Preparation: 2h (take your time to enjoy this beautiful moment)
To use: after 1 day
Serves: 6 people
Difficulty: difficult but rewarding!
I say rewarding because it's amazing when you spend few hours in the kitchen and then you feel you have made something beautiful and tasty that your favourite people will love to try. That's how I felt when I make ravioli! Rewarded for the effort!
This recipe comes from my friend Maria Chiara's grandmother who thought her how to make them when she got married. Sharing recipes is a passion!
Mamma Flora’s Tip: You can freeze the raw raviolis, when you want to cook them again just place them in boiling water while still frozen and cook as per below.
Ingredients:
For the dough
-
1Kg Organic Flour
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7 fresh eggs
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Salt
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Half cup of water at room temperature if needed
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Semola (you need it to dry the ravioli, not for the dough)
For the filling
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100gr ricotta cheese
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500gr mozzarella (you can also use the buffalo one)
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100 gr spinach
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nutmeg
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parmesan
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salt and pepper
For the sauce
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2cans of pelati tomatoes (250gr each), or 500gr or cherry tomatoes if you find fresh juicy ones
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3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
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1 small onion or 1 clove of garlic if you use cherry tomatoes
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basil
Tools you need
-
rolling pin
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machine for pasta making (if you don’t have it you can always use the rolling pin)
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ravioli stamp
Method:
Dough
- Place the flour on a hard and wide enough surface making a little mountain, with your hand make a hole in it and break the eggs, add some salt and with a fork start whisking the eggs with the flour
- Once you can’t use the fork anymore, roll up your sleeves and use the hands, it’s lot of fun! Vigorously work the dough until it becomes an even and elastic ball
- Place the dough in a bowl (outside the fridge) and cover for 30min, it needs to rest
Filling
- In a bowl place the ricotta (without the water), grate lots of parmesan, add salt and pepper per your taste and mix everything
- Wash the spinach leaves
- Place a pot on a medium heat, let it heat for 1min
- When warm, place the spinach in the warm pot. Stir them from time to time and let them cook until they are wilted (5min)
- Drain them, let them cool
- Squeeze with your hands the spinach to remove the water in excess
- Cut it in small pieces and add it to the filling mixture.
After 30min the dough is ready to become pasta for ravioli
- Follow the instructions of your pasta machine otherwise roll the dough with the rolling pin until it becomes very thin
- Play with the ravioli stamp on the pasta sheet before placing the filling, therefore you know more or less the borders of your ravioli
- Place the filling on the pasta sheet and cover it with another layer of pasta, take out the air and cut the shape with the stamp, make sure the border is very well closed so that the ravioli don’t lose their filling when you cook them
- Look how beautiful they are!
Place in the oven trays some semolina and recline the ravioli on the trays, sprinkle more semolina on top and let them dry for 1 day far from heaters and outside the fridge. You might want to turn them at some point as the bottom can become sticky
We are finally ready to eat them!
Sauce
- In a pot place the onion with the olive oil, let it gently heat and pour the pelati in it, salt and cook for 15-20min low heat. Add fresh basil
- When the sauce is almost ready, boil some water in a pot, salt it and place gently the ravioli when boiling
- Cook them for 5min and with a slotted spoon drain them and place them in the pan with the sauce on low heat, gently stir them with the sauce for few seconds
- Serve with parmesan and more fresh basil.
Enjoy your hard work! Well done you!