Ravioli: An overview

One of the most recent additions to my cooking skill set has been fresh pastas.  Last spring I broke down and purchased the pasta rolling and cutting attachments for my Kitchenaid mixer which I had coveted for some time.  Though they are expensive I feel like I will get my moneys worth out of them when it is all said and done.  I have also been using The Pasta Bible as my guide for noodle and sauce making.  However for ravioli fillings I mostly have been scouring the internet and making up concoctions that I think will work well together.

In this post I will go over the general technique for making the ravioli and then in future posts I will expand on different fillings and sauces I have experimented with.

Pasta dough is very simple and has very few ingredients.  Depending on what sort of pasta you are making the ratios of ingredients or the flour type may change, but the process for making the dough is the same for the most part.  For ravioli dough I use all purpose flour and salt which I combine together.

I was unable to find farm fresh eggs for this batch of dough so I had to rely on store bought.

When using farm fresh eggs (which I much prefer) you will find the yokes to be much more vibrant in color and have more of an orange hue, especially in the summer.  The quality and color of the yokes goes a long way in determining how the finished pasta will look and taste.

You can mix the eggs in to the flour by hand, or

use the dough hook on your electric mixer.  I have done it both ways but since I will be using the mixer to roll the dough I also use it for the mixing of the dough.

After the dough is formed it needs to rest for about an hour in the refrigerator.

After the dough has rested I quarter the dough to make the rolling process easier.  I start the dough on the widest setting on my roller and feed each piece through.

I have found that if the dough is too sticky it will start to pull apart while it is feeding through the rollers.  If this happens you can dust on more flour and fold the dough over itself.  You can then roll the dough again to incorporate the new flour.

I dust the dough with flour often to prevent sticking in the rollers and so the dough won't stick to other pieces.

I work each sheet through the roller two or three times on each setting.  You may need to cut the sheets in half if they become too long to handle easily.  For ravioli dough I work the dough to a medium thickness which corresponding to setting 5 on my rolling attachment.

Once the dough reaches the desired thickness I use a pizza cutter to create strips that are two to three inches wide.

Once the strips are made (keep the dough covered when not working with it to prevent it from drying out) I place a small spoonful of filling on one side of the sheet.  I use a small brush to paint the edges of the dough with water to help the dough stick when sealing the ravioli.

You can use a fork or some other device to seal the ravioli but I have found pinching with my fingers to work just fine if the edges have been wet.

Once all the ravioli have been made I place the ones that won't be eaten that day on a cookie sheet so they can easily be frozen and then bagged for use at a later date.

For the ravioli that will be consumed that day I usually let them sit uncovered for an hour or two to let the pasta dry and firm slightly.

You cook fresh pasta the same way you would cook dried pasta.  The only difference is that fresh pasta cooks much more quickly.  We have found that for fresh ravioli they only need to boil for a few minutes.

You can eat them straight out of the pot with your favorite sauce or pan fry them with some butter or olive oil.