ITALY IN MANHATTAN – PANSOTTI WITH LEMON BUTTER SAUCE

I have recently returned from New York City.  Our trip was to celebrate my mothers’ 80th birthday and celebrate we did, with gallery tours, Broadway, lots of walking, shopping and eating!

One of the highlights of our trip was lunch at Mario Batali’s incredible Italian mega-marketplace called Eataly. Eataly is for the food obsessed. Here you will find everything Italian, there are many small restaurants, fresh meats and cheeses, pastas, oils, sauces, kitchen staples and kitchen gadgets, the list goes on. And did I mention that it is the size of a Home Depot!

We had lunch at La Pizza & Pasta, a restaurant inside Eataly.

I had the Inslate Bianca to start.

Then I decided on the Pansotti with Lemon Butter Sauce.  The pasta was stuffed with ricotta and spinach then sautéed with lemon and butter and topped with pistachios. So simple and so delicious. This was heaven on my plate.

I have been dreaming of this pasta since I have been home and how I could make it in my own kitchen.  Well tonight is the night to try and I hope to make Gordy very happy.  

My recipe for Pansotti with Lemon Butter Sauce
Pansotti is a triangular shaped ravioli.  I could not find it the day I went shopping so I used agnolotti, a half moon shapped pasta that I bought  from Bologna Pastificio.

This recipe will serve 4.

Ingredients:

  • 4 tsp olive oil
  • 2 – 3 clove garlic crushed
  • 10 Tbs unsalted butter (you must buy the best butter you can find)
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • juice of two lemon
  • 1/2 cup toasted & chopped pistachios
  • 2 lb spinach & ricotta pansotti or ravioli

Fresh parmesan chesse for grating on top and freshly ground pepper to finish. 

Directions:

  1. Boil water for ravioli and while it is cooking prepare the sauce, salt the water.
  2. In a large saucepan  over medium heat add olive oil and crushed garlic. Cook until you can smell the garlic.
  3. Add butter and turn down heat constantly stirring to melt.(do not brown the butter).
  4. Add lemon juice and zest and cook for a few minutes then turn off the heat.
  5. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  6. Drain ravioli and toss in the lemon butter. (You can add the drained raviloi directly into the pan with the lemon butter).
  7. Divide among 4 plates.
  8. Top with the toasted pistachios and a little grated Parmesan and a grind of pepper.

Here is my interpretation. Gordy, Zach and Yale loved it, and so did I.