Mushroom & Truffle Ravioli With Toasted Breadcrumbs - Dell'Ugo Recipe No.5

I made this for lunch one day last week but have only just got round to writing about it. 

To be honest, this Dell'Ugo recipe, "Mushroom & Truffle Ravioli With Toasted Breadcrumbs", didn't appeal to me at all. Breadcrumbs on pasta? Apart from not sounding too appetising, isn't that carb overload? My OH is part Sicilian and when I explained the recipe he said, "Sounds like modiga to me." And yes, he has had breadcrumbs on pasta in Sicily before and he said it's really nice. Apparently the use of breadcrumbs on pasta came about when there was little or no cheese available. Stale bread would be ground up and either mixed with grated cheese to make the cheese go further or used on its own if there was no cheese at all. It can also be seasoned with other things such as herbs, salt and pepper. This seasoned breadcrumb mixture was an excellent way to use up stale bread and is also used to coat chicken and steak.

So, after discovering this, I had new faith in the recipe. I happened to have some stale bread too, which also helped to sway me.

The ravioli has a tasty filling of Portobello & wild porcini mushrooms, garlic, thyme, white wine & truffle oil.

This is a very easy recipe where you simply stick a few bit of stale bread in a food processor and whizz until you have fine breadcrumbs. Apparently my breadcrumbs were a little bit too coarse - the breadcrumbs my OH had had in Sicily were much finer. Toast the breadcrumbs (I grilled them) and mix with grated Parmesan. Make some lemon oil, cook the pasta for 4 minutes and you're done... unless you need greenery, like I do, and you need to make a quick, green salad just to get a bit of colour and freshness onto the plate.

Just a few changes: as usual we needed one packet each and I used a whole lemon instead of half for extra flavour. 

Mushroom & Truffle Ravioli With Toasted Breadcrumbs & Lemon Oil
Serves 2

Ingredients:
2 packs of Dell'Ugo Mushroom & Truffle Ravioli
Breadcrumbs (1-2 slices of stale white bread, whizzed until fine in a food processor)
Parmesan, finely grated (generous handful)
1 tablespoon olive oil
zest of a lemon

Method:

• Grill the breadcrumbs until golden brown under a medium heat. Allow to cool.
• Mix the breadcrumbs and parmesan together.
• Bring a large pan of water to the boil.... 
• ....while you're waiting, make the lemon infused oil: warm the olive oil in a frying pan and add the lemon zest. Warm through gently for a minute or so but be careful not to burn the zest as it will taste disgusting (I know!).
• Use the juice from the lemon to make a dressing for your salad (if you're having one).
• Once the water is boiled, add the raviloli and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and dish up.
• Drizzle the lemon oil over the pasta and then sprinkle over the "modiga". Serve immediately.

Verdict:

Well, I would never have guessed that breadcrumbs on pasta would be so nice! The crunchy, savoury breadcrumbs are wonderful together with the soft pasta and the lemon oil complements the mushroom filling nicely. A simple yet satisfying dish. BUT it really does need some salad or fresh veg to go with it.