It’s not every day that you turn 40. Since it was the first birthday of his that I shared with him and one of those milestone birthdays, I decided to go all out for [The Now Former Male]’s 40th. Not only did I get him “the greatest gift anyone has ever gotten [him]” (a kick ass camera), but I also made him ravioli from scratch, sauce from scratch, and I cooked it in my lingerie. That's just the kind of girlfriend I am.
*Okay so a real ragu has meat, but for most people Portabella mushrooms are damn meaty and might as well be meat in this case therefore I consider it a ragu. I know, Italians everywhere are screaming. It's okay.
THE NIBBLES
You really should have a hand crank pasta machine or a pasta attachment for your mixer. You can try to do this with a rolling pin and little ring guides on the pin to help you keep it level, but it will not come out evenly unless you are extremely good with a rolling pin. I am not.
Ingredients:
Pasta:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt
Filling:
2 shredded/crumbled chicken breasts (I cheated and used rotisserie chicken, but you can just boil two medium-large breasts and shred them)
1 cup fresh mozzarella
½ cup fresh parmesan
6 leaves of fresh basil, cut into a fine chiffonade
½ package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 container ricotta cheese
1 egg
1-2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Sauce:
1 28oz and one 14.5 can tomato sauce
1 container of baby portabellas mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 medium white onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced (we like a lot of garlic so I even added some garlic powder)
½ cup fresh parsely, chopped fine
4 leaves of fresh basil, cut into a fine chiffonade
1 fresh tomato, diced
1 14.5oz (I think, it’s the regular size one) can diced tomatoes,
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 half pint of heavy cream
Directions:
Sauce:
Chop and dice all the veggies, chop the parsley and basil, and then combine all but the heavy cream in the above ingredients in a large pot. Let it come to a low boil then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer 45 minutes to an hour.
Filling:
While the sauce is cooking, shred the chicken and grate the cheeses. I bought a small chunk of fresh parmesan and grated it with a microplane grater/zester. Chiffonade the basil - lay all the leaves flat on top of each other then roll into a tight roll. Hold that roll and gently slice very thinly. I diced the hell out of the parsley and here’s proof that I did this in my lingerie (Don't worry[The Now Former Male] kept the photo tasteful).
THE NIBBLES
You really should have a hand crank pasta machine or a pasta attachment for your mixer. You can try to do this with a rolling pin and little ring guides on the pin to help you keep it level, but it will not come out evenly unless you are extremely good with a rolling pin. I am not.
Ingredients:
Pasta:
2 cups all purpose flour
3 eggs
2 Tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt
Filling:
2 shredded/crumbled chicken breasts (I cheated and used rotisserie chicken, but you can just boil two medium-large breasts and shred them)
1 cup fresh mozzarella
½ cup fresh parmesan
6 leaves of fresh basil, cut into a fine chiffonade
½ package of frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 container ricotta cheese
1 egg
1-2 tsp Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Sauce:
1 28oz and one 14.5 can tomato sauce
1 container of baby portabellas mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 medium white onion, diced
6 garlic cloves, minced (we like a lot of garlic so I even added some garlic powder)
½ cup fresh parsely, chopped fine
4 leaves of fresh basil, cut into a fine chiffonade
1 fresh tomato, diced
1 14.5oz (I think, it’s the regular size one) can diced tomatoes,
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 half pint of heavy cream
Directions:
Sauce:
Chop and dice all the veggies, chop the parsley and basil, and then combine all but the heavy cream in the above ingredients in a large pot. Let it come to a low boil then reduce to a simmer. Let simmer 45 minutes to an hour.
Filling:
While the sauce is cooking, shred the chicken and grate the cheeses. I bought a small chunk of fresh parmesan and grated it with a microplane grater/zester. Chiffonade the basil - lay all the leaves flat on top of each other then roll into a tight roll. Hold that roll and gently slice very thinly. I diced the hell out of the parsley and here’s proof that I did this in my lingerie (Don't worry[The Now Former Male] kept the photo tasteful).
In a medium mixing bowl, combine everything but the egg. Add salt and pepper to taste and any other seasonings you may have missed. Once it tastes right, whisk the egg in a small bowl with a fork, then gently fold the egg into the filling mix. Set in the fridge to chill – about 30 minutes.
Pasta:
Dump the flour onto a clean counter and then form into a well. Crack the eggs and then add to the center of the well along with the olive oil and salt. Mix together with a fork quickly bringing flour into the egg center as you go just until it begins to bind. DO NOT OVER MIX WITH THE FORK or the past will become very chewy when its cooked.
Once it begins to bind (like in the picture above), lose the fork and go in there with your hands until you form it into a ball – should take about 5-7 minutes of kneading to get it into this state. Cover the dough in very very lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes
Assembly:
Attached your hand crank pasta machine to a steady surface and clamp down. Flour your work surface, cut your dough in half, and lightly flour your pasta dough. Do one ball of dough at a time so you ultimately end up with 2 sheets – 1 for the top, 1 for the bottom. Begin with the largest setting on the machine and crank through. Repeat this process reducing the size setting for each pass through the machine. The dough will begin to stretch and thin out forming long sheets. Set them side by side. Don’t let the pasta sheets dry out – keep a lightly dampened towel nearby to cover if needed.
Now stop what you’re doing and go put a pot of water on to boil. Done? Okay good, come back to the pasta.
Grab your bowl of ravioli filling and scoop large teaspoonfuls onto the sheets about an inch apart. You can use a ravioli press for this or just wing it. I decided to wing it, but I think in the future, I'm gonna get a cheap press. This is when I figured out that I should have flattened mine a bit to make them smoother and have less doughy edges. Lesson learned. So… gently smush the filling down a bit. I ended up with about 2 dozen ravioli filling piles. Brush a little bit of water or egg wash around each pile of filling then quickly cover with the second sheet of dough. Press down to pinch the sheets together and then cut into squares. You can get a ravioli cutter real cheap just about anywhere (I think mine was $1.25 that I got in a bin at a kitchen store going out of business) you find kitchen utensils or you can just use a sharp knife.
See how mine are big lumps in the middle of a sea of dough? Yeah, I didn't think that one through. So instead of making them look like the picture, press your fillings flatter and cut your dough closer.
Be sure each ravioli has the air pressed out of it and that there are no slits or open edges. Gently drop the raviolis into the boiling water. They are done when they rise to the surface of the water and have turned whiter than they started. About 5-7 minutes.
While the ravioli is boiling, add the heavy cream to the ragu and stir bringing back up to a simmer. If you let this boil, you will curdle the cream so be careful and stir it occasionally while the ravioli boils away. By the time the ravioli is done, the sauce should be perfect.
Serve with your favorite sides. I chose Caesar salad and garlic bread (both of which were store bought – yes I cheated and thank God I did because I was exhausted at that point!)
Disclaimer: I am not endorsing any products linked on this page. I am merely using them as an example!
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