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Stuffed Paccheri Rigati
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I am a carnivore and have been all of my life and that I doubt it will ever change but as a chef it is imperative for me to be well versed on vegetarian and vegan cooking. With 3.2 % or 7.2 Million people in the world that are vegetarians it's not hard to see why.
My vegetarian and vegan friends have been asking me to make a dish with them in mind for quite sometime and this dish is sure to please the vegetarians, the vegans however will have to wait just a bit longer. Vegetarians have the option of food with or without dairy products but Vegans will eat no animal products whatsoever. The vegetarian dish that we are making today has heavy cream and Ricotta cheese so for now, move over Vegans, your turn is up next.
Cooking vegetarian meals should be much more than just boiling or sauteing vegetables and placing them on a plate. When I cook, taste is always my first born but ambition is not a close second , it's more of a twin that was born 2 minutes later. When I cook for vegetarians or vegans I want the meat eaters at the table envious of their plates.
On the menu today : Spinach, Ricotta and Mushroom Stuffed Paccheri Rigati
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Plate Progression
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Whenever possible and appropriate I love to add ingredients inside of each other (ie. the asparagus from a from a week ago), so it's a no brainer that I am adding a different type of pasta to stuff the Paccheri. The addition of the ricotta adds taste and texture, while helping to marry the other elements to the dish to perfect harmony. Adding a cream sauce helps to give the dish a richness that is sultry and not over powering. I am sure to add the sauce mostly to the center of the plate so that you can drag each spoonful through the sauce in so that you alone determine how much richness you want added to each bite.
For this we will need the following:
- Paccheri Rigati Pasta (5-7 pp)
- Acini Di Pepe (1 cup)
- Spinach (16 oz)
- Mushrooms (1 #)
- Onions (.5 ea)
- Ricotta (4 oz)
- Garlic (1 Tbs)
- Olive Oil (2 Tbs)
- White Wine (.5 cup)
- Heavy Cream (1 cup)
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| Spinach & Onion Breakers |
Start by slicing the onions and mushrooms and mincing the garlic. Next sauté the mushrooms and onions until they are slightly golden then adding the garlic and finally the spinach, cook until done. Place in a strainer to allow the liquid to drain. In a saucepan heat up the heavy cream and wine to allow to reduce by half and set aside for later use once done.
Heat up 2 pans of salted water for the Paccheri and the Acini Di Pepe cook then drain and oil for later use. Add the Acini Di Pepe to the spinach mixture with the ricotta and salt to taste.
Take the filling, place it in a ziplock bag and cut off the corner of the bag to use as a pastry bag to fill each Paccheri as shown below. Plate by using the spinach and onion as a plate breaker (shown above), add the stuffed paccheri, more spinach and onion and finally drizzling a small amount of the sauce on top of the paccheri (see below).
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Plate Progression
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Stuffed & Plated
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| Plated |
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| Sauce and Veggies as a Centerpiece |
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