Ingredients
For the pasta
100g/3½oz '00' flour, plus extra for dusting (available in most supermarkets and in Italian speciality stores)
4 free-range egg yolks
25g/1oz fine semolina, plus extra for dusting
1 tbsp olive oil
pinch salt
about 2-3 tsp ice cold water
1 whole free-range egg, lightly beaten
For the ravioli filling
knob of unsalted butter
2 baby leeks, finely chopped
pinch salt
125g/4½oz smoked mozzarella cheese
1 free-range egg white, lightly beaten
salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the tomato sauce
dash olive oil
1 finger-sized red chilli, seeds removed
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
450g/1lb sweet cherry tomatoes
2 tsp sugar
500ml/18fl oz chicken stock or vegetable stock
½ tsp salt
For the basil cream
500ml/18fl oz chicken stock
300ml/10½fl oz double cream
2 large bunches basil
Method
1. For the pasta, place the flour, eggs, semolina, olive oil and a pinch of salt in a food processor. Blend until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Turn the motor on full and trickle in just enough cold water to bring the dough together to form a ball. Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
2. For the ravioli filling, melt the butter in a pan and add the leeks and a pinch of salt. Fry over a low heat until softened but not coloured. Allow to cool slightly.
3. Meanwhile grate the mozzarella and add the mozzarella, along with the beaten egg white, to the cooled leeks. Stir well. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag with a plain nozzle about 1cm/½in wide. Set aside.
4. To prepare the ravioli, lightly dust a clean work surface with flour and work the rested dough into a rough rectangle shape with your fingers. Flour the pasta machine. Starting at the lowest (thickest) setting, feed the dough through the machine, turning the handle with one hand and holding the dough as it comes through the machine with the other. Change the setting on the pasta machine to the next-thickest setting, flour it again and feed the pasta sheet through the machine again, as before.
5. Repeat this process 3-4 more times, flouring the machine and changing the setting down each time.
6. The pasta should be quite thin, but still easy to handle without tearing. Don't be tempted to skip settings or the dough may tear. Once the pasta sheets have reached the ideal thickness, trim the edges slightly. Lay the sheet flat on the work surface.
7. Brush half of the pasta with beaten egg. Pipe mounds of filling onto the wet half of the pasta. Make the mounds the size of about a teaspoon full of mixture and try to get them to stand as tall as possible.
8. Fold the remaining half of the pasta sheet over so that they cover the mounds of leek and mozzarella filling. Gently cut around these mounds with a pastry cutter (6-7cm/3in diameter).
9. Take each individual raviolo and press the air out of it with your fingers ensuring the edges are well sealed. Dust a container with fine semolina and lay the ravioli on this. Keep covered. Repeat the process until all the ravioli is used up. Set aside, covered in the fridge while you prepare the tomato sauce and basil cream.
10. For the tomato sauce, heat a large pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil, chilli and garlic and fry for a few minutes.
11. Add the tomatoes, sugar and salt and stir over a high heat. As the tomatoes start to split, mash them with a potato masher and turn the heat down.
12. When the tomatoes have cooked down so that they have lost most of their moisture, add the chicken stock. Cook until the sauce has reduced by half. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
13. Leave the mixture to cool slightly before blending it in a blender or food processor until smooth. Transfer the sauce back into the saucepan and cook until thickened slightly more. Season again with more salt and freshly ground black pepper as necessary and keep warm.
14. For the basil cream, boil the chicken stock and double cream together until reduced by half. Meanwhile roughly chop the basil. Add half of the basil to the boiling cream and stock mixture.
15. Transfer the cream mixture to a blender and add the remaining basil. Blend for about one minute, then pass the mixture through a fine sieve into a clean pan. Cook the sauce to reduce to a thick green cream. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper and keep warm.
16. To serve, boil a large pan of salted water, add the ravioli and cook for about three minutes until the ravioli rise to the surface.
17. Drain the cooked pasta well and gently stir it into the tomato sauce. Spoon into serving bowls, taking care not to break the pasta and drizzle basil cream around the edge of the plate. Serve at once.
