Homemade Pasta Recipe: Ravioli from scratch
Here’s a recipe I’ve used to make ravioli, including the filling, from scratch. ((Photo courtesy of Dev Null)) I found the recipe several years ago on the web, but unfortunately don’t remember where. In any case, here’s the recipe. It makes a LOT of pasta – enough for at least 6 people. The ravioli filling is my own creation – and its damn tasty.
There are essentially four steps:
- Make the dough
- Make the filling
- Make the ravioli
- Cook
Step 1: Make the Dough
Ravioli Pasta Dough Recipe ((As I mentioned above, this recipe makes a lot of dough. If trying it out for the first time, consider making a 1/3 batch.))
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 large egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup water
Place about 3/4 of the flour into a large bowl. Separately mix the egg, oil, salt and water. Add the wet ingredients to the flour. Mix everything thoroughly.
Kneed in the remaining flour. This takes a long time.
Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. In the meantime, let’s move on to…
Step 2: Make the filling
Garlic Spinach Ricotta Ravioli Filling
- 1/2 cup frozen spinach
- 1 tablespoon of garlic minced
- 3 tablespoons finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
Defrost spinach in bowl and drain. Mix in everything else. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate when not in use.
Step 3: Make the ravioli
- When ready to make the ravioli, only remove a very small amount from the plastic to work with at a time. ((If you’re using a pasta press, you already know what you’re doing so you don’t need to read this.)) I only worked with pieces of dough about the size of a standard 6-sided-die.
- Squish the piece of dough into a disc about the size of a silver dollar.
- Place the dough on a plastic cutting board. I prefer the kind with the non-skid rubberized ends.
- Roll the dough as thinly as possible. You’re going for almost translucent in the center. A heavy rolling pin helps.
- Add about 1/2 tablespoon of the filling to the center.
- Fold the dough in half and pinch the edges.
- Set each piece aside on wax paper on a large plate. The wax paper is to prevent the ravioli from sticking to the plate. Don’t let the ravioli touch each other since they will stick together.
- Cover the ravioli on the plate with plastic wrap while you work.
Step 4: Cook
- When ready to cook, add the pasta to boiling water in a large pot and then lower to medium heat after a minute.
- Cook for 5-7 minutes. ((5 minutes if you have very thin ravioli, 7 minutes if your pasta was thicker))
- The ravioli will tend to stick to the bottom of the pot, so stir once or twice.
Enjoy!
