Authentic Italian Ravioli Filling Recipes

RAVIOLI (DOUGH AND CHOICE OF 4 FILLINGS)

Steps:

• MAKING THE FILLING: Ricotta Filling#1: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
• Ricotta Filling#2: In a large bowl, blend all filling ingredients together until smooth, set aside filling until needed.
• Beef and Spinach Filling: Brown beef and veal in butter with the whole clove of garlic.
• Remove garlic and let meat mixture cool.
• Mix spinach, parsley, eggs, cheese and nutmeg into cooled meat until well blended, set aside filling until needed.
• Sausage Filling: Brown sausage in frying pan, drain fat and allow sausage to cool.
• When sausage has cooled, mix in eggs and cheese, set aside filling until needed.
• MAKING THE RAVIOLI DOUGH: Sift flour and salt together.
• Place flour mixture on a board, making a well in the center of the flour.
• Drop eggs into the flour well, using your hand or a fork, break the yolks and beat eggs slightly.
• Combine the eggs and flour together, gradually adding enough warm water to make a stiff dough.
• Knead dough well, until smooth; cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.
• Cut dough in half and roll each half of the dough out on a floured board, into a very thin sheet (about 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick).
• FILLING THE RAVIOLI: Drop about 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoonfuls of filling about 1 1/2 inches apart all along the dough.
• When the sheet of dough is fully dotted with dabs of filling mixture, cover filling with other sheet of dough.
• Using your fingers, gently press dough between each dab of filling to seal it.
• Cut ravioli into squares with a (zig-zag edged) pastry cutter, or very sharp knife.
• DRYING THE RAVIOLI: Allow ravioli to dry for one hour before cooking.
• COOKING THE RAVIOLI: Drop ravioli into 6 to 8 quarts of boiling, salted water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until dough is tender.
• Remove cooked ravioli from pot carefully with a skimmer or a large slotted spoon, and drain well.
• Place drained ravioli on a serving platter in layers, alternating layers with your favorite sauce and a sprinkling of grated cheese between each ravioli layer.
• Serve hot.

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Place 5 cups flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center. Beat the eggs, water and oil; pour into well. Stir together, forming a ball. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes, adding remaining flour if necessary to keep dough from sticking. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes., Meanwhile, in a Dutch oven, combine sauce ingredients. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally., In a large bowl, combine filling ingredients. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use., Divide pasta dough into fourths; roll 1 portion to 1/16-in. thickness. (Keep pasta covered until ready to use.) Working quickly, place rounded teaspoonfuls of filling 1 in. apart over half of pasta sheet. Fold sheet over; press down to seal. Cut into squares with a pastry wheel. Repeat with remaining dough and filling., Bring a soup kettle of salted water to a boil. Add ravioli. Reduce heat to a gentle simmer; cook until ravioli float to the top and are tender, 1-2 minutes. Drain. Spoon sauce over ravioli.

MAMA'S OLD FASHIONED RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Poach chicken: In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan bring water to a boil with garlic, whiskey, and salt. Add chicken and simmer, covered, 12 minutes, or until just cooked through. Transfer chicken to a bowl and chill, covered, 20 minutes.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook spinach for 30 seconds. Drop the spinach into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, then drain well. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the spinach, onion, parsley, and basil. Cut the chicken into pieces and add them. Pulse until the ingredients are finely ground. Put this mixture into a bowl and add the eggs, breadcrumbs, and Parmesan and season with salt and pepper. Mix well, cover, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• To form the ravioli, drop 1 tablespoon chicken mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Dip a pastry brush or your finger in water and lightly wet the edges of the wrapper. Top with another wrapper and press the ravioli closed. Repeat until all the filling is used. Cover with a damp towel until you are ready to cook.
• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Carefully drop in the ravioli in batches to avoid crowding the pot. Cook until the ravioli rise to the surface, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain well.

AUTHENTIC ITALIAN CHEESE RAVIOLI

Steps:

• 1. DOUGH: Mix together dough ingredients and knead for 10 minutes on a floured surface. Place in a plastic bag and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.
• 2. CHEESE FILLING: Mix all ingredients together.
• 3. TO ASSEMBLE: Roll dough on a well floured surface as you would for a pie crust, forming a large rectangle. Cut rectangle in half, forming 2 equal pieces. Using a teaspoon, drop mounds of dough approximately 3" apart. Dip fingers in water, and moisten squares where ravioli will be cut. Place second piece of dough on top. Press down with fingers where you just moistened, forming squares. Press firmly to seal well or they will lose their filling during cooking. Use a pastry wheel to cut long lines both vertically and horizontally, forming square ravioli.
• 4. Place on a floured cookie sheet (or parchment lined) and let dry for 5-10 minutes. Drop into boiling, salted water until they rise for al dente, or until desired doneness. Top with your favorite sauce or a simple garlic/olive oil blend topped with freshly grated pepper and Parmesan shreds.

HOMEMADE CREAMY MUSHROOM RAVIOLI

Steps:

• On a flat surface place four, make a well in the middle and add the eggs, with your fingers or a fork slowly mix together the flour and eggs to form a smooth dough. Cover and let rest one hour.
• Cut dough into 3-4 parts, roll out slightly and roll through machine until thin (you will want to see your hand underneath the dough). Sprinkle dough with flour so it doesn't stick.
• Cut dough into even squares using a pastry crimper (I made them about 2 x 2 inches). Then fill with approximately 1 heaping teaspoon full of mushroom filling. Place another square on top and close the sides with the pastry crimper. Make sure to go around the whole ravioli with the crimper, you don't want them to open.
• In salted boiling water cook the ravioli for approximately 5 minutes. Drain.
• In a large pan melt the butter and add the parsley, simmer for 1 minute. Add ravioli and a couple of tablespoons of pasta water, and toss to cover and sauté 30 seconds. Serve immediately sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
• In a medium pan add butter, chopped mushrooms, chopped onion and garlic, cook until golden stirring occasionally. Then add oregano, parsley and cook 20 seconds.
• Remove 3 /4 of the mixture and blend until creamy, then place back in pan and mix with remaining 1/4 mixture. Sprinkle with flour, add cream and mascarpone, heat on low for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add parmesan, stir to combine and let cool.

HOMEMADE BOLOGNESE RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Add flour and salt to the bottom of a food processor. Pulse 3-4 times. Whisk eggs, egg yolks, and olive oil together in a measuring cup. Turn the mixer on and slowly pour in egg mixture. Run the mixer until the dough comes together. Take the lid off and grab a small handful of dough, try to squeeze together, if the dough comes together, it's at the right consistency. If it is still very crumbly, add 1 tsp. of water, mix, and then check again. If necessary, add another teaspoon. You really shouldn't need to add much more than a few teaspoons.
• Once the dough comes together dump on to a very lightly floured surface. Knead by hand for 8 minutes. Don't be afraid to put plenty of pressure on the dough, you really can't overnead the dough, so the more the better! Form into a ball and wrap and plastic wrap. Let sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes and up to an hour.
• Heat a medium dutch oven to a medium heat. Add olive oil. Add onion, carrots, celery, garlic and salt. Saute for 3-4 minutes until softened. Add ground beef and pork. Use a wooden spoon to break the meat up, brown until cooked through.
• Add tomato paste. Cook 1 minute. Add wine. Cook until reduced by half and then add italian seasoning, nutmeg, water and heavy cream. Simmer until thick and almost all of the liquid has evaporated, about 3-4 minutes. Turn the heat off and transfer to the bottom of a food processor. Cool completely. Once mixture has cooled completely, add cheese and process in the food procesor until completely ground. Season with salt and pepper.
• While the meat mixture cools, roll the pasta out. Divide the dough in to 8 portions. Take one portion and re-wrap the others while you work. Set the pasta machine to the widest setting. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle. Feed the pasta through the machine on the widest setting. Fold into thirds and repeat. Send through on the widest setting one more time. With each passing after that go one setting smaller than the last until you get to the smallest setting. Repeat process with another portion of dough.
• Place one sheet of dough on the ravioli press. Press dough down so you can see indentation. Spoon 1 teaspoon full of filling in to each ravioli. Place another sheet of dough over and seal ravioli, making sure there are no air bubbles. Use a rolling pin, to press the layers of pasta together, and to cut the pasta. Pull back excess dough and gently pull ravioli out. Store on a lightly floured surface. Repeat with remaining dough.
• Once all of the ravioli are cut, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. (If you do not have a large stock pot, cooke ravioli in two batches.)Season liberally with salt. Add ravioli. Cook for 5 minutes or until dough is soft and cooked through.
• While the pasta cooks, add cream to a large sauce pan. Turn the heat on medium, once the cream begins to simmer, add cheese. Whisk until melted. Simmer for another minute until it's thickened. Add marinara sauce. Whisk until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• Once ravioli are done cooking, add to sauce. Toss in the sauce until completely coated. Add a few small ladles of starchy pasta water. Toss to combine. (You want to make sure the heat is still on). Season with salt and pepper. Garnish with parmesan cheese.