As you may have read a few blog posts back, my pasta machine was having some issues back in August... such bad issues, in fact, that I had hung my machine up, so to speak (not strung it up, which is what I would've liked to do the night it started acting up!) But I have been feeling that little glimmering under the surface of a desire to bring it back down from its shelf of exile and give it another shot.
The perfect opportunity arose when we had the Davies and the Heavys over for dinner last Friday night. Ronna is a vegetarian (or maybe she's a pescatarian, but I didn't want to screw up and try to feed her something she wouldn't eat?), so I wanted to come up with something delicious and veg.... and thus realized that ravioli would be the perfect way to go. Having failed at homemade pasta before, however, I was reticent to get back on the horse (sorry, this is the blog post of mixed metaphors. I was up at 4:00 this morning making chili-- see the chili blog post above). So I turned to the most trusted Austrian for some advice. Wolfgang, oh slinger of gourmet woodfired pizzas and funny sounding restaurants in Los Angeles, you have never failed me and this was no exception! The ravioli turned out amazing. The secret, as dear Mr. Puck advised, was to run the dough through the machine 3 different times, each time folding it in thirds, crosswise. I shall never fear the pasta machine again!!
HOMEMADE PASTA DOUGH
Ingredients
1.5 cups flour
1.5 cups semolina flour
8 large egg yolks
1 tsp salt
1 tsp. olive oil
4-6 TBSP water
Directions: In a food processor, mix teh flours, yolks, salt, oil and 2 TBSP of the water. Process until the dough begins to stick together, gradually add 1 TBSP of water at a time, until the dough forms into a moist ball. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rise at room temp for about 1 hour. When dough has rested, cut it into sections (keep unused sections wrapped in plastic wrap) and run through the rollers (about 3 times, folding the dough crosswise into thirds each time). For the ravioli, you'll roll out long strips of pasta that are about 4 feet or so long.
RAVIOLI FILLING:
Ingredients:
1 cup Ricotta cheese
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
2 egg yokls
1/2 tsp kosher salt
pinch of pepper
1 cup goat cheese
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp chopped fresh sage (about 8 leaves)
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
Directions: Mix all ingredients in food processor until well-combined. Cover and refrigerate. To make the tortellini, take your pasta strips, brush with egg wash (2 eggs and 2 TBSP water beaten together), then place a spoonful of the ricotta mixture in the center of the dough. Fold the dough in half to cover the ricotta and push down around each ricotta mound to push out all air bubbles. Cut around the mounds using either a 2-inch cookie cutter or a ravioli stamp. To cook, drop into boiling water for 5 minutes (you'll need to cook this in 3 batches).
For the Sage and Pepper Butter sauce:
Ingredients:
1.5 sticks unsalted butter
pinch of salt
freshly ground pepper
2 fresh sage leaves
Directions: In a small saucepan, melt the butter over meidum heat, add salt, pepper and sage and cook until the butter is golden brown. Keep it warm while you finish cooking the tortellini. To serve, drizzle the brown butter over the tortellini, grate fresh parmesan on top and top with a decorative sage leaf. Enjoy!
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