Ravioli (Dough and Choice of 4 Fillings)
Total Time
Prep 2 hrs
Cook 15 mins
Posted in reply to a message board request. This is the family recipe for homemade ravioli. I have included 4 filling variations along with the ravioli dough recipe. Please note that this dough was made by hand and not with a pasta machine. Feel free to use the fillings with your own favorite pasta dough recipe (hand or machine). Prep time includes 1 hour drying time.
Ingredients Nutrition
Dough
- 3 cups unbleached white flour
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs
- 1⁄2 cup water
Ricotta Filling 1
- 1 1⁄2 lbs ricotta cheese (drained)
- 1⁄4 lb freshly grated romano cheese (about 1 cup)
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 1⁄4 lb mortadella or 1⁄4 lb ham or 1⁄4 lb prosciutto or 1⁄4 lb salami, chopped fine (optional)
- 1 dash nutmeg
- salt and pepper
Ricotta Filling 2
- 1 1⁄2 lbs ricotta cheese (drained)
- 2 eggs
- 1⁄4 cup freshly grated romano cheese
- 1 1⁄2-2 tablespoons finely minced fresh italian flat leaf parsley
- 1⁄4-1⁄3 teaspoon cinnamon
- salt and pepper
Beef and Spinach Filling
- 1⁄4 lb lean ground beef
- 1⁄4 lb ground veal
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 clove garlic
- 1⁄2 cup cooked chopped spinach, squeezed dry
- 1 tablespoon chopped italian flat leaf parsley
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese
- 1 dash nutmeg
Sausage Filling
- 3⁄4 lb loose sweet Italian sausage link (or casings removed from links)
- 2 eggs, slightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons freshly grated romano cheese (If you prefer a less sharp cheese, freshly grated Parmesan cheese may be substituted for the Romano)
Directions
- 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.
Reviews
Most Helpful
This recipe is awesome. I found it this past weekend and saved it for a future attempt at making ravioli. However, I was ambitious today and made the dough to use as fresh pasta. I pulsed the salt and flour together in my food processor, then added the eggs and water. I processed only a short time, until the mixture formed into a ball, and only had to knead a few minutes.
To make the noodles, I worked with 1/4 of the dough at a time, rolling as thin as possible, squared off with a small pizza cutter, and cut the noodles as uniform as I could.
Thanks for such an easy, delicious pasta dough recipe.
These ravioli turned out great! I used the ricotta and ham filling and pressed the edges down with a fork. The reviewer below said the water amount was way too much, but I actually had to add more water to get the dough to come together. Next time I will add more to get the dough thinner as my ravioli were a bit thick. I also used whole wheat flour and it worked well.
Easy and great flavor for the ravioli. I have used filling 1 and 2 in both this dough and Recipe #334934. Just be sure to let them dry on cloth for at least one hour. Update: I made the beef and spinach filling and toasted them for dinner. Still love them.
Ravioli (Dough and Choice of 4 Fillings)