Day 171 - Homemade Ravioli

I have been wanting to make home-made pasta for a while now. I recently saw a recipe on the food network, that Giada did, which was a very simple recipe for pasta out of only flour and water and she hand rolled the dough, so I decided this would be the perfect one to start with. Click here for the specific recipe

Ingredients:
Dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup very hot water

Filling:
3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
1 egg
1/2 cup finely shredded store-bought rotisserie chicken
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Sauce:
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons chopped fresh basil leaves
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

The Dough has some resting time, so I started with that. Just add the flour to a large bowl and then with a wooden spoon stir in the warm water

Mix until the dough forms a ball - Then cover and let sit for 10 minutes. (during this time I mixed all the ingredients for the sauce, and covered it & set aside)

After 10 minutes separate the dough into 4 even sections

Form each section into a 6" x 2" log, recover and set aside an additional 10 minutes. During this time combine all the ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl.

Now, take 1 of the 4 sections and roll out the dough. Once well rolled gently set aside and roll a second section of dough

Next, spoon the filling onto the dough with enough space between each section to cut the raviolis. Gently lay the second strip of rolled dough on top of the filling and press with your finger around the filling

I got a pastry cutter for Christmas, so I used that to make a nice looking & sealed edge of my raviolis

Once all the raviolis are ready place a few at a time into boiling, salted water and cook for about 5 minutes, until they raise to the top. Repeat until all raviolis are cooked

The sauce was a light, basil - lemon sauce and it was pretty good, I think next time I might try a basil pesto instead. Also, to stretch my lemon I used the zest & juice of one lemon rather than just zesting a couple.

Pour the sauce over the ravioli's & serve warm

This was a tasty meal and a fun, pretty simple way to make pasta at home.

Dinner was delicious. There was a a good amount of extra dough - you may want to make more filling, or try another one - since it was just flour and water and I had more plans for the evening, I just threw it out.

Other Firsts: More coasters! This time I used 2 colors of ink, the same brown and a deep purple. Happy Birthday Michelle, I hope these match your apartment :)