Ravioli Fillings 2 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.

RAVIOLI WITH MEAT FILLING

Steps:

• Scramble the hamburger meat until done.
• Add all the dry seasonings and gently heat for a few minutes.
• Heat until you get a nice aroma of all the herbs.
• Remove from heat and cool.
• Mix all of the cheeses into the meat.
• It should be a dry dense mixture that will hold together when you form a ball.
• Use a tablespoon or teaspoon for the filling of each ravioli.
• If you don't want to make the pasta dough yourself, you can always use the wonton wrappers.
• They work well.
• Once the ravioli have been assembled they only need to cook a few minutes.

RAVIOLI WITH MEAT FILLING

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375° F. Heat the olive oil in a large wide pan or a heavy roasting pan over medium heat. Add the chicken, sausage, veal, and pork and cook, turning often, until the meats are evenly browned, about 10 minutes. Scatter the onion, carrot, celery, rosemary, and thyme over the meats and pour in enough chicken stock to cover the bottom of the pan by about 1 inch. Transfer the pan to the oven and cook until all the meats are very tender and well browned and the chicken is falling off the bone, about 2 hours. Check the meats occasionally as they cook, adding chicken stock as necessary to keep the level constant, and turning and basting the meats with the pan juices.
• Remove the pan from the oven, toss in the mortadella, and let stand at room temperature until cool enough to handle. Pick the skin and bones from the chicken and remove the casing from the sausage. Drain the meat and vegetables and pour the drained cooking liquid into a small saucepan. Bring the cooking liquid to a boil and cook until reduced to about 1/2 cup. The liquid should be slightly syrupy and rich in flavor. Remove the saucepan from the heat and reserve.
• Pass the meat-and-vegetable mixture through a meat grinder fitted with a disc with holes about 1/4 inch in diameter. Stir 1/2 cup grated cheese, the bread crumbs, and parsley into the ground meats. Taste, and add salt and pepper as necessary. Pour in the eggs and blend well. Refrigerate until thoroughly chilled before filling the ravioli.
• Make the pasta dough; form and cut the ravioli according to directions below. The ravioli should be cooked immediately or refrigerated up to 4 hours. (The ravioli may also be frozen: Place the sheets of ravioli on a freezer shelf and freeze until solid to the touch. Carefully transfer the ravioli to resealable plastic bags or airtight plastic containers.)
• Bring 6 quarts of salted water to a boil in an 8-quart pot over high heat. Slip the ravioli into the boiling water a few at a time. Return to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook, semi-covered, stirring occasionally, until the edges of the ravioli are tender, about 5 minutes after the water returns to the boil.
• While the ravioli are cooking, bring the tomato sauce to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Check the seasoning and add salt and pepper if necessary.
• Drain the ravioli gently, return them to the pot, and pour in the tomato sauce and the reduced roasting liquid. Bring the sauce and pasta to a boil, stirring gently with a clean spoon to coat the ravioli with sauce. Remove the pot from the heat, stir in the cheese, and check the seasoning, adding salt and pepper as necessary. Spoon into warm serving bowls or onto a warm platter.
• Try this simple sauce in place of tomato sauce: Melt 5 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat. (If you do not have a skillet large enough to hold all the ravioli comfortably, divide the sauce ingredients between two skillets.) Before draining the ravioli, ladle about 1/2 cup of the cooking water into the skillet. Gently transfer the ravioli into the skillet with a wire skimmer and bring the sauce to a boil. Cook, swirling the skillet to coat the ravioli with sauce, until the sauce is lightly thickened. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with 1 cup of Parmigiano-Reggiano. Spoon the ravioli onto a warm platter and drizzle with the hot reduced roasting liquid.