HOUSTON – Everybody loves Italian food. But you don’t have to be Italian to make and enjoy fresh homemade pasta at home. With the help of a pasta machine or a rolling pin, you can easily make raviolis in the comfort of your own kitchen.
“Use the pasta machine, unless, you want to do more work out, then you can use a rolling pin like a real grandmother,” recommends Francesca Lanza, cooking instructor at the Italian Cultural & Community Center of Houston, who stopped by our studio with a recipe for spinach and ricotta ravioli.
“With the pasta machine, start with number one which is the thickest and then do it again. It has to be very thin, almost transparent and then do it again,” said Lanza, who shared tips on the importance of flour in your work station.
“Don’t forget to always sprinkle flour so it doesn’t stick,” said Lanza, who invited everyone to the upcoming gnocchi and raviolis cooking classes at the Italian Cultural & Community Center of Houston on Thursday, March 28 and Thursdays, April 25.
To see how to cut and fill the ravioli, watch the video above.
Spinach and ricotta ravioli
Recipe for 4 people (yields 24 ravioli)
For the dough:
0.5 pound flour
2 eggs and a yolk
Semolina flour to dust
For the filling:
0.5 pound fresh spinach
0.27 pound ricotta cheese
0.11 pound grated Parmesan cheese
A pinch of nutmeg
Salt and pepper
Optional sauce:
Butter
Sage leaves
Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Put the flour in a bowl together with the beaten eggs. Combine the ingredients together with the help of a fork first and then use your hands to mix. If the dough is not elastic enough, add some lukewarm water. If the dough is too sticky add some flour. Combine the dough to make it elastic. Then take it out from the bowl and put it on a flat surface and start kneading it until it will feel smooth to the touch. Roll it into a ball shape and cover it with plastic wrap for about 30 minutes. Make sure you keep the dough away from drafts and direct light. You don’t want it to dry. While the dough is resting you can start preparing the filling.
Put the washed spinach in a skillet and cover it up with a lid for a couple of minutes until it is nice and soft. Once cooked drain the excess water from the spinach and let it cool. Once cooled put the spinach in a mixer and mince it finely.
In a bowl add the ricotta cheese, the Parmesan and the grated nutmeg. Add salt and pepper. Stir these ingredients together. Then add the minced spinach and combine with the cheese mixture. Put this mixture in a piping bag and set aside.
To roll out the pasta dough, divide the ball into two pieces. Use plastic wrap around the piece you are not using. Use your hands to flatten the dough and dust some semolina flour on both sides. Roll the dough through a pasta machine starting from the thickest setting and working it all the way down to the thinnest setting. You need to obtain a very thin rectangular sheet. Do the same with the other piece of dough that you had previously set aside.
Dust your working surface with some more semolina flour. Lay the two sheets on your working station and start piping dollops of spinach mixture just on one of the sheets. Each dollop needs to be about 1 inch aside from the next one. You should be able to make two rows of 12. Make sure to leave some room on the outer edges for when it is time to seal the ravioli. Once you piped out the spinach mixture, slightly wet the edges with some water. Put the second sheet of pasta on top. Make sure you press the air out from each ravioli by gently pressing around the filling.You don’t want them to open up while you are boiling them.
Use a wheel pasta cutter to cut the ravioli in a square shape. You should be getting 24 1/5-inch by 1/12-inch ravioli. Put them on a tray slightly dusted with semolina flour.
To cook the Ravioli:
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt. Add the ravioli. They will start to float when they are ready. It should not take more than a couple of minutes.
Brown some butter in a skillet with a few fresh sage leaves. Once the ravioli are cooked, drain them and add them to the browned butter. Toss them in the skillet and add some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
Recipe provided by Francesca Lanza.