{Life Goals} Item #12 :: Make Ravioli from Scratch

I have a very diverse cultural background.  Of everything I am, I am most in touch with my Italian heritage.  Maybe it's my love of Italian food.  Well that love is what got Life Goal #12 on the list :: Making ravioli from scratch.

I watch Iron Chef with my husband on a regular basis. Chef Cat Cora and Chef Mario Batali often prepare fresh pasta and they only have an hour to cook it... so I said to myself, "Self, if the Iron Chef can do this, than we can do this."

Since I cannot seem to follow directions exactly from one recipe alone, I studied several and took the most important pieces and made sure I at least followed those: Flour, Salt and Eggs

Here is how I made my chicken portabella ravioli with a creamy mushroom sauce...

Sift 2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt on a sheet of wax paper

Take 3 eggs and add a touch of salt

Pour the eggs into the center of the flour

Hand knead until it looks like this...

Set it aside in a covered bowl for 30 minutes

Now let's start the filling...

Place ground meat (I used chicken), 1 egg, 2 slices of salami (because I love salami), 2 tablespoons of Parmesan cheese, parsley, 3 ounces of ricotta cheese, and a BUNCH of garlic... into a food processor.  Let it do it's thing.

You then end up with this... set it aside and let's start the sauce

Add a BUNCH of chopped garlic into a well oiled (EVOO) frying pan on medium. Let the oil work it's magic with the garlic, then add about 4 - 5 ounces of portobella mushrooms. Cook them for about 3 minutes.

Add a cup of heavy cream... turn down and let simmer.

About 30 minutes should have passed by now so we can go back to the dough we started.

Now it's time for the most difficult part of the entire dinner... rolling the dough. Let me just tell you this... I made this several hours ago and my arms are still aching.  As a matter of fact, I am resting my arms in my lap and typing. Thank goodness for wireless keyboards.

After you get it rolled out, very thin, you can add your filling on to your dough (about a teaspoon)

Wrap the top of the filling with another layer of dough

Take your handy dandy shamush presser (or you can just cut & press) and make it work!

Repeat

Repeat a lot more

Boil the ravioli for about 10 minutes and strain

Add your creamy mushroom sauce...

and viola!!!

So what do you think? Are you going to give it a whirl?