Homemade Ravioli

11/20/2024

My husband and I have very different Wal Mart experiences. I get stopped at the door by a receipt checker every single time I leave the store --- without fail. It doesn't matter if I have 2 items in my cart or if I'm toting 6 dozen eggs, a case of cream cheese and a half ton of sugar out of the store, I always get asked to show proof of purchase before exiting the store.

My husband, on the other hand, has never been asked for a receipt before leaving Wal Mart. And I mean never. We used to joke about the fact that he could walk out of the store with literally anything so one day we decided to test our theory. My very honest looking husband literally walked straight out of the front door of the store carrying a flat screen tv under his arm (which we did indeed purchase) and no one even gave him a second glance. 👀🤣

A few days after the TV incident I was exiting the same store and as expected, I was asked to produce a receipt for the 4 items that I were in my cart. I innocently handed my reciept over to the Wal Mart employee and patiently waited for him to look it over and hand it back to me so I could be on my way. To my horror, instead of placing the receipt back into my hand, he held it high in the air, pointed firmly in the direction of the self check out lane and then announced, loudly, to me and the rest of the customers in the vicinity, that I indeed had a stray box of spaghetti in my cart that I had NOT paid for. Confused about how the rogue spaghetti box in question actually slipped behind the top basket without being seen and humiliated by my oversight, I did the walk of shame back to the self check out line and payed the 81 cents for the stolen pasta.😆

I was so embarrassed about accidentally trying to shoplift a box of pasta but even more than that, I was mad. Mad that Wal Mart's door profiling efforts had worked!!🤣👩🏻‍🍳 Now I'm convinced that my picture is up on a wall in some sort of surveillance room with the words "known pasta smuggler" under it. 😅🤦🏻‍♀️ I avoid the pasta aisle at Wal Mart now.🤣 It's better for everyone involved. From now on, I'll be making my pasta at home. 🍝

That's not really true because dried pasta is so convenient that I rely on it for quick meals quite often. If you've ever tasted homemade pasta though - you know that the dried pasta doesn't even compare to the flavor and texture of homemade. It's definitely one of my top 10 favorite meals. I made a batch of these raviolis this week and put them in the freezer for Christmas. The plan is to pull them out for a quick dinner while my family is visiting over the holidays. The recipe is long but don't get caught up in the details. There are a lot of steps but the process is easy and it's well worth the effort.

Homemade Ravioli

Dough
300 g 00 Flour
3 large eggs
1 large egg yolk
Olive oil
Semolina flour, for dusting

Weigh flour in bowl of food processor.

Weigh eggs and yolks - add enough oil to equal 185 grams.

Add the flour, eggs and olive oil to food processor fitted with the metal blade.

Process to form dough, about 15-20 seconds.

Transfer dough counter to rest under a bowl for 5 minutes.

Knead dough 1-2 minutes. Cover and let rest 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Dust pasta machine with semolina flour to prevent sticking. Line (2x) sheet pans with parchment paper.

Cut dough into 8 pieces. Flatten 1 piece into a long disc and cover remaining pieces so they don’t dry out.

Send the disc through the roller on the widest/lowest setting. Repeat.

Continue to roll the dough through the machine twice on each setting until the dough is as thin as possible.

Trim sheets as necessary to be 10-12 inches long and place on parchment lined baking sheets.

Repeat with remaining dough and stack parchment between layers.

Working with 1 sheet at a time, place the dough gently over a floured ravioli mold.

Top with a second sheet of dough.

Remove ravioli from maker and repeat until all dough and filling is used.

Freeze ravioli for 1 hour. Transfer to a ziploc bag and return to freezer up to 1 month.

Scoop a teaspoon of filling into each square. Brush edges of dough with water.

Roll over the maker with a rolling pin.

Place ravioli on parchment lined baking sheets.

To make the fillings: Strain ricotta overnight in cheesecloth lined fine mesh strainer in the refrigerator.

Lobster and Crab Filling
1⁄4 pound salmon, skin and bones removed
1 egg white
1 heaping cup cooked lobster meat (4 tails)
1 Tablespoon fresh basil
Zest and juice of 1 lemon

In a food processor, coarsely grind salmon.

Slowly add in the egg white while pulsing until paste forms.

Transfer mixture to a bowl and season with salt and pepper.

Add 1 cup diced lobster meat and fold together with a rubber scraper.

Stir in basil, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Refrigerate 10 minutes.

Italian Sausage Filling
1 pound mild Italian sausage
1 yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
15 oz strained ricotta
1/4 C parmesan
1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp sage
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Cook sausage, onion and garlic in skillet.

Transfer mixture to food processor and pulse until pureed.

Add remaining filling ingredients. Refrigerate.

Cheese Filling
1/2 cup drained whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup chopped basil leaves
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 egg
Salt & Pepper, to taste