top point should be sticking up like the point of a Renaissance cap (thus, the name). Once made, set the cappelletti aside to dry for 10 minutes. Cook according to the directions for cooking pasta on section Pasta and Noodles, but do not let the water come to a full boil. When lightly simmering, drop them in, then reduce the heat so they cook gently without knocking around in the pot. Use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a colander in the sink.
Step 3: Shape and stuff the pasta.
For dried shells: Because you need a specialized mold or a very deft hand technique