Pollo alla cacciatora – chicken cacciatore ravioli with cavolo nero sauce

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Cacciatore, coming from the Italian word for hunter, is a popular chicken recipe where the meat is braised in a rustic style with onion, herbs, wine and vegetables. Gennaro Esposito reinvents the classic dish, lining parcels of ravioli with a rich chicken filling before serving with a verdant cavolo nero sauce, earthy girolle mushrooms and buttery burrata.

First published in 2016

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

Pasta dough

  • 250g of pasta flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 extra to glaze
  • 25g of olive oil
  • 1 pinch of salt

Chicken filling

  • 2 chicken thighs, skin on, deboned and cleaned
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped
  • 2 spring onions, diced
  • 1 stick of celery, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 handful of girolles, chopped
  • 100ml of white wine
  • 400g of tinned chopped tomatoes, preferably Piennolo
  • 30g of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Cavolo nero sauce

  • 50g of cavolo nero, cleaned and chopped
  • 1 garlic clove, whole
  • 1/2 red chilli
  • 15g of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt
  • pepper

Mushroom sauce

  • 1 garlic clove, whole
  • 15g of girolles, chopped
  • 3g of mixed herbs, sprigs such as rosemary, thyme and marjoram
  • 20g of vegetable stock
  • 15g of extra virgin olive oil
  • salt

To serve

  • 15g of burrata
  • 4 sprigs of rosemary
  • 4 sprigs of oregano
  • pepper
  • extra virgin olive oil

Equipment

  • Mincer
  • Piping bag and nozzle
  • Fluted pasta wheel/cutter
  • Blender

Method

1
Begin by making the pasta dough. Sieve the flour and salt together into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Mix in both the egg yolks and whole eggs until it begins to come together as a dough, then transfer to a clean work surface
  • 250g of pasta flour
  • 1 pinch of salt
  • 3 egg yolks, lightly beaten
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten
2
Knead the dough for 5–10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Roll into a ball, wrap in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for 1 hour
3
Meanwhile, make the chicken ravioli filling. Add the oil to a pan and place over a medium heat. Sauté the garlic and chilli in the oil for a few minutes to infuse the oil, then remove from the pan and discard
  • 1 garlic clove, chopped
  • 1 red chilli, chopped
  • 30g of extra virgin olive oil
4
Place the chicken skin-side down in the infused oil and cook for a few minutes, turning regularly until golden brown all over. Add the diced spring onions, celery, carrot and mushrooms and continue to cook for another 5 minutes
  • 2 chicken thighs, skin on, deboned and cleaned
  • 2 spring onions, diced
  • 1 stick of celery, diced
  • 1 carrot, diced
  • 1 handful of girolles, chopped
5
Deglaze the pan with the white wine, then add the chopped tomatoes and some seasoning. Cook for 20–30 minutes, until the chicken is tender and the vegetables have softened in the liquid. Measure out 3 tablespoons of the cooking liquid from the pan and set aside, straining the rest through a fine sieve to leave the chicken and vegetables
6
Pass the chicken and vegetables through a meat mincer twice to create a coarse paste or, alternatively, blitz in a food processor until chunky. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid to loosen the mixture slightly then transfer to a piping bag. Store the filling at room temperature until required
7
Remove the pasta dough from the fridge and measure out a third – the remaining dough can be frozen to be used at a later date. Flatten it slightly in your hands and pass through a pasta machine on the thickest setting, passing the dough back through and reducing the thickness until the dough is 0.5mm thick
8
Using a teaspoon, spoon evenly spaced dots of the chicken filling across one half of the pasta sheet. Lightly egg wash around the filling with the extra beaten egg and fold over the other half of the pasta sheet to cover the filling, gently pushing out any air and pressing down firmly to seal
9
Cut out 7–8cm squares around the filling using a fluted pasta cutter. Fold in the top and bottom edges of the squares to form neat parcels, then place the ravioli on a lightly floured tray and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until needed
10
For the cavolo nero sauce, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the leaves for 3 minutes. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the cooking water and set aside, draining the leaves
  • 50g of cavolo nero, cleaned and chopped
11
In a separate pan, add the oil and place over a medium heat. Sauté the garlic and chilli in the oil for a few minutes to infuse, then add the blanched cavolo nero and continue cooking for a few minutes
  • 1 garlic clove, whole
  • 1/2 red chilli
  • 15g of extra virgin olive oil
12
Remove the garlic and chilli from the pan and transfer the leaves to a blender with the reserved cooking water. Blitz together to create a smooth, dark green sauce, season generously to taste and keep warm until required
  • salt
  • pepper
13
For the mushroom sauce, add the oil to a pan over a medium heat and sauté the garlic for a few minutes to infuse. Remove the garlic from the pan and add the girolles. Stir in the herb sprigs and season with a little salt before adding the stock. Allow to simmer, then reduce the heat and keep warm until required
  • 1 garlic clove, whole
  • 15g of extra virgin olive oil
  • 15g of girolles, chopped
  • 3g of mixed herbs, sprigs such as rosemary, thyme and marjoram
  • salt
  • 20g of vegetable stock
14
To cook the ravioli, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add a dash of olive oil. Carefully drop in the ravioli and cook for 2–3 minutes. Meanwhile, remove the sprigs of herbs from the mushroom sauce pan, straining through a sieve if required
  • 25g of olive oil
15
Drain the ravioli and transfer to the pan with the mushrooms. Quickly stir to coat in the sauce then mix through a final drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
  • extra virgin olive oil
16
To serve, spoon lines of the cavolo nero sauce across each plate and divide the ravioli and mushrooms between them. Drizzle over the remaining mushroom sauce, season generously with black pepper and finish with small spoonfuls of the burrata garnished with sprigs of fresh rosemary and oregano
  • 15g of burrata
  • 4 sprigs of rosemary
  • 4 sprigs of oregano
  • pepper

Having run his own restaurant for the last twenty-three years, Gennaro Esposito has had a remarkable career rooted in his hometown of Vico Equense. Working with Michelin-starred greats and earning two stars for himself, these achievements have only strengthened his passion and resolve to achieve new culinary heights.

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