Ravioli are a type of stuffed pasta with a choice of filling enveloped in thin pasta dough served with your choice of sauce. It originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, though other forms are also used, including circular and semi-circular.
I love to eat pasta, and if there is homemade pasta then the dinner becomes splendid and magnificent. As a chef while I get the chance to prepare the homemade pasta I feel more energetic. Because creativity is on the toes, you are free to incorporate the flavour , colour, tastes, texture and the level of difficulties.
Usually it is prepared with all purpose flour but you can also prepare it with whole wheat flour.
You can add the puree of vegetables in dough to improve the colour and taste, you are free to use from the vegetables to herbs , meat to shellfish and what to say about the sauce…
There are endless ingredients to use as sauce for the homemade pasta…….
Prep time : 40 mins
Cooking time : 30 mins
Level: medium :hard
Ingredients
For dough
- Flour – 2 cups
- Egg – 2 no
- Salt – 1 teaspoon
For stuffing
- Onion (chopped) – 1 teaspoon
- Garlic (chopped) – 1 teaspoon
- Spinach (wash and pet dry) – 400 gm
- Parmesan cheese – 1/2 cup
- Salt – to taste
- Black pepper – to taste
- Cream cheese – 1/2 cup
- Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
For Mixed Sauce
- Tomato blanched & deseed – 2 cup
- Cream – 1/2 cup
- Parmesan cheese – 1/2 cup
- Garlic chopped – 1 teaspoon
- Onion chopped – 1 teaspoon
- Olive oil – 1 tablespoon
- Butter – 1 teaspoon
Method
- Mix flour and salt. Add egg. Combine the mixture together and knead well. It should be well textured and well firm.
- Cover the dough with wet cloth and keep it resting for a few mins.
- Heat olive oil in a pan, add chopped onion, garlic and spinach. Stirring occasionally till the spinach wilted.
- Remove and chop the cooked spinach. Add parmesan cheese and cream cheese , salt and black pepper to taste and mix well.
- Allow the mixture to cool.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal halves, dust the flour on a working table to avoid the sticky ness, and roll each half into a very thin sheet with the help of a rolling pin.
- Once you rolled the sheets, place the ravioli mixture on equal intervals on one half of the sheet. The dough is then brushed with egg. Don’t overfill the mixture.
- Cover with another layer of ravioli dough, which should lay flat all the way across the sheet.
- Use a square cutter to cut the ravioli sheet one by one.
- Seal the edges of ravioli by the fork..
- When you are done shaping ravioli, bring a big pot of water to boil, add ravioli and cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain carefully. Shake the draining pan and stir the pasta well so that all the water drains out as quickly as possible. Coat olive oil thoroughly in pasta to prevent sticking together.
For Tomato Cream Sauce
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Keep the cross incision into the tomatoes and remove the eyes of the tomatoes.
- Blanch them for 30 seconds to loosen the skin and immediately shock in ice water; peel off the skin with a paring knife. Chop the tomatoes and remove the seeds.
- In a saucepan , add olive oil, bay leaf and diced onion. Sauté until translucent. Add salt so they release their liquids. This will help to bring out the natural sweetness of the onions.
- Add garlic and sauté it.
- Add the chopped tomatoes to the garlic and onions.
- Add tomato puree. This will give the body and texture to the sauce. Season with salt and black pepper.
- Simmer for about 20 minutes until the flavors come together.
- Add cream and cook for a few mins .
- In a pan toss the ravioli pasta with olive oil and butter., add garlic. Add chili flakes and tomato cream sauce .Adjust seasoning.
- Transfer the pasta in a serving plate, topped with grated parmesan cheese. Garnish with fresh basil leaves. Serve with toasted garlic bread.