Wednesday, October 26, 2011

homemade ravioli

 ...i love pasta! and i love to make it. recently i got a pasta maker. i've made lots of fettuccine noodles with it, but i wanted try something else. so i decided on ravioli! it was really a lot of fun to make and actually did not take too long.

mix salt and flour together. make a mound and put a well in the middle. crack the eggs into the middle of the well.
 beat the eggs with the fork and gradually mix in the flour.
this is how it should look when done mixing
knead for seven minutes or until smooth.
separate into three balls. cover and let rest for fifteen minutes.
while the dough is resting, beat the ravioli filling. salt and pepper to taste.
after the dough is done resting, put it through a pasta maker until it reaches the desired thickness 
(about 1/16 of a inch). you can use a rolling pin if you don't have a pasta maker.
lay the dough out flat. arrange tablespoon-sized dollops of filling, 1-1/2 inches apart.
remember those egg whites? well now brush them along the edges of the filling. this is going to be like the "glue".
put another sheet of pasta on top and press around the filling, getting all of the air out. then press down on the balls to flatten them just a little bit so they aren't so round.
cut them and lay them on a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper. put them in the freezer for just a bit until they are firm. at this point you can either bag them up and put them back in the freezer for later use (they're good for about a month in the freezer or only up to 3 days in the fridge uncooked) or put them into a pot of boiling water with a few dashes of salt.  they are done when they float to the top. This only takes about 3-5min. at the most so keep a close eye on them.
 serve them with a tomato sauce and..TADA! homemade ravioli!