Ravioli…. Oh those delicious little pillows of pasta filled with cheese. Who doesn’t love ravioli? So of course on my pasta making adventure this past week homemade Ravioli was on the list of things to make. I did just a simple ricotta cheese filling then I packed in the flavor with…. You guessed it Pesto. That’s what I love about pesto though, you can always keep it on hand and when you need to add a boost of flavor to something just add a spoonful of pesto.

Now some may call this cheating, and maybe it is but to make my ravioli I purchased a metal ravioli mold. The mold makes 10 ravioli at a time and was easy to use, as long as you remember to dust the mold in flour before each use. I learned that the hard way the first time…

These ravioli were fun to make and they freeze beautifully so you can have fresh pasta whenever you want. In fact I think that they cooked better after being frozen. Enjoy!

 

 

Mel’s Cheese and Pesto Homemade Ravioli

1 Batch Homemade Pasta Dough

1 cup Whole Milk Ricotta Cheese

1/3 cup Pesto (click here to find out how to make pesto)

1 egg

1/2 cup freshly grated Romano cheese.

Salt and Pepper to Taste

Directions:

 Step 1: Make the Pasta Dough

 

Ingredients:

 2 cups cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 

Directions:

Place the cake flour, all-purpose flour, egg yolks and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. With the machine running, gradually add the oil then 1/3 to 1/2 cup water until the mixture forms a dough (the dough should stick together if pinched between your fingers). If necessary, add additional water, 1 teaspoon at a time if the dough is too dry.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Gather the dough into a ball and knead until the dough is smooth, 5 to 8 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis

SHOW: Giada at Home

EPISODE: Pasta From Scratch

 

 Step 2: Make the Ravioli Filling

In a large bowl mix together the ricotta cheese, the 1/3 cup of pesto, the grated Romano cheese, salt and pepper to taste. Taste the mixture for seasoning. Then add one egg, slightly beaten to the ricotta, cheese and pesto mixture.

Step 3: Assembly

After your pasta dough has rested, with a pasta machine roll the dough out to your desired thickness of pasta. I like my ravioli thin, so I prefer the 7 setting on the pasta machine as my final thickness. Then flour the ravioli mold and lay your first sheet of pasta on top of the mold. Gently press the pasta dough in to each hole then add about one teaspoon of the filling to each hole making sure not to over fill each ravioli. Carefully lay another sheet of fresh pasta over the mold and press down gently on top of each ravioli making sure to get all the air out. Then with a rolling pin, roll over the top of the mold applying enough pressure to cut the pasta along the edges of the ravioli mold.

Then place the formed ravioli on a sheet pan dusted with flour and cover with a slightly damp tea towel over the top to prevent the pasta from drying out.

Repeat the process until you are out of pasta dough. Depending on the ravioli mold you use you should be able to get 40-50 ravioli from each batch of pasta dough.

After you have made all the ravioli place the sheet pan in the freezer and freeze the ravioli for 3hrs then you can store them in a zip top bag in your freezer.

Step 4: Cooking

When ready to cook the ravioli bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Place your desired amount of frozen ravioli in the boiling water making sure not to over crowd the pasta, you may have to cook them in two batches. When they float to the top they are done, it takes 3-5 minutes.Then toss the cooked ravioli in a bubbling pan of your favorite pasta sauce, like a good marinara sauce (I love Mario Batali’s Marinara Sauce), top with a little freshly grated Romano cheese and some fresh basil.

Serve with a Salad, garlic bread and your favorite glass of Chianti.