Fava Bean Agnolotti with Curry Emulsion

This is the last of the four agnolotti dishes in The French Laundry Cookbook. If you've been a long-time reader of this blog, then you know that in my first three attempts, the agnolotti looked like:

a) ravioli
b) even sadder-looking ravioli
c) oh crap, this is embarrassing

Is it killing you to not scroll down and see what this final agnolotti of mine looked like? Fine, go ahead if you must, but be warned: I will not reimburse you for any medical bills related to pasta-traumatic stress disorder when you look at them. I know a good lawyer who will protect me from all you crazy agnolotti defenders.

But let's not dwell on all things agnolotti right now. Let's talk about the rest of the dish. With all due respect to the ladies of the night, I am a whore for curry. I just love the stuff. I put curry powder in scrambled eggs, creamed spinach, stir-fry dishes, chicken salad, on steamed fish... I think next to tarragon, it's my second-favorite seasoning. I love the scent, the taste, the color, the slight bit of heat and smoke, the way it changes and is augmented by other seasonings and flavors... it's just one of my favorite things in the whole world.

Curry is calming, but not boring. It's familiar, yet still slightly exotic. It adds such a different dimension to even the most ordinary food (a.k.a. chicken), and it almost makes you feel as if you did, perhaps, Wang Chung tonight. It's always always always the thing I want to taste when I really need to unplug from work and take the night off to enjoy the comforts of home. So, I was super-psyched to be able to make this dish during a week that I've been swamped and deluged with work.

I used to get my curry powder from Adriana's Caravan when Rochelle Zabarkes had her stand in New York's Grand Central Station, but I was fresh out of that and had forgotten to order more online, so I tapped into my reserve powder from Penzey's. It's not as good as my usual stuff, but I knew it wouldn't disappoint in the flavor department.

As for the fava beans, I expected to find some at the farmers' market, but alas, no one had any. So, I drove to Balducci's where I also found the very last of the season's ramps. Bonus.

Let's get started.

The first thing I did was make the agnolotti filling. I shelled and peeled the fava beans, yielding just over a cup when all was said and done:

I blanched them in a big pot of salted water for about 4-5 minutes. I drained them and put them in an ice bath. While all that was going on, I cut a few slices of my amazing brioche, removed the crusts and made bread crumbs out of them:

By this point, the beans had cooled, so I drained them and spread them out on a pile of paper towels to further dry. Then, I added them to the food processor with the bread crumbs. I blended them together until they formed a ball (that also looked like a scoop of really green ice cream).

Then, I added some mascarpone (yum!) and a little salt. It was a lovely, smooth purée, but I have to admit I was a little put off because it smelled slightly like feet, and that scared me.

I put the finished filling into the refrigerator to cool and got started on the ramps:

I removed the leaves and stem and blanched the bulb part in a pot of salty water, ice-bathed them, then set them aside while I got to work on the pasta dough. You can see the pasta-making process here. I rolled out two thin strips, piped the filling, and tried to fold the suckers over like I was supposed to, but it just wasn't working. Not even close. So, I ended up with what might be the saddest, most pathetic agnolotti ever:

I think I need to go to agnolotti school NOW. Perhaps I can find an agnolotti summer camp to attend. Yipes. Those are sad.

I put them in the freezer while I got a pot of water to boil and also made the curry emulsion. This was the moment I'd been waiting for, and it quickly washed away all my pathetic feelings of pasta-making inadequacy.

Here's the mise en place:

I toasted the curry powder in a small pot for a minute, then added the chopped scallions and heated those for another minute or so.

Then, I added some chicken stock, cream and crème fraîche:

I brought it to a simmer, then let it reduce until there was only about a half-cup of liquid left. I then added all the butter, a tablespoon at a time. I poured that mixture into a blender, blended it for about 30 seconds and poured it through a fine-mesh strainer into a skillet where I kept it warm:

I tossed the blanched ramps in there to rewarm them, and boiled the agnolotti for about 3-4 minutes. Hey -- I think "blanched ramps" would make a great name of a band's debut album. Perhaps the great up-and-coming German heavy metal combo, Pig Feet Meat, could release Blanched Ramps featuring a single called "Ägnölöttï öf Dëth" Seriously, why am I not running my own record label, folks? Excuse me while I call Clive Davis and get right on that.

I drained the agnolotti and tossed them into the curry emulsion and mixed everything around so it was all coated in that glorious sauce. Here's the final plating:

Oh, how I wish you had Smell-o-Vision. This was exquisite. Now, I will say that I thought the pasta was slightly undercooked and a wee bit too al dente (totally my fault)... however, the dish was a hit nonetheless. The fava bean filling was fantastic -- so smooth and creamy, and didn't smell like feet at all anymore. The sauce was great, and the ramps added a nice crunchy textural element to the dish.

I'd totally make this again. It was really easy, and was hearty and solid without feeling like you'd just eaten a ton of pasta. Trust me, this would be a great dish for a dinner party if you wanted to impress your friends. I'm just sayin'... don't forget to invite me, yo, now that I'm a major recording industry executive in the making.

If you haven't tried anything from this book yet but you feel intimidated about trying this whole dish, go ahead and try the curry emulsion on its own. Drizzle it over your scrambled eggs in the morning, and then call me to tell me how awesome I am for making that suggestion.

Auditions for back-up dancers in the "Ägnölöttï öf Dëth" video will be announced soon. Bonus points for dressing like a hoochie fava bean.

Up Next: Q&A with Michael Ruhlman (who, I'm sure, is thrilled to have his name printed so closely to the words "hoochie fava bean")

Resources:
Fava beans and ramps from Balducci's
Chives and scallions from Whole Foods
Crave Brothers mascarpone
King Arthur flour
Eggs from Smith Meadows Farm
Curry powder from Penzey's
Organic Valley heavy cream
Vermont Butter and Cheese Co. crème fraîche
365 unsalted butter

Music to Cook By: My Morning Jacket; Okonos. I sort of feel like a hipster-poseur-douchebag for liking this band, but I DON'T CARE. I like this album. It's comforting, and I'm not sure why. They remind me of an album or a band from my teenage years, but I can't quite put my finger on which one it was. There's just something about their sound that I like and that is relaxing and easy to have on in the background.

Read My Previous Post: French Laundry at Home Extra -- Brioche