For my entry in the 2018 Pour and Pair competition, I wanted to craft a recipe that paired manzanilla sherry with seafood. My recipe will show you how to make butter poached langoustine and prawn ravioli, served in a manzanilla, lemon, and caper infused beurre blanc. The dish is delicately bursting with fresh seafood flavor, balanced with salt and citrus. The wine cuts through the richness and harmonizes with the dish. I didn't want this meal to end!
If you love Spanish seafood recipes, don't miss these recipes for Catalan fish stew (suquet de pix) and Catalan chicken and shrimp (mar i muntanya).
Pour & Pair Competition
It's that time of year again, when wine lovers around the world celebrate one of the most unique and undervalued wine regions. It's also time for the annual "Pour and Pair" competition, in which 20 bloggers are given different sherries by chance. Using the sherry they've been given, they have to construct the perfect pairing, and the winner gets a great prize. In 2018, it's a gourmet trip through DO Jerez!
Want to learn more? Go to International Sherry Week and experience Spanish sherry in person!
Ingredients
Curious what you need to recreate this delicious langoustine ravioli with manzanilla wine? Grab these key ingredients, and you'll be ready to make this delicate seafood dish!
- Langoustines (Cigalas): These large shrimp-like creatures are also called Norway lobster or scampi. They work beautifully in this dish!
- Prawns: Six large prawns are the majority of the ravioli filling. They go beautifully with the lemon and cream!
- Manzanilla Wine: Manzanilla is a dry Spanish sherry that is really the star of the show in this dish. I used Bodega Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear, but experiment with any type of manzanilla.
- Ravioli Wrappers: Use pre-made ravioli wrappers, make your own, or get creative and use wonton wrappers.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How to Make Langoustine Ravioli with Manzanilla
If you’d like to see the full ingredients and instructions, scroll to the bottom of the post for the printable recipe card.
- Peel and devein the prawns, then roughly chop them into smaller pieces. (image 1)
- Place half of the chopped prawns into a food processor along with heavy cream, egg white, and lemon zest and pulse into a paste. Season with salt and pepper. (image 2)
- Mix the paste with the remaining chopped prawns. (image 3)
- Place a tablespoon of filling on the ravioli wrappers. (image 4)
- Dampen the edge of each ravioli with egg white and seal them closed with a fork. (image 5)
- Melt the butter in a heavy-based pan, then add the langoustines and cook them until they're opaque; about 2 minutes. (image 6)
- Remove the cooked langoustines, then add the minced garlic and cook for a minute. Add some lemon juice and the manzanilla wine. (image 7)
- Simmer the mixture until it has reduced, then add the capers. (image 8)
- Simmer the ravioli in boiling water for 1-2 minutes. Serve drizzled with the manzanilla and garlic sauce. (image 9)
- Arrange the poached langoustines on top. Enjoy right away with a cold glass of manzanilla! (image 10)
Sherry FAQs
Sherry is the first and oldest DO (Denomination of Origin) in Spain, and was founded in 1933, but this drink has been produced in Spain for over 3,000 years!
Sherry wines can only come from DO Sherry, and more specifically the three sherry making towns of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa MarÃa. This is similar to how champagne can only come from the Champagne region of France.
All DO Sherry wines share three characteristics: they are fortified with a higher alcohol grape spirit, aged (even the youngest sherries have at least two years of aging), and blended. Unlike most wines who proudly wear their harvest year on the bottle, most sherries are non-vintage.
Sherry wines range from the driest wines in the world to the sweetest. They can pair with just about anything. Even tricky pairings (like artichokes) can work with the right style of sherry.
Until you've tried the full range of sherry wines, please don't tell me you don't like sherry. I've been known to convert many doubters with a glass of amontillado!
The driest of all sherry wines, manzanilla is produced exclusively in the small town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda. The wine ages under flor (a layer of yeast that protects the wine from oxidation) and often has a saline quality, possibly from the salty sea air that permeates the town's sherry bodegas.
Bodegas Barbadillo is one of Sanlucar's oldest and most famous bodegas. Founded in 1821, it is one of the ten oldest family-run businesses in all of Spain! Their excellent manzanilla is their pride and joy, and Bodegas Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear won Wine Spectator's award for the world's best manzanilla in 2015, as well as the GuÃa Peñin's award for best winery in the world!
Tasting notes: This wine is bone dry, with aromas of yeast, almonds, and citrus. On the palate, it's saline and slightly nutty, with citrus zest and green apple.
Manzanilla is so versatile that I find it a challenge to develop a pairing for! In a perfect meal, I'd simply pair this manzanilla with the delicious tapas from Sanlucar--crispy tortillitas de camarones, boiled prawns served cold with sea salt, briny olives marinated with garlic, and perhaps a couple of local oysters.
What's great about sherry is that once open, it can last in the fridge longer than your average table wine. Depending on the style of sherry (sweet sherries last longer), you can usually keep a bottle open for between a week and a couple of months.
Serve
This poached langoustine ravioli is best with a cold glass of manzanilla sherry, of course! But if you want to serve it with some other elegant dishes, I recommend rounding it out with this winter salad with orange and pomegranate, this fruity melon gazpacho, and poached pears with red wine.
Expert Tips
- You can make the ravioli wrappers ahead of time, or buy them from a pasta shop. Wonton wrappers will work well, too!
- I recommend using the best manzanilla sherry you can find. My favorite is the Bodega Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear, which is one of the best sherries in the world.
- Drain any juices from the capers before adding them to the sauce. If they are preserved in salt, make sure to pre-soak them to desalt them.
Other Spanish Recipes with Sherry
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Langoustine & Prawn Ravioli with Manzanilla
Ingredients
For the Ravioli
- 6 large raw prawns peeled, deveined, and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon egg white
- 2 teaspoons heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- sea salt to taste
- freshly ground white pepper to taste
- 12 ravioli wrappers for 6 closed ravioli (3 per person)
For the Sauce
- 4 tablespoons butter unsalted
- 2 langoustines (cigalas)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons capers
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- â…› cup manzanilla wine such as Bodega Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear
Instructions
Making the Ravioli
- Place half of the chopped prawns, heavy cream, egg white, and lemon zest into a food processor. Lightly pulse the mixture into a thick paste, then season with salt and pepper and mix in the remaining chopped prawns.
- Fill each ravioli with about a tablespoon of filling, being careful not to over or under fill. Seal the edges with some water or egg, then tightly crimp the edges with a fork so that they don't open when cooking.
- Leave on a lightly floured plate, and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
Making the Sauce
- To prepare the sauce, slowly melt the butter in a heavy pan, and add the langoustines (cigalas). Poach them in the butter by spooning the hot butter over them constantly. It should take about 2 minutes to cook them through, then remove them immediately and let them rest on a plate.
- Add the garlic to the butter and slowly simmer for about one minute. Make sure the heat is low so that the garlic doesn't color.
- Add the juice from half of a small lemon and about â…› cup of manzanilla wine. Turn up the heat and let it reduce for about 30 seconds, then stir in the capers. Take the pan off the heat.
Finishing the Dish
- To cook the ravioli, gently drop them into a large pot of boiling salted water. Allow them to boil for 1-2 minutes, depending upon their wrappers. Remove with a slotted spoon and place on the serving dish. (I've portioned 3 per person in this recipe.)
- Reheat the sauce, then add the langoustines and coat them in the sauce. Pour the sauce on top of the ravioli and top with a poached langoustine.
- Serve immediately and pair with a cold glass of manzanilla!
Notes
- You can make the ravioli wrappers ahead of time, or buy them from a pasta shop. Wonton wrappers will work well, too!
- I recommend using the best manzanilla sherry you can find. My favorite is the Bodega Barbadillo Manzanilla Solear, which is one of the best sherries in the world.
- Drain any juices from the capers before adding them to the sauce. If they are preserved in salt, make sure to pre-soak them to desalt them.
Nutrition
Photography by Giulia Verdinelli
Jim
Great post!
Frank Teixeira
Manzanilla is my favorite.
Your ravioli recipe might be a little too delicate. The only counterpoint you have is the capers. I would add goat cheese and chives to the filling to give it some bite.
Finish the sauce with a little butter swirled in and sp;rinkle with either minced fennel fronds or dill.