Crab Ravioli with Safron & Dijon Sauce

So when Bestie K and I were in Boston we decided to go out for a romantic Italian dinner in Little Italy. I am so glad that we took the recommendation from a local free press, as the restaurant we ended up going to was amazing - such delicious food, cheap with warm and inviting service.

I had the lobster ravioli served in a mustard cream sauce - it was so freaking amazing I've been dreaming of it every since, so I decided to recreate it using crab. Couldn't find any recipes with a mustard sauce so I'm pretty glad that it all worked out for dinner last night. I made it for Boyfriend because he has been working so hard lately while I had the afternoon off.

Serves 2-3 people.

Ravioli -
8 Fresh pasta sheets (I use lasagne sheets from the market)
3 spring onions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp Dill, finely chopped
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp sweet paprika
250g ricotta
200g fresh crab meat, roughly chopped
good shake of salt and pepper
1/5 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup parmesan cheese grated
2 tablespoons chopped basil
2 garlic cloves minced
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
egg and flour

Sauce-
White part only of I leek, quartered and thinly sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup light cream
4 saffron threads
dijon mustard
Butter

Salad -
Fresh spinach leaves
red onion thinly sliced.

Preparation.
Mix all ravioli fillings together, except egg and flour. Set aside.
Sprinkle flour of a clean dry surface and place 1 lasagna sheet.

Depending on the size of your pasta sheet as well as how big you want the ravioli to be, spoon filling onto 1 half of sheet. Brush second half of sheet with egg mix. Fold sheet over the mix and press firmly to remove any air. Cut into squares cutting off excess pasta. Brush pressed sides with egg mix making sure the ravioli wont separate. Repeat with remaining lasagna sheets.
Sprinkle with flour so that pasta wont stick together.
Set aside until sauce is simmering.

Cook ravioli (putting in one at a time, so as not to stick) in salted and oiled boiling water, until they float. Drain well and serve with a nice spoonful of sauce and a little sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Sauce.

Carefully saute leek in olive oil and butter mix. Add 1/2 of wine and simmer till alcohol is cooked out. Add cream and bring to a slow simmer. Add saffron threads and mustard to taste (about three tsp is good). Stirring occasionally, let simmer for about 10 minutes or until thickened slightly and saffron has colored sauce well. Add tomato and set aside.

Tip. A sprinkling of white pepper really helps to bring out the mustard while the tomato cuts through the sauce nicely. Serving with basic salad and lemon soaked red onion slices refreshes the palate nicely between bites. If you dont want crab, I think smoked trout would be a nice alternative.

So it's really hard to explain how to make little ravioli pockets- if anyone has any suggestions on how to better explain myself feel free to comment or email me!