Italian Ravioli Recipe

Italian Ravioli Recipe

Ingredients:
Dough
2 eggs
½ cup water
3 cups unbleached white flour
½ teaspoon salt
Ricotta Filling 1
1/4 lb mortadella or 1/4 lb prosciutto or 1/4 lb ham or 1/4 lb salami finely chopped (optional)
1 dash nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 1/2 lbs ricotta cheese (drained)
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 cup freshly grated romano cheese
Ricotta Filling 2
1 1/2 lbs ricotta cheese, drained
1/4-1⁄3 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2-2 tablespoons finely minced fresh italian flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper
1/4 cup freshly grated romano cheese
2 eggs
Beef and Spinach Filling
1/2 cup cooked chopped spinach squeezed dry
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 lb lean ground beef
1/4 lb ground veal
2 eggs slightly beaten
1 tablespoon chopped italian flat leaf parsley
1 dash nutmeg
2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
Sausage Filling
2 tablespoons freshly grated parmesan cheese or romano cheese
3/4 lb loose sweet Italian sausage
2 eggs slightly beaten

Preparation Instructions:
MAKE THE FILLING
Ricotta Filling 1 and 2: In a large bowl, blend together all the filling ingredients until it is smooth. Set the filling aside until needed.
Beef and Spinach Filling: Brown the meat (the beef and veal) in butter with the whole clove of garlic. Remove the garlic and let the meat mixture cool. Mix together the eggs, spinach, cheese, parsley and nutmeg into the cooled meat until it`s well blended. Put the filling aside until needed.
Sausage Filling: Brown the sausage in a frying pan, drain the fat afterwards allowing it to cool. When the sausage has cooled, mix in the cheese and eggs. Set it aside until needed.
MAKING THE RAVIOLI DOUGH
Sift together the flour and salt. Place the flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour. Drop the eggs into the flour well, breaking the yolks using a fork and slightly beat the eggs. Combine the flour and eggs together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough. Knead the dough well, until it`s smooth. Cover the dough and let it rest for about 15 minutes. Cut the dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/6 to 1/8 inches thick).
FILL THE RAVIOLI.
Drop about 1 – 1 and a half teaspoonfuls of filling all along the dough, about 1 inches apart. When the dough sheet is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover the filling with the other sheet of dough. Using your fingers, gently press the dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
Cut the ravioli into squares with a very sharp knife.
DRY THE RAVIOLI
Allow the ravioli to dry for about one hour before cooking.
COOK THE RAVIOLI
Drop the ravioli into 6 to 8 quarters of boiling, salted water and cook it until the dough is tender(about 10-15 minutes). Carefully remove the cooked ravioli from the pot using a large slotted spoon or a skimmer, draining well. Place the drained ravioli on a serving platter in layers, adding the sauce of your choice and a sprinkling of grated cheese between each ravioli layer. Serve hot.

Did you know that:

• The word ravioli comes from the Italian verb ravvolgere, meaning “to wrap.”
• Ravioli is mentioned by Boccaccio in his 14th century work, the Decameron.
• Traditionally, ravioli should be filled with greens, or greens and cheese, since it originally comes from Liguria, where the diet was mainly vegetarian.
• There is such a thing as ravioli nudi, or “naked ravioli”, which is simply the filling without the pasta shell.

Photo credit: pointnshoot