#RespectThePasta – Making ravioli

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Okay, so the challenge set by Ask Italian this time was to make ravioli from scratch. In the words of my husband it was ‘a valiant effort’, in my own words it was a pasta fail. My major error was that I didn’t roll my pasta thin enough, I think I need to invest in a pasta roller! The actual pasta-dough wasn’t half as hard to make as I expected (but then I have a food mixer with a dough hook that did all the hard work for me!) and the filling and sauce were pretty easy (and really tasty too!) Anyway, here’s how I did it…

 

Mix flour and eggs together to form dough. YES REALLY! It is THAT simple. If you cover it you can keep it in the fridge for up to ten days too… I made it the day before I was planning to serve it for dinner because I thought it would take a lot longer!

3 eggs and 300g of ‘00’ grade flour. Pop them in your mixing bowl and pulse until a dough forms. It should have a slightly sticky texture but be smooth to the touch.

 

 

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Rolling & cutting

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I rolled it out onto a glass board, but I clearly have the weak a puny arms of a small meerkat and had a complete inability to roll it any finer than I did. It then rose a bit whilst I made the filling, so they were giant ravioli by the time I had introduced them to the pan of boiling water, they did however remain ‘stuck’ together in the pan which I didn’t think would happen!

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Here’s the recipe for the two tasty parts:

Filling:
45ml ASK Italian extra virgin olive oil
100g baby spinach
180g ricotta
80g Parmesan or Grana Padano cheese (finely grated)
A pinch of dried ground marjoram
A pinch of dried wild oregano
A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
30g Soft white breadcrumbs
Freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

 

 

 

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First heat the oil and wilt the spinach, season and then cool before chopping (I snipped with scissors because I am lazy) then mix together the snipped spinach, Grana Padano and dried herbs and season if you think it needs it. Finally add the breadcrumbs and combine till well mixed.

 

Add the filling to the rolled out pasta, whilst bringing a pan of salted water to the boil

 

 

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For the Sauce:
30g unsalted butter
115g garden peas
12 fresh basil leaves (finely chopped)
60ml (4tbsp) dry white wine
230g crème fraiche
100ml hot pasta cooking water
Freshly ground nutmeg
60g baby spinach leaves
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, add the peas and chopped basil and heat on low for a couple of minutes. Stir in the wine and turn up until it has evaporated. Add in the Crème fraiche and 100ml of the boiling water from your pasta and mix well, season to taste. Then lower the heat and pop your spinach in and stir until wilted. Remove your ravioli from the boiling water after 4-5 minutes (supposedly, mine took more like 7-8 as it was so thick) and then pour the sauce over.

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It was edible, just. I loved the ricotta filling though and so I might be attempting this again, or using the filling in something else (or even just to eat with normal pasta!) and the sauce was so easy to make too!

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Ever tried to make ravioli from scratch? Or any pasta for that matter… please tell me you found it as tricky as I did? No, I didn’t think so, I’m much better at eating ravioli than making it… the next challenge is the last one, sadly! Until next time… #RespectThePasta!

5 thoughts on “#RespectThePasta – Making ravioli

  1. Ah I really want to make pasta. I have an old roller from my mum (of course) and always say we’re going to but fail to bother so kudos to you! I may be trying this out soon. Maybe. If I stope being so darn lazy!
    xxx

  2. I really want to make some pasta, ravioli is one of my fave types. Loved reading this!

    Sophie x

  3. I tried making pasta once, it took me hours and hours (no mixer and no pasta machine). I’ve given in and just buy fresh pasta from the supermarket now. Well done on persevering though; your ravioli looks delicious! xxx

  4. AHA, I have today been wondering how to make pasta and new I know. Just eggs and 00 flour. Brillo. Just roll it thin enough! I must give it a try 🙂

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