fresh raviolis.

When you think of raviolis, what do you think of first? Do you think about that red can that contains little square raviolis filled with meat and/or cheese or something that looks more like bean dip, covered in a delicious red sauce that is my guilty pleasure? Well, then, look no further (through this post, that is) because this is NOT that recipe. However, I would like to know if you have an extra can of that stuff you'd be willing to spare. It's been a while..

But if I were to ask what you think of when I say home-made raviolis, would the image be different? I'm going to guess that the first word that comes to mind is “work”. Well, I will have to say that anything that is really worth eating is going to take a little work, but do not be fooled – these raviolis are simple enough to make that I would suggest them to anyone who has the ingredients. And the best part about this too is that the recipe is super versatile and you can change it up to whatever your preferences are. Don't like meat? Great, add extra mushrooms. Don't like cottage cheese? Just replace it with some pesto. And if you don't like raviolis? Well, then too bad. (However, the filling recipe can be used in lasagna and the dough recipe can be used to make just about any kind of pasta!)

Now, like I said, raviolis aren't all that time-consuming or difficult as they are finicky. You have to make sure that you don't roll the dough too thin, or too thick and you also don't want to over-stuff or poorly seal them. But do not fear! These are all very simple detours. If you don't try and rush things and just be a tad careful you will surely come out with some beautiful raviolis.

Also, quick note. I'll be posting a homemade sauce recipe soon that is great with these, but they will go great with any sauce you like. I've found that the filling pairs very well with pesto or a light marinara.

fresh raviolis.

makes 30-40 small raviolis or 20-30 large raviolis

filling:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg

1 cup whole milk cottage cheese
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or grated Parmesan

2 hand fulls of fresh spinach, chopped
2 large white mushrooms, chopped
1 tbs minced garlic
¼ cup minced yellow onion
¼ tbsp crushed red pepper
½ tbsp dried rosemary or 1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt

Coat a saute pan with olive oil and bring to medium heat and saute onions, garlic until translucent. Add the chopped spinach and mushrooms until both are wilted; place into a large bowl. Bring the heat up to medium-high and add the ground beef, spices, and salt. Brown meat, drain fat and allow to cool. Make sure that the meat is thoroughly broken apart before adding it to the bowl. Add the egg, cottage cheese, and Parmigiano-Reggiano to the bowl, and combine until the mixture is uniform. 

Use immediately, refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for up to 3 months.

pasta dough:

2 cups of semolina flour
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tablespoons of water

flour for dusting

In case you were wondering, semolina flour is made from durum wheat which is the main ingredient that you'll find listed on most of your boxed, dried pastas at home. It's a coarse flour that you will also find in couscous, which is one part semolina and one part durum flour (finely ground semolina). Apart from the semolina, the rest of the ingredients to this recipe are very common in just about every kitchen.

This first step I like to refer to as building the egg's nest. First, will scoop out the semolina flour onto a large, dry surface and sprinkle the salt over top of the flour. Then, with either a fork or your fingers, make an indention into the flour deep enough to fill with the cracked egg, olive oil, and about 1-2 tablespoons of water. 

Once you have filled the well with your ingredients, you need to beat the egg, oil, and water together inside the well until it's well mixed and begins to grab onto the surrounding flour.

As you continue to mix the dough, start incorporating more water into the mix, about a teaspoon at a time so that the flour begins to fold into itself. Now you will begin to see something that has the resemblance of dough! Congratulations! Now that the dough can be easily handled with your hands, you're going to want to knead it for about 10 minutes, until it is nice and smooth. This process will help your pasta cook up nice and al dente, instead of being all soggy. And there really is no “right way” to knead. Just keep the dough moving; push it, pull it, smack it around and show it who's boss.

Now that your dough is all smooth, uniform and compliant, allow for it to rest for about 20 minutes. And after giving it that 20 minute break, we're gonna beat it some more, but this time with a rolling pin! (However, if you have a pasta roller, kudos to you! Go right ahead and use that, but make sure that the settings are set to where your pasta won't be rolled out too thin or thick).

I'm sure you're wondering about how to roll out all this dough at one time. Well, if you have a long hand-less rolling pin and tons of space, you should be able to roll out all of this dough at once with ease. However, if you are limited with space and have a traditional rolling pin, you will want to separate the dough into 2 or 4 different pieces to work with at a time.

Lightly dust the area you'll be working on as well as the top of the dough before you begin rolling. You also will want to make sure and flip the dough two or three times while rolling it out, to make sure that it is not sticking to the surface you're working on. Keep in mind that you're going to need to roll the dough out thin enough to where you'll be able to press together the rims of the raviolis, but thick enough to where the tops won't rip and allow filling to come out. To test this, your dough should have had the time during resting to develop enough gluten for the window-pane test. If you can see light coming through a rolled-out piece of dough that is stretching and not ripping, then you're good to go. Also, you can use a ruler to press the edges of the dough while rolling it out, or just cut the finished product to have straight lines. I prefer the latter for this occasion.

Whether or not you use a press to seal your raviolis or you choose to use a fork to make the seal is up to you. However, I had not had the opportunity to use this little gadget that I've had stowed away in my cabinet for a while, so I decided to give it a whirl. Whichever method you choose, you will still follow the same steps that are to follow.

Flip your dough so that it is wider than it is tall. Depending on either how big your press is, or how big/small you prefer your raviolis, you will need to cut an even number of strips according to the previously determined dimensions. Once this is done, you can begin ladlin' in that delicious filling!

And the same carefulness you took rolling out the dough should be taken when filling your raviolis. You don't want to over-fill your raviolis, or the filling will come through the seams during boiling (or before), and you don't want to skimp too much on the filling, or you will have a ravioli that is all pasta and no filling. And if that's what you want, then why are you making raviolis?! Also, I found that the most streamline way to make these is to put filling onto one strip of dough, then skip a strip, then fill, etc. This way, you can just bring the top strip right down to the filling-topped dough with ease.

Once you have filled up all your bottom layers, lay out the top layer of your dough on to it. Don't worry if it doesn't fit exactly, you just need to make sure that you can press the two strips together without any filling coming through. Start from the middle and work your way out. You don't want to leave air pockets where there should be filling. I like to sort of wrap my fingers around the filling and begin pressing there, making sure to push the dough outward in order to get rid of those sneaky little spots. From the middle, make you way to the edges of the strips and push them together with your fingers.

After making sure they're properly sealed, your raviolis should begin looking something like... well... raviolis! Now, depending on whether you're using a press or not, you will follow either Step A (press) or Step B (fork). If you have a fluted rolling pin, however, you can just use that.

Step A will not require any additional cutting unless you cannot get your press to fully cut out your raviolis from the surrounding dough. If this happens, just push the press down to where it would cut, take a paring knife (or a butter knife, or a steak knife, or an X-Acto-knife) and cut around the edge until the dough is completely separated.

Step B just means that you're going to cut the raviolis out to size and then press together the seams with a fork. You don't even really need to use a fork, as long as the seams are completely sealed.

Now, don't worry if you get past this step and you have a few raviolis that look a little quirky. You will find that things begin to get much easier after you have a feel for how much filling you actually need. So, just repeat the previous steps until you have all your dough filled. (If you decide to use the scraps to make raviolis, which I do, you can dampen them with a splash of water, knead till smooth, and let rest again for a few minutes before using again). And don't worry if there's still flour covering your little masterpieces; that'll come out in the wash.

Fill a large pot half way with water, sprinkle in some salt, and bring to a boil. Getting your water to boil at the right rate is also important when making raviolis. Too hard of a boil, and your raviolis will just fall apart; too soft and they'll turn to mush. You want your water to be at a rolling boil, but just slightly below a hard boil.. A medium-high setting on your stove should do just the trick. Drop in 5-6 raviolis at once and allow to cook for about 3-6 minutes or until al dente; make sure the raviolis do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook time will depend on how big your raviolis are, as well as how you like your pasta. If you over-cook them, however, they will begin to fall apart. Remove your raviolis with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.

And that's it! How simple, right? If you find that you're having trouble with any of the steps, post a comment and I'll be happy to help out in any way I can.

 But until then, bon appetit!