Ragusa Style Ricotta Ravioli Recipes

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI WITH RICOTTA CHEESE FILLING

Steps:

• In an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, add eggs, 1 at a time, and mix. Continue mixing and add all the flour and water; continue mixing until it forms a ball. Sprinkle some flour on work surface, and knead the dough until elastic and smooth. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest for about 30 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
• Cut the ball of dough in half, cover and reserve the dough you are not immediately using to prevent it from drying out. Dust the counter and dough with flour. Form the dough into a rectangle and roll it through the pasta machine, 2 or 3 times, at its widest setting. Guide the sheet of dough with the palm of your hand as it emerges from the rollers. Reduce the setting and crank the dough through again, 2 or 3 times. Continue until the machine is at its narrowest setting. The dough should be paper-thin, about 1/8-inch thick.
• Dust the counter and dough with flour, and lay out the long sheet of pasta. Brush the top surface of dough with egg wash. Drop 1 tablespoon of cooled filling about 2 inches apart on half the sheet of pasta. Fold the unfilled half over the filling. With an espresso cup or finger, gently press out air pockets around each mound of filling and form a seal. Use a crimper to cut each pillow into squares. Check to make sure the crimped edges are well sealed before cooking. If making ravioli in advance, dust with cornmeal to prevent them from sticking.
• Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling water for 10 to 15 minutes. Ravioli will float to the top when cooked so be careful not to overcrowd the pot. Lift the ravioli from water with a large strainer or slotted spoon. Plate the pasta, top with your favorite pasta sauce and grated cheese before serving.
• In a mixing bowl, thoroughly combine all ingredients. Chill in the refrigerator a few minutes to firm up the filling.

RICOTTA-FILLED RAVIOLI (RAVIOLI DI RICOTTA)

Steps:

• To make the ravioli filling:
• 1. In a large bowl combine the ricotta, nutmeg, lemon zest, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and 1 egg. Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir well, and set aside.
• To make the ravioli dough:
• 1. Mound the flour on a clean work surface and create a well in the center. Place the eggs, egg yolks, and oil (if using) in the center. Using a fork, whisk the eggs and oil together and slowly start dragging the flour into the egg mixture. Knead by hand until all the ingredients are well combined and the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (Alternatively, place all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. With the mixer on medium speed, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.) Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or place it in a covered bowl and let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
• 2. Set up a pasta machine and turn it to the largest opening. Cut off pieces of dough about the size of an egg. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough into sheets about 1/8-inch thick.
• 3. Lay 1 pasta sheet flat on a lightly floured work surface and determine approximately where the halfway point is lengthwise. Use a pastry brush to lightly wet one half of the dough with the remaining egg lightly beaten with water. Spoon mounds of the filling, about 2 teaspoons each, onto half of the wet side of the dough, leaving about a 1/2 inch between the mounds. Fold the dry half of the sheet over lengthwise to cover the filling. Press the pasta sheets together to seal the edges around the filling, and press out any excess air. Use a pastry cutter or knife to cut individual ravioli. As you cut out the ravioli, place them on a plate or baking sheet sprinkled with flour to keep them from sticking. Repeat with the remaining pasta and filling.
• 4. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the ravioli all at once and stir a few times to submerge and separate them. Cook, uncovered, at a gentle boil until the pasta is just tender to the bite, 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the ravioli thoroughly and serve with a desired sauce or cheese.

RICOTTA AND SAUSAGE-FILLED RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Pulse together the onion, celery, and carrot in a food processor until finely chopped, to make a pestata. Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, scrape in the vegetables and cook until they begin to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes.
• Pour the white wine over the sausage in a medium bowl, and crumble the sausage into small pieces with your fingers. Add the sausage and wine to the skillet with the vegetables, breaking up the sausage as finely as possible with a wooden spoon. Sauté until the sausage is completely cooked through, about 4 to 5 minutes. Scrape into a bowl to cool. When the sausage is completely cooled, stir in the ricotta, grated cheese, and parsley.
• Roll the dough: Cut it into four equal pieces. (You could roll the dough out with a rolling pin, but a small Imperia pasta machine is not expensive; it rolls the dough out in even strips and makes ravioli making so much easier.) Flatten a piece of dough into a rectangle, approximately 2 inches by 2 inches, and roll through the widest setting on the pasta machine. Fold this rectangle of dough like a letter, and roll through again. Repeat the rolling and folding a few more times, to knead and smooth the dough. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.
• Switch to the next-narrowest setting on the machine. Roll a dough strip through, short end first. Repeat with the remaining dough strips. Continue this process with narrower settings, now rolling each strip only once through each setting, until you've gotten to the next-to-last setting and the dough strips are about as wide as the machine (6 inches).
• Lay one strip out on a floured counter, and place a heaping teaspoon of filling at about 4-inch intervals down the center of the strip (you will get about six or seven large ravioli per strip). Brush around the filling with water, fold the strip of dough over the fillings, the edges touching evenly, and seal the edges by pressing lightly. Using a serrated pastry cutter or pizza cutter, cut the ravioli evenly between the fillings into rectangles. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
• Keep the ravioli on a baking sheet lined with a clean kitchen towel, and covered, until you are ready to cook them; up to 2 or 3 hours is fine. To cook the ravioli, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop the ravioli into the pot one by one, stirring with a wooden spoon periodically so they do not stick to the bottom.
• Have a sauté pan with the bubbling sauce ready to dress the ravioli. Once the ravioli are in the boiling water, cook for 3 minutes, then fish them out with a spider or slotted spoon. Drain them, and set them in the sauce. Stir gently to coat the ravioli with sauce. When ready to serve, toss some grated cheese over the ravioli plate, and spoon the remaining sauce on top.
• notes
• You can serve these with a simple marinara and some grated Grana Padano or sautéed with butter and sage and some grated Grana Padano.
• If you want to freeze the ravioli: Once you have set them on a lined baking sheet, cover with a film of plastic wrap and set in the freezer for 2 or 3 hours, till frozen. Gently collect the frozen ravioli, set them flat in a ziplock bag, and lay the bag flat in a sealed plastic container. They will last in the freezer for a month or more.

HOMEMADE RICOTTA RAVIOLI RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Add lemon juice, stir and let sit for about 30 seconds.
• Remove the milk from the heat, let stand for about 15 minutes to curdle.
• Place a strainer over a deep bowl. Line the strainer with a cheese cloth of a clean kitchen towel. Pour the milk into the kitchen towel and let strain for about 30 minutes.
• Discard the liquid.
• Sauté spinach and garlic.
• In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta and spinach. Salt to taste. Add one beaten egg.
• Spoon mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper.
• Moisten the edges of the wrapper with water. Top with another wonton wrapper. Gently seal around the filling in the center and the edges.
• Boil ravioli for two minutes.
• Drain ravioli and serve with your choice of sauce.
• Enjoy!

RICOTTA RAVIOLO WITH GARLICKY GREENS

Steps:

• Ravioli: Stir together both cheeses, oil, and lemon zest in a medium bowl; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• On a floured work surface, roll out one square of the rested pasta dough to an approximately 16-inch square. Using a ruler and bench scraper or knife, lightly score a 12-inch square in center of dough, then score that 12-inch square at 4-inch intervals in both directions, to form a 3-by-3 grid of nine 4-inch squares. (Do not cut dough all the way through.)
• Spoon a scant 1/4 cup ricotta mixture evenly into center of each square. Using back of spoon, create a small well in the center of each mound. Gently drop an egg yolk into each well.
• Roll out remaining piece of dough to an approximately 16-inch square. On filled dough square, lightly brush water around cheese. Loosely drape second dough square over first. Working from the center outward, gently press any air pockets out from between doughs and press together around fillings.
• Using a fluted pastry wheel, pizza wheel, or knife, cut out ravioli. Transfer to a rimmed sheet dusted with flour (preferably semolina).
• Garlicky Greens: Whisk together lemon juice and mustard to combine, then slowly whisk in 1/3 cup oil to make a dressing; season with salt and pepper and set aside.
• In a large straight-sided skillet over medium heat, cook pancetta with 1 tablespoon oil until browned and fat renders, 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer pancetta to a paper-towel-lined plate.
• Return skillet to medium heat, add garlic, and cook until fragrant and sizzling, 15 seconds. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil, then kale and dandelion greens, a handful at a time; season with salt and pepper and cook until wilted. Cover and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until greens darken and become tender, 8 to 10 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, cook ravioli in a large pot of generously salted boiling water until al dente, 8 to 10 minutes. Reserve 3/4 cup pasta water; drain.
• Add reserved pasta water to greens in skillet and cook, uncovered, until water has mostly evaporated, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from heat; stir half of reserved lemon dressing into greens.
• Serve each raviolo over a bed of greens, drizzled with remaining lemon dressing and sprinkled with pancetta, Pecorino, and pepper.