I love to make homemade ravioli around Christmastime. It just feels right to me. Not that making ravioli is ever OUT of style or anything--okay, fine, I make it all the time. The point here is, I wanted to make ravioli and I had some prosciutto ham, some figs, and mascarpone cheese. This sounded like a yummy combo to wrap in some homemade pasta, so I started searching for recipes... and found
!
Not that it didn't exist--it was showing up on restaurant websites and products for sale. Just no recipes. That could only mean one thing: I had to make up my own! So I did. The results? Yum-tastic. Yum-licious. Pasta-wonderful! So I wanted to share this with you guys. In case you find yourself with a case of "the raviolis" and you are looking for a great way to impress your taste buds.
Star with a tablespoon of olive oil, 2 cloves of garlic (minced), and half an onion, diced.
Sautee about 5 minutes or until the onions are translucent and then take them off the heat and allow them to cool.
Mascarpone cheese. This stuff is the bee's knees. It's cream cheese's Italian counterpart. For that reason, if you find your store doesn't carry mascarpone cheese, you can substitute cream cheese instead.
Take your prosciutto ham and cut it up well.
Combine with the mascarpone cheese in a medium bowl.
Let's take a moment to talk figs. I love them. I even have a fig tree that my husband gave me for our first anniversary because those little suckers are expensive. These figs we canned ourselves, so it's like a fig preserve. You could use either fresh or canned figs in this instance--this is just what I had on hand.
Either way? 1/3 Cup, diced up.
Added right in.
Shredded cheddar. I'm going to be coy about this cheese decision--because it wasn't much of a decision at all--cheddar was all I had. You could also use mozzarella or fontina or even goat cheese (which, frankly would be delicious!)
Take the little tiny leaves off of two little sprigs of thyme. This came from my garden...it was alive...in December, no less! Crazy right?!
1 egg, beaten.
Remember those onions you were letting cool like a million years ago? Yep, time to add them in now.
Add some fresh ground pepper and then give it a good stir.
This is what it should look like.
Now at this point, I feel it's important to say that you can walk over to the refrigerator and grab a pack of wonton wrappers to finish these ravioli off. You don't have to be a crazy kitchen maniac like me. Do not let the homemade dough deter you from making this recipe. Wonton wrappers are a perfectly acceptable substitute. If you fall into this category, please just enjoy the following pictures with a glass of wine.
However, if you want to make your own ravioli, you totally can--it's a lot of fun! And there are lots of pictures coming to teach you how!
You can get the pasta recipe here. For this particular ravioli recipe I used the *2 cups of flour, 2 eggs, and 2 tablespoons of olive oil (plus a little water) version of my pasta recipe. This will make about 40 ravioli with the filling recipe I have provided.
Supplies and dough all ready and raring to go!
You are going to want to roll your prepared pasta dough to a level 8 on your manual machine.
The ravioli press.
If you need a tutorial on how to use it, this should help out. I also have one HERE.
Step one: make sure it's really well floured.
Step two, place your dough on the press.
Step Three: Press the indentation-maker device into the dough. PRESS FIRMLY. (This is what stretches the dough to fit the filling).
Step Four: Fill!
Be careful not to OVERFILL because that will cause your dough to tear.
Step five: using your finger, dipped in water, wet slightly the edges so that when you place the dough on top, it'll seal nicely. Now, I'm not going to lie, I forget to do this sometimes, and it's OK. But it's better when I don't forget.
Step six: Place your top layer of dough on top.
Step seven: Using your rolling pin, roll overtop of the dough. Press REALLY HARD, and go over several times if you need to. And also, make sure to get the edges really well.
If you don't have a rolling pin, you can also use a bottle of wine. I have done that in a pinch, and it's like...oh look, a bottle of wine. We should open it.
Step eight: and this is the hardest part. Flip the whole thing over. I know, but just do it.
Step nine: Now take it off.
"Oooooo......Ahhhhhh!"
Step ten: Using a dough scraper, make sure the ravioli is cut.
Some you may need to re-seal using a fork.
I use my dough scraper to transfer the ravioli to a sheet pan with cornmeal on it. I then freeze the ravioli. You don't have to freeze them, you can use them right away, but if you want to store them, freezing is THE way to go.
Once they have frozen on the sheet pan, transfer them to a container and separate the layers with parchment paper.
When you boil them fresh, it takes two minutes.
When you boil them frozen, it takes about 4 minutes. Fast, any way you look at it!
Serving suggestion:
Serve over sautéed kale with a butter sauce, white wine sauce, or even a red sauce!
Prosciutto & Fig Ravioli Recipe
Time: 45 minutes- 1 hour (depending) | Makes 40 ravioli | Difficulty: Medium-Difficult
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 ounces mascarpone cheese (or cream cheese)
7-8 pieces prosciutto ham, cut into small pieces
1/3 cup figs (mine were preserved, but you can use fresh)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or goat cheese, or mozzarella)
1 egg, beaten
fresh ground pepper
1 recipe of Billie's Perfect Pasta (2,2,2 variation *see note above)
OR
Wonton Wrappers
Special equipment- Ravioli press, pasta machine, dough scraper (if making your own pasta)
:
If you are using homemade pasta, I suggest making it before you start the filling. That way you can allow the pasta to rest while you are making the filling.
In a skillet over medium high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the diced onion and the garlic and sauté about five minutes or until the onion is translucent. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
In a medium bowl, add the mascarpone cheese, prosciutto ham, figs, cheese, and egg. Grind some fresh pepper into the bowl. Add in your onions, which have cooled. Mix well. Let the filling chill in the refrigerator for 1/2 hour before filling the pasta.
If you are using wonton wrappers:
you can do it one of two ways. If you like the traditional look of square pasta, you can lay one sheet down, place the filling on it in a couple of places (like making four smaller ravioli or two larger ravioli) and lay a sheet over top of it and then cutting it accordingly. OR you can use 1 sheet per ravioli and fold it over on itself. Either way, be sure to dip your finger in a little water and use it to "outline" your shape before marrying the dough--so it sticks. Repeat with all your wrappers until the filling runs out. You can either make them fresh or freeze them using the same method I will demonstrate with the fresh dough.
If you are using fresh pasta:
By now you are ready to begin rolling it out with your machine. I like to do it as I go, so that I have not rolled too much dough (this, for me, is a space issue.) So when the filling is chilled, go ahead and begin rolling out your dough. I like my dough at an "8" on my pasta machine for the ravioli.
Flour your ravioli press generously. Lay down a piece of stretched dough and place the rounded stretcher overtop of it, pressing down to create an indentation in the dough. Using a teaspoon, fill the indentations with the chilled filling. Using your finger moistened with water, "outline" the dough so that the top layer will stick. (see picture above).
Place a second piece of stretched dough over the filling. Using a rolling pin, (or wine bottle) roll overtop of the dough, flattening it, getting the air bubbles out and sealing the top layer of dough to the bottom layer.
Flip the press over. Use a dough scraper to cut the ravioli completely. If any need to be resealed on the ends, use a fork to press the dough together (see picture above.)
Place the finished ravioli on a sheet pan powdered with cornmeal.
Continue with all the pasta and filling until completed. When the sheet pan is full, either cook the pasta in boiling water for 2 minutes (or until they float) OR freeze.
To freeze:Place the sheet pan in the freezer and allow them to freeze individually for a couple of hours. When they are frozen, transfer the ravioli to a container, separating the layers with parchment paper. To cook: boil in water for about 4 minutes or until the raviolis float to the top.
