Full English Breakfast Raviolo

STEP 1: BUILD THE BROWN SAUCE (UP TO 3 DAYS AHEAD)

Sweat the onion, garlic and ginger in the olive oil in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-low heat for 8–10 minutes until soft and translucent but not coloured. Stir in the tomato puree and cook for 2 minutes to lose the raw edge.

Add the plums, dates, muscovado, treacle, tamarind paste, Worcestershire sauce, pomegranate molasses, both vinegars, allspice, cloves, cracked peppercorns, bay leaf, salt and water. Bring to a simmer and cook gently, uncovered, for 45–60 minutes, stirring regularly, until the fruit has collapsed completely and the mixture is thick and glossy.

Remove the bay leaf. Stir in the pomegranate seeds and cook a further 5 minutes only — the late addition keeps their sharpness from cooking flat. Blend until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve.

Season now rather than earlier, at the consistency it will be served at: more malt vinegar for sharpness, more muscovado for sweetness, a pinch of salt to bring the spice forward. Cool and refrigerate.

STEP 2: MAKE THE BLACK PUDDING PUREE (UP TO 2 DAYS AHEAD)

Melt the butter in a saucepan and sweat the shallots and garlic over low heat for 10 minutes until completely soft and sweet, without colour. Crumble in the skinned black pudding and cook for 4–5 minutes, breaking it down with a spoon.

Add the cider or stock and simmer for 5 minutes until the pan is nearly dry. Transfer to a blender with the cream and blend until very smooth, adding a spoonful more cream if it will not move.

Pass through a fine sieve — this step is not optional. Black pudding carries grain and fat that will read as grit against the yolk. Push it through with a flexible scraper rather than a ladle.

Season with the sherry vinegar, salt and pepper. It should taste distinctly of black pudding, not of cream. Chill until firm enough to pipe, at least 2 hours.

STEP 3: MAKE BOTH PASTA DOUGHS

For the plain dough, mound the flour on a clean surface, make a well, and add the yolks, whole egg, oil and salt. Bring together with a fork, then knead for 8–10 minutes until smooth and elastic, dusting with a little extra flour as you go — this is a yolk-rich dough and will feel wet at first.

For the ink dough, repeat with its own ingredients, whisking the squid ink into the yolks before adding so the colour distributes evenly.

Both doughs should finish firm and slightly tacky, not sticky. Wrap each separately and rest at room temperature for 1 hour. Resting is what lets the sheets roll thin without tearing or springing back.

STEP 4: LAMINATE THE STRIPES

Roll the plain dough through the pasta machine down to setting 3 or 4, so you have a broad sheet of medium thickness. Roll the ink dough thin and cut it into long strips roughly 5 mm wide.

Lay the ink strips across the plain sheet at even intervals and brush very lightly with water using a pastry brush, then fold the sheet in half over the strips or lay a second plain sheet on top. Press firmly to bond.

Roll the laminated sheet through the machine progressively down to the thinnest or second-thinnest setting. The stripes will stretch and thin with the dough. Roll in one direction only — turning the sheet ninety degrees will bend the stripes into a mess, so mark the direction of travel and keep it constant.

Cut four 12–13 cm discs and four 10 cm discs. Keep them under a damp cloth.

STEP 5: ASSEMBLE THE RAVIOLO

Dust a lined baking sheet with semolina and lay the four larger discs down. Pipe a ring of black pudding puree onto each, about 6 cm across, with a well in the centre and walls tall enough to hold a yolk.

Separate each egg yolk carefully using the half-shell method or your cupped hand, resting each yolk in its own small bowl first so a broken one can be replaced without losing the assembly. Slide one yolk into each well and season with a small pinch of salt directly on the yolk.

Brush the exposed pasta border with water using the pastry brush, lay the 10 cm disc on top, and seal from the yolk outwards, pressing air out as you go without pressing on the yolk itself. Trapped air will float the raviolo and burst it.

Trim to a neat circle. Refrigerate on the semolina-dusted tray, uncovered, for up to 2 hours.

STEP 6: PREPARE THE BACON AND THE SAUSAGE SANDWICHES

Lay the bacon flat between two sheets of baking paper on a tray, weight it with a second tray, and bake at 160°C (325°F) for 15–20 minutes until fully crisp and flat. Drain on paper. Pressed this way it dries flat and shatters, which is the texture the plate needs.

For the sandwiches, squeeze the sausage meat from its skins and form four thin patties slightly smaller than your bread squares. Fry over medium heat for 3–4 minutes per side until deeply browned and cooked through, 70°C (160°F) at the centre.

Butter the bread squares on the outer faces, sandwich a patty with a thin smear of brown sauce inside each, and griddle in a dry pan over medium heat until golden on both sides and hot through. Cut neatly and keep warm.

STEP 7: COOK THE RAVIOLO

Bring a wide, shallow pan of well-salted water to a bare simmer with the surface barely trembling — no rolling boil, which will tear the seal and overcook the yolk.

Lower the raviolo in with a flat slotted spoon and cook for 3 minutes 30 seconds to 4 minutes. The pasta needs to be cooked through while the yolk stays liquid and only barely set, which is a narrow window and the reason the pasta must be rolled thin. If you have made a fifth raviolo, cook it first as a test to calibrate your pan.

Lift out carefully, drain briefly on a cloth, and dress with a spoonful of butter melted with a little of the cooking water into a loose emulsion.

STEP 8: PLATE

Set the raviolo in the centre of a warm plate. Break the crisped bacon over the top so it sits proud and stays audible against the soft yolk and puree.

Place the sausage sandwich alongside. Spoon or quenelle the brown sauce beside it, and offer more at the table.

Serve immediately — the yolk will continue to set on a warm plate.