Pasta stuffed with courgette and feta


I think I've finally mastered the art of stuffed pasta. I attempted something novel this evening in that I cut little circles out of pasta to make circular ravioli instead of square. It means there's more stuffing and less overlap of pasta round the edges that tastes of nothing. Which is definitely a good thing. I also changed my pasta dough recipe by omitting the tablespoon of water I normally add: it means the dough is more difficult to pass through the machine at first (it crumbles a bit), but after that it is infinitely easier to work with, and doesn't stick together. The eggs I used were laid by my Dad's colleague's hens, and they turned the dough a rather startlingly bright orange. 




I've long been a fan of a Nigel Slater recipe for courgette and feta cakes: saute spring onions with garlic and grated courgette until golden, then mix in feta, flour and dill and form into cakes, then fry. They are delicious - I'm not normally a fan of courgettes because they can often be watery and bitter, but somehow when mixed with dill and feta they take on a wonderful flavour. When you fry the cakes and get a lovely crispy outside and a soft inside where the feta has melted...food heaven.

It seemed an obvious candidate for stuffing pasta. I added pine nuts for a bit more texture, and served the pasta with a lemon, parsley and butter sauce. I figured a creamy sauce would be overkill given the feta in the stuffing; these lovely little ravioli (not the technical term I am sure, as I think ravioli are square, but I am too tired to look it up right now) taste great just with lemon, butter and parmesan.