Ravioli Ripieni di Branzino con Carciofi Croccanti e Zafferano

Disporre la farina in una ciotola di medie dimensioni e creare un solco al centro.  Aggiungere il sale e le uova, uno alla volta.

Aggiungere 1 cucchiaio di olio extravergine di oliva e mescolare lentamente la farina con le uova.  Quando sono stati incorporati, iniziare a lavorare l'impasto su una superficie di legno fino a quando tutti gli ingredienti non sono amalgamati e l'impasto è liscio e uniforme.  Se l'impasto è troppo secco, inumidire la punta delle dita con acqua a temperatura ambiente e continuare a impastare fino a raggiungere la consistenza desiderata.

Preheat oven to 180C. 

Clean fish, removing innards and gills from fish belly.  Using medium sized sheet of parchment paper, place fish in center.  Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil to taste, a sprinkle of salt and 3 fresh thyme sprigs.  

Firmly wrap and seal parchment paper around fish (you can also wrap entire parcel in further layer of aluminum foil), and bake in oven for approximately 20 minutes.  

When cooked through, finalize cleaning of fish, removing flesh from bones, gills and skin.  Place cleaned fish into medium mixing bowl, preferably ceramic material.  Adjust to taste with salt and freshly-ground black pepper. Add chopped fresh parsely and carefully begin mashing the fish with a fork.  Slowly add 50 grams extra-virgin olive oil and continue to blend until consistency is smooth and uniform.  

Using room temperature (but rested either overnight or at least 30 minutes in the fridge) pasta dough, prepare your rolling out area.  Dust wooden working surface with all-purpose flour, and with rested piece of dough, roll out into rectangular shape. Run dough through preset pasta machine, decreasing width as you proceed with each roll-out.  Your final pasta sheet should be thin enough to see outline of shapes through pasta sheet.  It will be very thin.  Roll out a second sheet of dough you'll use to cover the first sheet.  

Once arrived at desired width, using a small teaspoon, place a pillow of filling onto sheet, maintaining equal distance between between the fillings.  Lightly brush border of pasta sheet with water and cover with second rolled out piece of pasta dough.  Using your fingertips, lightly press down to unite the two pasta dough sheets, being particularly careful that no air pockets remain around the filling.   

Using a pasta cutter or a sharpened knife, cut ravioli out and place onto floured tray.  Allow to dry slightly. 

Bring large soup pot of salted water to boil.  Cook ravioli for about 5 minutes or until ravioli floats to the surface, taking care they don't overcook and break.

Drain cooked ravioli and drain, setting aside a small amount of cooking water for adjusting liquidity of sauce if needed.  

In large sauce pan, dissolve saffron powder with a large knob of butter.  Add cooked ravioli and toss for a few moments before plating.  Add any amount of additional cooking water if you'd like a more liquid sauce.  Dress with a sprinkle of poppy seeds, and serve warm.