We have been on a pasta making and eating spree lately and are still going strong! Today, I present to you, a well-loved version of pasta where there is a hidden pocket of deliciousness that is sealed between two perfectly al dente sheets of pasta… the ravioli!
Truthfully, when we brought out the pasta machine and were making the pappardelle for the beef short rib pasta recipe, it dawned on me that we still had a container full of delicious roasted butternut squash ravioli filling that was hidden in the great depths of the freezer! Defrost, microwave, and within minutes, we were ready to make ravioli. E had gotten me this awesome ravioli attachment for my kitchen aid last year; however, since there wasn’t very much filling, we decided to make ravioli the old fashioned way.
We made the filling a little while back and used this exact recipe from the Food Network. It is a fairly simple recipe but is packed with flavour! And the sauce is so simple but so delicious… I mean.. it’s butter… of course it is going to taste good! For the pasta dough, we used the same recipe from my previous post found here and also flattened the pasta sheets up to the #5 setting.
In terms of making the pasta, I have to give credit to E as the ravioli master because he made most of the ravioli for this recipe. I’m sure there are different ways to make ravioli… with moulds, without, folding lengthwise or short ends together, but this is how we ended up making them.
Ravioli Assembly
- Once you have a flattened sheet of pasta, carefully set it out on a lightly floured surface.
- Mark where the center of the long pasta sheet is, as you will be folding the pasta at this point after you have your filling all laid out.
- You will be only using one side of the long pasta sheet for this next step. Based on the width of the pasta sheet, spoon the filling, about the size of half a tablespoon at equal distances apart, leaving about 1-1/2 inches between each ball of filling. This will ensure that there will be enough room to seal the ravioli.
- Once you have spooned out as much filling as you can on the one side of the sheet, dip your finger in water and distribute water in a grid-like fashion between each ball of filling. The water will act as the seal between the two sheets of pasta.
- Carefully lift the empty side of the pasta sheet and fold the sheet over at the center point, carefully over the filling.
- Gently press around each filling ball to remove most of the air and to seal the pasta edges.
- Using a pizza slicer or knife, carefully cut the pasta into squares (or rounds, whichever you prefer). If you’d like to take it a step further, you can also use the prongs of a fork and press around each side of the ravioli – It adds a nice design, plus it really helps seal the pasta sheets together.
- To cook: bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook in small batches for about 3 minutes.
Lastly, a tip for storing fresh ravioli – flour them to avoid sticking, and freeze in layers separated with parchment. After they have been individually frozen, you can place them in a ziplock or different container. A huge mistake I made was that I floured the ravioli, let them sit at room temperature for about an hour and then I placed them in two layers in the fridge as I was going to make them a little later. Sadly, most of them ended up sticking together – lets just say that was a lessoned learned and that ravioli are not meant to be close to each other when fresh… keep em separated! I think it was because the filling was so moist so it made only the centres of the ravioli more wet and prone to sticking.
the quiet baker 