Italian Open Raviolo with Artichoke, Smoked Ricotta and Burnt Lemon | Raviolo Aperto di Carciofo, Ricotta Affumicata e Limone Bruciato
A raviolo aperto is a raviolo with its lid off. Two discs of thin egg pasta are cooked separately and set around a filling at the moment of service, one below and one draped above, so nothing is sealed and nothing has to survive a long boil.
This one holds three things that sharpen each other. Artichoke hearts braised in white wine with mint carry the bitterness. Smoked ricotta whipped loose with olive oil carries the fat and the smoke. Lemons halved and burnt hard on a dry pan give a dressing that is bitter, caramelised and citric at once, and it is the burnt lemon, not raw juice, that makes the plate hold together.
A fourth element is added for texture alone: outer artichoke leaves fried until glassy and brittle. Everything else on the plate is soft, and without that crack the dish reads as one continuous texture.
Yield: 4 servings. Prep: 55 minutes, plus 30 minutes resting the dough. Cook: 40 minutes. Difficulty: advanced. Course: primo piatto. Region: Lazio and Sardinia, artichoke country on both coasts.
The Story
Rome eats more artichokes than any other Italian city and has two dishes to prove it. Carciofi alla romana are stuffed with mentuccia and garlic and braised head down in oil and water until soft enough to eat with a spoon. Carciofi alla giudia come from the Jewish quarter by the Portico of Octavia, where cooks have been flattening and twice frying whole artichokes for centuries until the outer leaves open like a flower and shatter. Both depend on the carciofo romanesco, the round, purple tinged head the traders call cimarolo or mammola, grown along the Lazio coast around Ladispoli and Sezze and carrying IGP protection since 2002.
The smoked ricotta comes from the other side of the Tyrrhenian. Ricotta affumicata is made across Sardinia and Sicily by pressing and salting fresh sheep ricotta and then holding it in cool smoke, over juniper, myrtle or almond wood, until it dries into a firm grating cheese. Sardinia grows its own artichoke too, the spinoso sardo, thornier and more bitter than the Roman one.
The open raviolo itself is younger than either tradition and has a single author. Gualtiero Marchesi put his raviolo aperto on the menu of Bonvesin de la Riva in Milan in 1982, with scallops, ginger and a butter emulsion, and in doing so pulled Italian pasta apart and set it down as a plated dish. The technique here is his. The flavours, artichoke, sheep milk and lemon, are older than Rome.
Ingredients
For the egg pasta
Italian 00 flour, 1 1/2 cups (200 g)
Semola rimacinata, 1/3 cup (50 g)
Egg yolks, large, 5
Whole egg, large, 1
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)
For the artichokes
Globe artichokes, romanesco or spinoso sardo, 8
Lemon, for the acidulated water, 1
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Garlic cloves, lightly crushed, 2
Dry white wine, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Light vegetable stock, 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Fresh mint leaves, 8
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For the smoked ricotta cream
Fresh sheep ricotta, drained, 7 oz (200 g)
Ricotta affumicata, finely grated, 1 1/2 oz (40 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Whole milk, cold, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
For the burnt lemon
Lemons, unwaxed, 2
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Honey, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Flaky sea salt, a small pinch
For frying and finishing
Sunflower oil for frying, 2 cups (480 ml)
Ricotta affumicata for grating over, 1/2 oz (15 g)
Small mint leaves, 12
Reserved pasta cooking water, about 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Coarse salt for the pasta water, 1 tbsp per 4 quarts (15 g per 4 litres)
Preparation
Make and rest the pasta dough
Mound the flours on a board, make a well and add the yolks, the whole egg and the salt. Bring the eggs in with a fork, then knead 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and springs back slowly under a thumb. Wrap it and rest it 30 minutes. This dough is leaner than a full yolk sheet on purpose, because the discs are boiled naked and a very rich sheet turns slippery.
Turn the artichokes and hold them in acid
Squeeze the lemon into a bowl of cold water. Snap off the tough outer leaves by bending them back until they break, reserving the best 20 for frying. Cut off the top third, pare the base and the stem, halve the head and scrape out any choke. Drop each piece into the acidulated water at once, because cut surfaces brown within a minute in air and a browned artichoke stays grey through cooking.
Braise the hearts with mint
Warm the olive oil with the garlic in a wide pan over medium heat until the garlic smells sweet, then take it out. Add the drained halves cut side down and colour them lightly for 3 minutes. Pour in the wine, let it evaporate, add the stock, the mint and the salt, cover and cook 15 to 18 minutes until a knife meets no resistance at the base. Uncover and reduce to a few spoonfuls of glossy liquid.
Fry the outer leaves until glassy
Pat the reserved leaves completely dry. Heat the sunflower oil to 320°F (160°C) and fry them in two batches for about 2 minutes, until they stop bubbling and turn translucent at the edges. Lift them out, raise the oil to 350°F (175°C) and fry them again for 30 seconds, which sets the crispness. Drain on paper and salt them at once. This is the twice frying of carciofi alla giudia, used here for texture alone.
Whip the smoked ricotta cream
Push the fresh ricotta through a fine sieve into a bowl, which removes the grain and is worth the two minutes. Beat in the grated ricotta affumicata, the olive oil, the cold milk, the salt and the white pepper until it falls from a spoon in a ribbon. Taste it now: smoked ricotta varies enormously in strength, and the cream should taste of smoke on the finish, not on the attack.
Burn the lemons and build the dressing
Halve the lemons across the equator and set them cut side down in a dry heavy pan over high heat. Leave them 4 to 5 minutes without moving them, until the cut faces are genuinely black, not golden. Squeeze the hot halves through a sieve, measure 3 tablespoons (45 ml) of juice, and whisk it with the olive oil, the honey and the flaky salt.
Roll and cut the raviolo discs
Divide the dough in three, keep two pieces covered and roll each to the second thinnest setting, about 0.8 mm. Cut 8 discs of 4 1/2 inches (11 cm) with a plain cutter, two per serving, plus two spares, and lay them on a floured cloth in one layer. Cut them as late as possible: an exposed sheet dries at the rim within twenty minutes and a dry rim cracks in the water.
Boil the discs and dress them
Bring 4 quarts (4 litres) of water to a rolling boil, salt it with 1 tablespoon (15 g) of coarse salt and slide in four discs. Cook 75 to 90 seconds from the moment it returns to the boil, lift them with a spider and slide them into a wide bowl with 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of the dressing and a spoonful of the pasta water. Turn each disc once to coat it and plate at once.
Plating
Warm the plates to around 130°F (55°C), no hotter. The ricotta cream is served barely warm and a very hot plate slackens it into a puddle within a minute.
Lay the first disc flat and slightly off centre. Spoon the ricotta cream into the middle, well inside the rim so it does not run, then set two artichoke halves on top with their cut faces showing and the stems pointing outward. Spoon over a little of the reduced braising liquid. Drape the second disc loosely across, leaving the filling visible at one side.
Finish with a spoonful of dressing around the pasta and not over it, three or four fried leaves pushed in at angles so they stand up, a fine grating of ricotta affumicata and three small mint leaves. The cheese goes on last and from a height, so it settles as a veil instead of a heap.
Professional Technique
The defining technique is burning the lemon rather than juicing it. Held cut face down on dry metal at high heat, the sugars and pectin in the pulp caramelise and then char, while a good part of the citric acid is destroyed. What comes out still tastes of lemon but has lost the thin aggressive edge of raw citrus and gained bitterness and a faint toasted sweetness. That matters because artichoke is already bitter, and a raw lemon dressing would sit on top of that bitterness as a second, unrelated sharp note.
The second is the two stage fry borrowed from carciofi alla giudia. The first pass at 320°F (160°C) cooks the leaf through and drives the water out without colouring; the second at 350°F (175°C) sets the structure and makes it brittle. The cooling pause between the two frys is not optional.
The third is sieving the fresh ricotta before whipping it. Ricotta is a curd of coagulated whey proteins and granular by nature. A blender turns it gluey by breaking those grains under shear, while a fine sieve separates them without working the protein, which is why the cream comes out silky rather than pasty.
Texture and Moisture Control
The whole dish is built on one contrast, soft against brittle, and the brittle part has a life of about four minutes on a warm plate. Fried artichoke leaves absorb moisture from the air and from anything they touch, so they go on last, they lean on the pasta rather than resting in the dressing, and they are never covered.
The ricotta cream is the risk in the other direction. Whipped too loose it runs out from between the discs as soon as the top one lands; whipped too tight it sits as a lump and tastes dry. The target falls from a spoon in a ribbon and holds its shape about three seconds.
The discs need their own attention. At 0.8 mm and 75 to 90 seconds they stay supple with a faint bite, and they must be dressed the moment they leave the water. A boiled disc left bare for even a minute glues to itself and tears when lifted, which is why the dressing waits in a bowl before the pasta goes in.
Professional Mise en Place
Four components, three finished long before service. Only the pasta and the plating happen once the water boils, and the fried leaves are the one thing that cannot wait.
Equipment and tools
Pasta machine and a plain 4 1/2 inch (11 cm) cutter
Heavy dry pan for burning the lemons, wide lidded pan for braising
Deep pan and a frying thermometer for the leaves
Fine mesh sieve for the ricotta, small whisk, spider skimmer
Pot of at least 4 quarts (4 litres) and a wide dressing bowl
Prepared ahead
Pasta dough, made and rested, up to 24 hours ahead, refrigerated
Artichokes braised in their liquid, up to 2 days ahead
Burnt lemon dressing, up to 3 days ahead in a sealed jar
Smoked ricotta cream, up to 1 day ahead, covered and refrigerated
Outer leaves trimmed and held in acidulated water, on the day
Service setup
Plates warming at 130°F (55°C), no hotter
Ricotta cream at cool room temperature, loosened if it has set
Artichokes warm in their reduced liquid
Leaves fried within the hour, uncovered, away from steam
Dressing measured into a wide bowl before the pasta goes in
Chef Tips
Buy artichokes by weight in the hand rather than by size. A light one has dried out in storage, will taste of nothing however long you braise it, and has a woody stem.
Keep the stems. On a fresh romanesco the stem is as good as the heart once the fibrous outer layer is pared away, and it holds its shape better than the base in a braise. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) on each half for a second texture from the same vegetable.
Burn the lemons in a pan you are not fond of. The sugars that produce the char weld themselves to the surface, and well seasoned cast iron handles it far better than stainless steel. Deglaze with a splash of water afterwards and add that liquid to the dressing.
If you cannot find ricotta affumicata, a young ricotta salata with a few drops of good smoked olive oil comes closer than any smoked cow milk cheese. Scamorza affumicata is the wrong answer, since it melts and strings instead of grating into a dry veil.
Common Mistakes
Using raw lemon juice instead of burnt. Raw juice adds a sharp top note that runs parallel to the artichoke bitterness instead of resolving it. The char is the whole point, so take the lemons genuinely black.
Letting the cut artichokes sit in air. Artichoke flesh browns within a minute of being cut and that discolouration survives the braise as a grey cast. Have the acidulated water on the board before the first head is touched.
Blending the ricotta. Shear turns ricotta gluey and the cream ends up pasty and tacky on the palate. Push it through a fine sieve instead and beat it by hand with a whisk.
Frying the leaves only once. Two passes, at 320°F (160°C) and then 350°F (175°C), with a few minutes of cooling between, is what produces glass.
Covering the filling completely with the top disc. An open raviolo is open. If the second disc is centred and flat it becomes a lid and the artichoke disappears. Drape it off to one side.
Wine Pairing
Frascati Superiore DOCG: The wine of the Castelli Romani hills, drunk with Roman artichokes for as long as anyone has cooked them. It is dry, low in aromatics and firm in acidity, and that neutrality is the virtue: cynarin in artichoke makes most flavourful whites taste sweet and metallic, and a wine with little to distort survives the plate intact.
Etna Bianco DOC: Carricante grown on volcanic ash at altitude gives razor acidity and a smoky, flinty character from the soil rather than from oak. That smoke runs alongside the ricotta affumicata, and the acidity copes with the burnt lemon dressing without the wine seeming flat behind it.
Vermentino di Gallura DOCG: The Sardinian answer, from granite soils in the north of the island, and the geographic match for both the spinoso sardo artichoke and the sheep milk ricotta. It carries a saline bite and a bitter almond finish that echoes the artichoke, with enough weight to sit under the whipped cream.
Ribolla Gialla Collio DOC: From the Friulian border hills, and the most textural wine here. Ribolla Gialla is restrained on the nose and grippy in the mouth, with a faintly bitter phenolic edge that reads as structure rather than fruit, and that grip holds up against fried artichoke leaves.
Grillo Sicilia DOC: A Sicilian white with real body, citrus peel aromatics and a savoury, briny finish, from the same island that dries and smokes its ricotta. Choose an unoaked bottling and serve it at around 50°F (10°C), where its bitterness lines up with the artichoke.
Storage & Reheating
Store the parts, never the plate. The braised artichokes keep 2 days refrigerated, submerged in their own liquid in a sealed container, and improve overnight as the mint works through them. The burnt lemon dressing keeps 3 days in a jar at cool room temperature and separates, so shake it. The ricotta cream keeps 1 day only, covered.
Uncooked discs keep 24 hours refrigerated between floured cloths in a single layer, or 1 month frozen if you freeze them flat before stacking them with parchment between. Fried leaves do not keep and should be made within an hour of service.
To bring the components back, warm the artichokes gently in their liquid over low heat and beat the ricotta cream with a spoonful of cold milk, working it at room temperature rather than over heat, which would split it. Boil fresh discs to order. Do not freeze the cream or the artichokes: both turn watery on thawing.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 servings of two pasta discs each:
Calories: 620 kcal
Total Fat: 33 g
Saturated Fat: 11 g
Trans Fat: 0 g
Unsaturated Fat: 21 g
Cholesterol: 290 mg
Sodium: 720 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 55 g
Fiber: 9 g
Total Sugars: 5 g
Added Sugars: 0.5 g
Protein: 25 g
Lactose: 2.6 g
Principal micronutrients: folate, vitamin C, vitamin K, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, potassium
These figures are estimates. Most of the frying oil is drained away and most of the salt in the pasta water is discarded, so the real sodium depends on the grated ricotta affumicata.
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