The perfect star

Three special ways to kick off a celebratory meal

- ADAM BUSH

Wild mushroom ravioli

These is a great make-ahead starter – prepare the ravioli in advance (you will need a pasta machine), then freeze and cook straight from frozen. Any pasta offcuts can be cut into ribbons, dusted with lots of semolina, weighed out into 100g portions and frozen, too – you’ll have fresh pappardelle that you can cook from frozen in just 3-4 minutes.

1 HOUR 30 MINUTES + CHILLING + RESTING SERVES 4 AS A STARTER | EASY |

unsalted butter 100g

wild mushrooms 250g

lemon 1, zested, plus a squeeze of juice

whole black peppercorns ground to make ½ tsp

flat-leaf parsley a few leaves

parmesan grated, to serve (optional) PASTA DOUGH

00 flour 300g, plus extra for dusting

eggs 2

egg yolks 4

semolina or polenta for dusting FILLING

olive oil 2 tbsp

chestnut mushrooms 250g, finely chopped

shallots 2 long, finely chopped

garlic 3 cloves, finely chopped

thyme a few sprigs, leaves picked

ricotta 150g

1 To make the pasta dough, put the flour in a bowl with 1 tsp of fine sea salt and make a well in the middle. Break in the eggs and add the yolks, then whisk gently with a fork, gradually bringing in more flour from the edges as you do. Once the dough starts to clump, bring it together with your hands into a rough dough – add 1 tsp of water at a time if it feels too dry to come together. Once the dough starts to come away from the sides of the bowl, knead on a lightly floured work surface for 10 minutes until really smooth and elastic. Wrap and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours.