Weekly Recipe: Corn Ravioli With Huitlacoche Butter By SPQR In San Francisco

San Francisco knows good food, and foodie San Franciscans love the Italian-American fare served up at SPQR.

Chef Matthew Accarrino serves delightful favorites that bring fresh Californian ingredients to the forefront and blends them into inventive takes on familiar favorites with Italian technique. He’s been nominated five consecutive times for a James Bear award, and his five-course prix-fixe menu features antipasti, insalata e pane, a primi, a secondi and a dolce—but you don’t have to travel to the Bay Area to get a taste of chef Accarrino’s flavors.

This week, we’re excited to share chef Accarrino’s recipe for corn ravioli with huitlacoche butter.

See also: 20 of the Best Italian Restaurants Across America

Huitlacoche is a delicacy in Mexico, and it’s technically a type of fungus that feeds on corn as it grows. Its flavor has been described as something to that of truffles and morels, and in this recipe below, it helps create a creamy butter that adds dimensions and texture to the corn ravioli.

Chef Accarino’s recipe includes instructions to make your own fresh pasta, as well as how to make the huitlacoche butter, cornmeal ravioli filling and more.

This recipe serves six to eight people and does call for a stand mixer, so be prepared, but don’t let that scare you off from giving this delicious recipe a try!

Corn Ravioli with Huitlacoche Butter

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Ingredients:

• 540 grams 00 Flour
• 4 grams salt
• 4 each eggs
• 120 grams egg yolk
• 1 qt corn juice
• 4 oz yellow cornmeal
• 2 tbsp butter
• 8 oz mascarpone
• 3 oz parmesan, grated
• 1 cup corn kernels, sweated in butter and salt
• 2 oz butter
• ½ ea onion, sliced
• 1 cup corn kernels
• 6 oz cream
• 3 oz Huitlacoche
• Salt, as needed
• Olive oil, as needed
• 4 oz butter
• Popcorn, as needed
• Corn shoots, as needed
• Chives, minced as needed
• Salt, as needed
• White pepper, as needed

Directions:

1. To make the pasta dough, place dry ingredients in a stand mixed fitted with the hook. With the machine running on low speed, mix in the wet ingredients and form a dough.
2. Knead for 5 minutes and finish on a board by hand.
3. Wrap in cling film and let rest.
4. To make the corn filling, bring the corn juice to a simmer, stirring frequently with a heavy whisk. Season with salt.
5. Beat in the cornmeal and cook for 15 minutes over low heat until the cornmeal is cooked. Season aggressively with salt.
6. Transfer to a bowl over ice and chill to room temperature, stirring constantly.
7. Beat in the remaining ingredients and adjust the seasoning with salt and white pepper.
8. To make the ravioli, sheet the pasta dough and form the ravioli.
9. To make the huitlacoche butter, sweat huitlacoche with olive oil and season with salt for 10 minutes.
10. Cool to room temperature, and paddle into the butter in a kitchen aid.
11. Adjust the seasoning and roll into logs with cling film.
12. Chill it until ready to use.
13. To make the corn puree, sweat the onions with salt and butter untill soft.
14. Add the corn and cook till soft, adding a bit of water if it gets too dry.
15. Add the cream and cook untill reduced by ⅓.
16. Blend to a puree, and fold in the sweated corn.
17. To serve, cook the ravioli in boiling salted water.
18. Transfer them to a pan with some of the corn puree and a bit of the pasta cooking water.
19. Glaze the pasta and adjust the seasoning.
20. Plate and top with thin slices of butter.
21. Garnish with popcorn, shoots and chives. Enjoy!

Visit SPQR in San Francisco and online for more delicious dishes and inspiration.