This light fish pasta dish makes an excellent light supper and is ideal for Good Friday. Mezzalune (mezzaluna in the singular) are stuffed pasta half-moons (rather like ravioli) that is native to the Tyrol (an Alpine region in modern Italy and Austria). Though the recipe here is based on smoked mackerel, any smoked fish can be substituted.
Prep time 35 minutes/Cook time 5 minutes/Serves 3 (plus 30 minutes chill time)
Ingredients:
For the Pasta Dough:
200g (7 oz) 00 flour
2 medium eggs
For the Filling:
120g (4 1/3 oz) smoked salmon
150g (5 1/3 oz) cream cheese
2 tbsp dill (fresh or frozen) finely chopped
For the Butter Sauce:
1 lemon, juice of
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp dill (fresh or frozen) finely chopped
Method:
Pile the flour on a kitchen work surface and form a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into this and gradually work into the flour with your hands. Knead the dough until the dough is soft, elastic and pliable (his will take about 10 minutes). If your dough is too dry, add 1 tbsp of water. If it’s too wet and sticky, add a bit of flour. Shape the dough into a ball then wrap in clingfilm (plastic wrap) then leave the pasta to rest for 30-60 minutes at room temperature.
In the meantime, prepare the filling. Combine the smoked salmon and cream cheese in a food processor and whizz until combined. Stir in 2 tbsp of the dill and half the lemon juice. Season with black pepper (no salt is needed here, as smoked salmon is quite salty itself).
Divide the pasta dough into 4 equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time (keeping the other pieces wrapped to avoid drying out) roll out the pasta into a long thin strip about 1mm (1/25 in) in thickness. Cut the strip in half to make it more manageable. Using an atomiser, spray the dough with water very lightly to prevent the dough from drying out.
Using a round pastry cutter, a pastry ring or a round ravioli stamp, cut rounds of pasta dough out. I used a 7.6cm (3 in) pastry rings and got 36 rounds; just enough to use up all the filling.
Spoon/pipe teaspoons (or tablespoons if you’re making very large Mezzaluna) of the salmon filling onto each round. Fold the dough over to create half circles and seal the edge with your fingers. Try and squeeze out any air bubbles and press down to seal.
Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Drop the Mezzaluna into the water and cook for approximately two minutes after they float to the top (it may take less or more time depending on how thinly you rolled out your pasta). Drain.
In the meantime, melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the remaining half of the lemon juice and the dill. Season to taste (don’t add too much salt though) and spoon over the Mezzaluna.
