Five-cheese Ravioli

C and I recently had dinner at Rocky Mountain Flatbread – we ordered the Chef’s pasta special and a flatbread pizza. Both were amazing dishes that had great flavours. Though the flatbread was my favourite of the two, I really enjoyed the texture of the pasta itself.

Definitely didn’t taste like the commercial dried packaged pasta that we usually make at home. Anyhow, this sparked my curiosity to try making my own pasta. I don’t have a pasta rolling machine, so I had to use my rolling pin instead. All good, was more of a workout anyway =P

I also didn’t want to make long pasta noodles because they’d probably end up very uneven, so I decided to make squares and stuff them with a cheese filling.

Used this recipe for whole wheat pasta. The only thing I changed was to add less pepper.

Whole Wheat Pasta dough:

• 1 1/2 C WW flour
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 3 tbsp water

1. On a large wooden cutting board (or any other clean surface you can knead on), combine flour, salt, and pepper.
2. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add eggs and water.
3. With a fork, carefully start mixing egg and combining flour. Once dough has formed a paste and can be picked up, begin to knead until flour is all absorbed and dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Wrap in plastic and allow to rest for 20 minutes.

Cheese filling – Literally just mixed together whatever cheeses I had in the fridge.

• 1 block reduced fat creamed cheese
• 2/3 C Cheddar & Monterey Jack cheese blend (Costco)
• 1/4 C Parmesan & Romano cheese blend (Trader Joes)
• 1/2 tbsp dried parsley
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1 egg
• 1/4 C italian style bread crumbs

1. Cream the creamed cheese until light and fluffy.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend well.

Assembly:

1. Roll pasta dough to 1/8 inch in the shape of a long rectangle.
2. Spoon about 1 tbsp portions of filling onto half of the dough, with 1 inch between each scoop.
3. Beat an egg in a bowl (this will act as the glue to seal the ravioli). Using a pastry brush, brush around the filling.
4. Carefully place the other half of the rolled out dough over the filling. Gently press down between the filling dollops to create a seal between the two layers of pasta.
5. Carefully cut pasta into squares. Set aside and allow to dry.
6. Cooking: boil ravioli for approx 5-7 minutes or until tender. Fresh pasta doesn’t take as long to cook, but cooking time may depend on how thick the pasta is.

Serve with your favorite tomato sauce and voila, homemade ravioli!