October 15, 2023 - 1:29pm
Ravioli
Tonight was a mushroom ravioli night - and very tasty they were too!
Dough: 00 pasta flour, eggs
Filling: chestnut mushrooms, wild mushrooms, onions, garlic, homemade ricotta, cream cheese, egg yolk, butter, thyme, salt, black pepper, fino sherry, white wine.
Lance
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They sound so delicious. I have a couple questions. Judging from the photo, did you use a larger cutter for the top piece of dough, so it would cover the mound of filling? Was it necessary to wet the dough edges before sealing? I've been thinking about making ravioli, but having to wet all the edges to get a good seal seems like most of the work. It's what I dislike about making perogi.
Thanks; I used 2 pastry cutters - 60mm and 80mm. The 80 is 2 sizes bigger than the 60, to give a good border.
You dob on the blobs of filling as shown, then moisten round them with a small round pastry brush dipped in water.
Drape on the top pasta sheet. Start at one end and try and profile it round the mounds as you lay it, so it's not stretched too much.
Then press down round the mounds with the 60mm cutter inverted, to give a seal. Don't press too hard.
Then cut out the rounds with the 80mm cutter.
All a lot easier than it sounds, but always allow plenty of time to make ravioli - it's never a quick job.
And a tip for the filling - I always add an egg yolk to bind the mixture. That way, even if you have a dodgy edge, the filling won't leak out.
Lance
They look great Lance and the filling sounds delicious. Nice work!
Michael
I think the mushroom filling is my favourite. I have also made Agnolotti pappa al pomodoro and that's pretty good too.
Lance
Well, actually I don't. I have low vision, so miss things sometimes. Your method, working with two sheets of dough, makes more sense.
Just can't get away from that moistening of the seams, drat! I find that so fiddly, messy and time-consuming, although a brush might be easier than my standard finger.
Do you serve them with a sauce of any type?
Well I think I would struggle with a finger too. Definitely need a brush - I guess a new 1/2" paintbrush would do the trick too.
A sauce is optional. I usually think I've done enough by the time the ravioli are all made, so I keep it simple and dress them with melted butter and Pecorino Romano.
Lance
Your ravioli filling recipe sounds delicious! Definitely something to experiment with this winter.
I am curious about your dough. What is its recipe? I'm working on-and-off on a dough made from home-milled durum that has the right hydration to smoothly run through my Marcato Atlas 150. I've perfected the hydration at 66%, but neglected to add eggs for binding and so I'm monkeying with it to add the eggs.
Thank you. My pasta dough is made to a very simple recipe. In the USA there seems to be a desire to use mixtures of 00 flour/durum/eggs and possibly other ingredients such as oil and salt to make pasta.
I follow the classic Italian rules, ie egg pasta is made with 00 flour and eggs; no salt as the salt comes from the cooking water. Also for stuffed pasta like ravioli, I add 1-2 tspn milk to the mix as it makes the shapes easier to seal, according to Marcella Hazan.
There are many types of 00 flour and it is best to use one specifically for pasta making. All Italian mills make one, but I'm sure there will be American equivalents.Generally these are quite low in protein.
So my recipe is simply 200g pasta flour and 2 medium eggs - and optionally a little milk.
I find the drier the mix (assuming you can roll it!), the better the pasta.
Lance
If we land on your doorstep for dinner, it was because you posted the pictures... I'm drooling!