This can be made ahead of time and used to dress any pasta you likeit will also freeze well.
2 16ouncecans of peeled tomatoes pureed with a hand blenderpreferably san marzano or plum variety, they have a higher percentage of meat/juice and will yield a richer sauce
1cupdried morels
½cupsweet yellow oniondiced
tablespoonfresh garlicchopped
1cupdry white winemixed with 1 cup water
Fried sage
16large sage leavesassume about 3 per/person, depending on size
½ cupFlavorless oil for cooking
Kosher saltfor finishing
Goat Brain Filling
1cupbrainsAs fresh as possible
1cupricottapreferably goat milk
¼cupGrana padano or parmigiano reggianoplus extra for serving
½teaspoonKosher saltplus more to taste
1tablespoonfresh chopped Italian parsley
Oat Pasta (See recipe)
Instructions
Brain Filling
The night before, soak the brains in milk in the refrigerator.cook the brains in a qt of lightly salted water on the stove until they are cooked through. Drain the brains, cool, and then chop into small pieces. Mix the brains with the cheese, parsley, then add salt to taste. Refrigerate until needed
Morel Tomato Sauce
To make the morel tomato sauce first soak the morels in the wine and water for 30 minutes or so. Agitate the mushrooms in the wine by stirring them to release any debris. Remove the mushrooms to another container for a moment, then strain the remaining liquid through a strainer and add it back to the morels.
Heat the onion and garlic together in some oil until translucent in a small saucepan, about a 5 qt size should do. Season the onion mixture with salt and pepper.
Next add the morel-wine liquid, reserving the morels. Cook down until the pan is almost dry, then add the tomato puree and cook for about 20 minutes on medium-low heat.
Lastly puree the sauce with a hand blender or in the bowl of a food processor, then add the morels and season to taste with salt. If you want you can also leave the sauce chunky and unpureed, either way is fine.
Fried Sage
Heat the oil in a small pan until it is hot, but not smoking.
Gently fry the sage until it stops sizzling and is crisp, be careful not to have the pan so hot that the leaves burn though. when the leaves are cooked and crisp, remove them to a paper towel to drain and sprinkle lightly with salt. Reserve the sage.
Assembling Ravioli and Cooking
To assemble the ravioli, roll out baseball sized portions of dough in a pasta roller until they go down to the "0" setting. When the dough is rolled out nice and thin, take a water glass or a ring mold and cut circles out of the pasta dough, you will need a top and bottom for each one.
Take each dough circle and brush with a bit of beaten egg, place heaping teaspoon of filling into the center of each dough circle, placing another circle on top. Press down on the edges of the dough to seal, then place on a cookie sheet and dust with semolina flour to prevent sticking. When the ravioli are frozen completely, you can transfer them to a plastic freezer bag, labe l the bag so you know when you made it. From here the ravioli can be made week or even months in advance.
When its time to cook and serve the ravioli, heat up the morel tomato sauce, stirring in a tablespoon of unsalted butter, boil the ravioli until they float in a pot of lightly salted water, then add to the pan with the sauce. divide the ravioli equally between some heated pasta bowls, top with cheese and serve.
Notes
Makes 30 large, round ravioli, enough to feed 4 people 5 ravioli per plate