Handmade Ravioli

Delicious!

I decided to try my hand at ravioli making last night. First I dug out the hand crank pasta maker. Then I opted to not use it... there appeared to be too much work involved. Plus, I can't use the same machine for gluten free and regular pasta.

So, the pasta press went back into its box and I opted to hand roll the pasta... that may have been a mistake, but two hours later I had a plate full of delicious ravioli waiting to boil.

I will post my first go at the gluten free ravioli over at Looks Good In Polka Dots later... it was far from a perfect attempt, and will need several revisions, but was quite tasty if not beautiful.


Ravioli filling:

I combined 1 cup sour cream (homemade cream cheese would work great as well) with about 4 ounces grated cheese. I then sprinkled in garlic, kosher salt and pepper.

Other options include: squash or pine nut puree, pesto, goat cheese crumbles and herbs, diced tomatoes, or meat.

Toppings:

I made a tomato pasta sauce with ground turkey... depending on your filling you could use a cheese sauce, a wine sauce, grated asiago or Parmesan cheese, etc...

Ravioli shells:

3 extra large free range chicken eggs
2 Tbs olive oil (or palm or coconut oil)
1/4-1/2 cup water
1 tsp kosher salt
3 cups whole wheat flour

Whisk together the eggs, 1/4 cup water and oil. Place flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, make a well in the center. Pour the egg/water/oil mixture in the well. Combine with a wooden spoon (or just use your hands). Once well incorporated, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have a smooth ball of dough (add more water or flour as needed to reach a dough consistency). Divide into 8 parts. Then roll each part out one at a time to desired thickness (I opted for about 1/8 inch thick). Then use a round cookie cutter or a glass dusted with flour to cut circles. Stretch each circle out so that it's thin and large enough to fill and fold. Then drop a small glob of the filling into the center and fold in half, press the edges together. Set aside to dry until time to boil. Repeat until all dough is used.

Place a few ravioli at a time into boiling water, cook until pasta rises to the top, remove with a slotted spoon. Serve with choice of sauce/toppings.