About Ravioli
I’m generally not one of those people who can show up to the farmer’s market and suddenly become inspired to cook a full meal. It usually starts with waiting in line in an absurdly long line for coffee, b-lining for the hummus samples, then wandering around and maybe buying a basket of strawberries. I look at what other people are buying, still not inspired then I get hungry and walk home. When I see English peas on the other hand, something changes.
Something about English peas, maybe how therapeutic they are to shell or the fact that it means it’s spring always gives me inspiration. This time ravioli! English pea and sweet potato to be exact. It’s extremely easy to make, just a little time consuming and you need a KitchenAid Mixer with a pasta attachment (or a pasta maker).
Let’s start with the dough, its just flour + water. Yep, that’s it literally just flour + water.
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
1/2 cup water (+ a little more if needed)
Use the KitchenAid hook attachment to combine flour. While mixing the flour slowly add water until you’ve added 1/2 a cup of water. Knead the flour/water combo with your hand, at this point you might want to add a little bit more water if there seems to be a lot of flour mixture that won’t stick to the ball. Once you have a solid ball of dough that sticks together, wrap it in plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes at room temp to let it set. Make sure your ball of dough isn’t too wet.
Put the pasta roller attachment on your mixer on setting 1. Cut your ball of dough in quarters and shape one piece into a squarish-flat shape. Put the piece of dough through the pasta roller attachment a few times until it starts to smooth out, then again on setting 2, again on setting 3, then finally on setting 4. Put piece of flattened dough on a lightly floured surface.
Use a ravioli stamp (or a lid of a jar/top of cup) to cut round or square pieces for your ravioli. You will need two piece for each ravioli you plan to make so plan accordingly.
This is where you can get creative with your ravioli filling. I would also prep the filling in advanced before you start making the dough otherwise it could get messy if you don’t have a lot of counter space. This time I chose mashed sweet potatoes (boiled and mashed with a little salt added) and fresh English peas from the farmers market, cooked only for 1 to 2 minutes. Keep in mind fresh ravioli does not need to be cooked very long so you should pre-cook the ingredients inside.
Now is the fun part, assembling the ravioli. It also makes for great looking Instagram photos. Put toppings on a piece of the cut pasta dough. It’s tempting but don’t overstuff your ravioli. Next, dip your finger in some water and run your finger around the piece ravioli and get the edge wet. Now put another cut piece of dough on top of the ravioli and press the edges all the way around with a fork. I usually go around each piece twice with the fork to make sure the two pieces stick. Cover the finished ravioli with some plastic wrap so it doesn’t dry out before you cook it. These also freeze well if you make extra.
Now time to cook the ravioli. Boil some generously salted water. Once boiling put the ravioli in the water. It should be completely done in 3 minutes. Finish it with some olive oil and Parmesan (if you’re into that) and eat it with a salad or possibly baby kale?
Enjoy!
