Homemade Asparagus Filled Ravioli
Yep.. homemade ravioli filled with an asparagus mixture! Coming from a girl who's not all that fond of asparagus in the first place (but who's craving for trying new recipes won-over), I have to say this was really yummy!
We tried to take some photos of the pasta shaping process for you guys in the recipe how-to. Don't be afraid to make homemade pasta, it's really not that difficult. We have a pasta roller now, but before we used to do it all by hand with a rolling pin. (Which still is effective if that's all you have, but a lot more arm-work.) So with that being said..
OK here's my first big note - if you make this - the pasta recipe they included only made enough ravioli to feed the TWO of us. Possibly 3 if we'd had something like a loaf of italian bread on the side. Mmm.. Ok anyway, BUT, the filling mixture in this recipe, made DOUBLE what we needed.
So it's safe to say this: If you're feeding two people, follow the original pasta dough recipe but make HALF the of the filling. If you're feeding four people, follow the original filling recipe but make DOUBLE the pasta dough recipe. (Maybe they stretched their dough out thinner? not sure, but I wouldn't have, or it would have broken and made a huge mess.) So, just keep that in mind if you make this. And of course if you are feeding more than 4.. well, adjust accordingly. :) Just a tip though. And only one of us is a huge eater (not me!) so it's not like we both have big appetites or anything. We managed to make about 20 - 2"x2" raviolis out of this and it was our main course.
-----------------------
This was really good pasta dough. I'll definitely be using this recipe again for other pasta dishes! I have a stand mixer, so I used the regular mixer attachment to blend the ingredients, then used the dough hook for about 4 minutes to combine/knead the rest of the way. You may need to add a little more flour to this as you're making the raviolis. At least, we did.. Also, I didn't have cake flour so I used the variations for it on the cornstartch box (3/4 cup flour plus 2 TB flour, combine with 2 TB corn starch. Supposedly that's equal to cake flour.)
pasta dough
Gourmet | April 2008
by Ian Knauer
Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr
Servings: Makes enough dough for 24 ravioli or cappellacci
Ingredients
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
Preparation
Blend together all dough ingredients in a food processor until mixture just begins to form a ball. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, incorporating only as much additional flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
Cooks' note: Dough can be made (but not rolled out) 1 day ahead and chilled, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before rolling out.
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asparagus ravioli in parmesan sauce [**Really, it's broth, not sauce]
Gourmet | April 2008
by Lawrence Karol
Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr
Servings: Makes 6 (first course) servings
Ingredients
Pasta dough
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
5 cups rich chicken stock
1 (3-inch) rind from a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup mascarpone [*My grocery store didn't have any in stock. I just used ricotta.]
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Equipment: a pasta machine
Preparation
Make broth and filling while dough stands:
Cut off asparagus tips, then halve each tip lengthwise and reserve.
Bring stock, cheese rind, and bay leaf to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then add asparagus stems and cook, uncovered, until stems are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer stems to paper towels and cool slightly. Reserve broth.
Purée asparagus stems in a food processor with grated parmesan, mascarpone, bread crumbs, zest, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
The Filling:
Make Ravioli:
Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Cover 3 pieces with plastic wrap, then pat out remaining piece into a flat rectangle and generously dust with flour.
Set rollers of pasta machine on widest setting. Feed rectangle, a short side first, through rollers. Fold rectangle in thirds, like a letter, and feed it, a short side first, through rollers. Repeat 6 or 7 more times, folding dough in thirds and feeding it through rollers, a short side first each time, dusting with flour to prevent sticking.
Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding, a short side first. Continue to feed dough through without folding, making space between rollers narrower each time, until the second- or third-narrowest setting is used. (Do not roll too thin or pasta will tear when filled.)
Put pasta sheet on a lightly floured kitchen towel (not terry cloth) with a long side nearest you. Drop 6 rounded teaspoon-size mounds of filling 10 inches apart in a row down center of right half of sheet. Brush pasta around mounds of filling lightly with water, then lift left half of sheet and drape over mounds.
Press down firmly but gently around each mound, forcing out air. (Air pockets increase the chance that ravioli will break during cooking.)
*Note: We also used a fork to "crimp" the edges around the entire top and bottom edge. This helps seal it a little more. Kind of like what you would do with a pie crust too.
Cut pasta (between mounds) with a sharp knife into roughly 2-inch squares. Line a large shallow baking pan with a lightly floured kitchen towel (not terry cloth), then arrange ravioli in 1 layer in it. Make more ravioli with remaining pieces of dough and remaining filling, transferring to lined pan.
Ta-da! ;)
Cook ravioli and Asparagus tips:
Bring a pasta pot of salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle boil.
Bring reserved broth to a simmer, then simmer asparagus tips, uncovered, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Season broth with salt, then divide broth and asparagus tips among 6 shallow bowls, discarding cheese rind and bay leaf.
Add half of ravioli to gently boiling water, carefully stirring to separate, and cook, adjusting heat to keep at a gentle boil, until pasta is just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Lift cooked ravioli with a slotted spoon, draining well over pot, then transfer to bowls with broth. Repeat with remaining ravioli.
Cooks' note: Filling and broth, without asparagus tips, can be made 1 day ahead. Chill separately, uncovered, until cool, then covered.
We tried to take some photos of the pasta shaping process for you guys in the recipe how-to. Don't be afraid to make homemade pasta, it's really not that difficult. We have a pasta roller now, but before we used to do it all by hand with a rolling pin. (Which still is effective if that's all you have, but a lot more arm-work.) So with that being said..
OK here's my first big note - if you make this - the pasta recipe they included only made enough ravioli to feed the TWO of us. Possibly 3 if we'd had something like a loaf of italian bread on the side. Mmm.. Ok anyway, BUT, the filling mixture in this recipe, made DOUBLE what we needed.
So it's safe to say this: If you're feeding two people, follow the original pasta dough recipe but make HALF the of the filling. If you're feeding four people, follow the original filling recipe but make DOUBLE the pasta dough recipe. (Maybe they stretched their dough out thinner? not sure, but I wouldn't have, or it would have broken and made a huge mess.) So, just keep that in mind if you make this. And of course if you are feeding more than 4.. well, adjust accordingly. :) Just a tip though. And only one of us is a huge eater (not me!) so it's not like we both have big appetites or anything. We managed to make about 20 - 2"x2" raviolis out of this and it was our main course.
-----------------------
This was really good pasta dough. I'll definitely be using this recipe again for other pasta dishes! I have a stand mixer, so I used the regular mixer attachment to blend the ingredients, then used the dough hook for about 4 minutes to combine/knead the rest of the way. You may need to add a little more flour to this as you're making the raviolis. At least, we did.. Also, I didn't have cake flour so I used the variations for it on the cornstartch box (3/4 cup flour plus 2 TB flour, combine with 2 TB corn starch. Supposedly that's equal to cake flour.)
pasta dough
Gourmet | April 2008
by Ian Knauer
Active time: 15 min Start to finish: 1 1/4 hr
Servings: Makes enough dough for 24 ravioli or cappellacci
Ingredients
1 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
Preparation
Blend together all dough ingredients in a food processor until mixture just begins to form a ball. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, incorporating only as much additional flour as necessary to keep dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, 6 to 8 minutes. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature 1 hour.
Cooks' note: Dough can be made (but not rolled out) 1 day ahead and chilled, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap. Bring to room temperature before rolling out.
----------------------
asparagus ravioli in parmesan sauce [**Really, it's broth, not sauce]
Gourmet | April 2008
by Lawrence Karol
Active time: 1 1/4 hr Start to finish: 2 1/2 hr
Servings: Makes 6 (first course) servings
Ingredients
Pasta dough
1 pound asparagus, trimmed
5 cups rich chicken stock
1 (3-inch) rind from a wedge of Parmigiano-Reggiano
1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf
1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
1/4 cup mascarpone [*My grocery store didn't have any in stock. I just used ricotta.]
1/4 cup fine dry bread crumbs
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Equipment: a pasta machine
Preparation
Make broth and filling while dough stands:
Cut off asparagus tips, then halve each tip lengthwise and reserve.
Bring stock, cheese rind, and bay leaf to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then add asparagus stems and cook, uncovered, until stems are just tender, 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer stems to paper towels and cool slightly. Reserve broth.
Purée asparagus stems in a food processor with grated parmesan, mascarpone, bread crumbs, zest, and 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
The Filling:
Make Ravioli:
Cut dough into 4 equal pieces. Cover 3 pieces with plastic wrap, then pat out remaining piece into a flat rectangle and generously dust with flour.
Set rollers of pasta machine on widest setting. Feed rectangle, a short side first, through rollers. Fold rectangle in thirds, like a letter, and feed it, a short side first, through rollers. Repeat 6 or 7 more times, folding dough in thirds and feeding it through rollers, a short side first each time, dusting with flour to prevent sticking.
Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding, a short side first. Continue to feed dough through without folding, making space between rollers narrower each time, until the second- or third-narrowest setting is used. (Do not roll too thin or pasta will tear when filled.)
Put pasta sheet on a lightly floured kitchen towel (not terry cloth) with a long side nearest you. Drop 6 rounded teaspoon-size mounds of filling 10 inches apart in a row down center of right half of sheet. Brush pasta around mounds of filling lightly with water, then lift left half of sheet and drape over mounds.
Press down firmly but gently around each mound, forcing out air. (Air pockets increase the chance that ravioli will break during cooking.)
*Note: We also used a fork to "crimp" the edges around the entire top and bottom edge. This helps seal it a little more. Kind of like what you would do with a pie crust too.
Cut pasta (between mounds) with a sharp knife into roughly 2-inch squares. Line a large shallow baking pan with a lightly floured kitchen towel (not terry cloth), then arrange ravioli in 1 layer in it. Make more ravioli with remaining pieces of dough and remaining filling, transferring to lined pan.
Ta-da! ;)
Cook ravioli and Asparagus tips:
Bring a pasta pot of salted water (2 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle boil.
Bring reserved broth to a simmer, then simmer asparagus tips, uncovered, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Season broth with salt, then divide broth and asparagus tips among 6 shallow bowls, discarding cheese rind and bay leaf.
Add half of ravioli to gently boiling water, carefully stirring to separate, and cook, adjusting heat to keep at a gentle boil, until pasta is just tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Lift cooked ravioli with a slotted spoon, draining well over pot, then transfer to bowls with broth. Repeat with remaining ravioli.
Cooks' note: Filling and broth, without asparagus tips, can be made 1 day ahead. Chill separately, uncovered, until cool, then covered.