Mblah's Cheese Ravioli w/ Basil/herb sauce

Well this weekend I made some yummy ravioli

The attachment takes two people lol but my bf's mom and I got it all figured out. I like the old fashioned way because you can control the size of them, the attachment makes mini ravioli. I made a white cheese blend with Italian Parsley for the filling and I made a red basil/herb sauce to go with them and of course there was bread. I sliced the Italian bread I made and added butter and some garlic and toasted it for garlic bread

Mblah's Cheese Ravioli with Basil/herb sauce

Ingredients
For the pasta
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups Semolina pasta flour
dash of salt
1/2 tbs water
1 tsp of olive oil

Directions for pasta
Make a well

Work egg into flour adding the olive oil, salt and water. Mix by hand or with fork til it's crumbled like pie crust would be before shaping. Then you would knead it like bread, about 7mins. Add more flour and water if needed to get it to the dough consistency. Once the dough is ready form into ball and wrap in plastic wrap that is lightly coated with extra virgin olive oil and set aside for about an hour.


*Pasta can be made in advance and put in the fridge but you would have to work it a little, re-knead it to be able to roll it through the machine, or you can make it and just leave it on a counter. I prefer room temperature, it doesn't get hardened and the oil keeps it nice and moist. I havent seen much of a difference in flavor between the two. One you have more work with that is about it.

Ingredients
For the cheese filling
4 oz ricotta cheese
1/4 cup of fresh goat cheese
1/4 cup feta cheese
1/3 cup fresh shredded mozzarella
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 cup of white cheese blend (asiago, provolone and swiss)
1 tbs chopped fresh Italian Parsley
1 egg and one egg white (medium)

Directions for filling
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and put in fridge til ready to stuff ravioli

Ingredients
For the sauce
I can diced tomatoes or 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes
1 small can of tomato paste
1 cup of tomato sauce
1 cup of water
3 tbs of freshly chopped basil
1 1/2 tbs freshly chopped of each, Italian Parsley and Oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tbs crushed garlic
1/2 minced onion

Directions for sauce
Put all ingredients into a crock pot and slow cook for 5 hrs. Stir occasionally.


Methods of ravioli making
Ok there are a couple ways to make ravioli, one with an attachment and one without. If you have an attachment then refer to their guidelines for what setting to put maker on, on the Marcato it's a 5, it gets the ravioli really thin and you can't feed it through the machine at any other number, it won't fit. I tried so this is where you can do it by hand.

If you dont have a ravioli attachment you have more freedom with the shape, size and thickness of the ravioli. I honestly prefer this method to the attachment because it's just not one person friendly

So once you have rolled out your sheets of pasta, maker sure to have two sheets or two bigger sheets to fold over since you are going to stack one on top of the other in one way or another.
Here is an image:


After rolling out pasta use cheese filling about an inch a part or so. Then either fold over other side or put other sheet on top and seal around the filling. You can lightly use a brush and use either olive oil or water to help seal the edges, don't use too much it will get soggy and not stick right. After ravioli is assembled lightly coat a pan with semolina flour and put ravioli in pan and set in fridge for at least an hour.

Once ravioli is chilled and ready to bake just cut accordingly either with a pizza cuter, knife, cookie cutter or whatever you choose to cut it with. The pasta maker attachment makes it easy, they just tear apart at the seams easily once ready to break apart.

These are my raviloi


Final Ravioli Assembly
Preheat oven to 350F

I used a glass pie dish to bake mine, you can use whatever you have around. Coat bottom of pan lightly with the sauce, place ravioli on top of the sauce. They can sit on one another, but not too much. I fit about 24 in one plate. Top ravioli with sauce and lightly shredded mozzarella. Cover with foil and bake 15 mins, then take cover off and bake 7mins.

If you are making your own ravioli with thicker pasta it will require more cooking time so just watch your time and adjust accordingly.

Serve with bread and voila dinner is served!

Beautiful raviolis.

One of the many things that make me wish I could eat wheat.

Originally posted by kalamatas
Beautiful raviolis.

One of the many things that make me wish I could eat wheat.

Why can't you eat wheat if you don't mind me asking? You can make pasta without wheat

The pasta and bread I make is actually gluten free, not sure if that matters but many have asked about that so I started using gluten free yeast and flour.

Thanks for the reply

They were just delicious. My bf's mom and I laughed that if we didn't freeze the rest of the ravioli we would have ate the other pan!

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Looks very delicious!!
Overnight delivery??

Originally posted by DrumsRfun
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Looks very delicious!!
Overnight delivery??

edit on 30-1-2012 by DrumsRfun because: (no reason given)

edit on 30-1-2012 by DrumsRfun because: (no reason given)

Im working on teleportation, over night is so last year

Wow!

Damn can you cook!

Thanks for the instructions. A great help for a guy that doesn't know his way around the kitchen too well.

The old cliché, "a way to a man's heart" comes to mind whenever I see such good cooking.

*SmoKey salivates & touches his computer screen, wishing for a plate of Mblah's ravioli*

Originally posted by SmoKeyHaZe
Wow!

Damn can you cook!

Thanks for the instructions. A great help for a guy that doesn't know his way around the kitchen too well.

The old cliché, "a way to a man's heart" comes to mind whenever I see such good cooking.

*SmoKey salivates & touches his computer screen, wishing for a plate of Mblah's ravioli*

Hehe

Thanks Smokey!

I love to cook as I am sure you have already figured out. My fiancee loves it lol although he doesn't benefit as much since he is overseas. I do feed his mom and my friends often.

Pasta can be time consuming and let me tell you my arms are killing me! I re-made the pasta because the first time I didn't like how it came out when I was trying to roll it so I had double the work lol I just say the kitchen is my gym now lol.

Next time I'm gonna make a seafood ravioli with a white cream sauce

reply to post by mblahnikluver


Celiac. Gluten is the main problem. Can't do other grains right now as well, have a severe lectin sensitivity. Hopefully once I get my gut back on track, I will try using sprouted flours. Sprouted flours are more well tolerated by people whose tummies despise grains like mine.

I looooove butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter sauce. MMMMMMM.

Originally posted by kalamatas
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

Celiac. Gluten is the main problem. Can't do other grains right now as well, have a severe lectin sensitivity. Hopefully once I get my gut back on track, I will try using sprouted flours. Sprouted flours are more well tolerated by people whose tummies despise grains like mine.

Well the pasta and bread are gluten free Does that matter? I am not familiar with what lectin is, are there alternatives for it? I like learning how to cool for those with food limitations because of allergies, sensitivity, diabetes and so on. It helps me so if I come across that situation I can accommodate that person. I have done it before and I don't mind.

I have never heard of sprouted flours, will have to look into those.

I looooove butternut squash ravioli with sage brown butter sauce. MMMMMMM.

Ok not that sounds good. I have never had it nor would I put those together. Sounds delicious! I might have to see if my fiancee will try that

reply to post by mblahnikluver


The Lowdown On Lectins

This article gives a good overview of lectins. Grains are best eaten sprouted or fermented. And grains can be sprouted, dried and then milled into flour. These methods break down anti nutrients and other "toxic" elements, making the nutrients of the grain more bioavailable and digestible and less harmful.

[color=dodgerblue]That looks fantastic.

*waits impatiently for Mblah to invite her over for dinner*

Originally posted by kalamatas
reply to post by mblahnikluver

 

The Lowdown On Lectins

This article gives a good overview of lectins. Grains are best eaten sprouted or fermented. And grains can be sprouted, dried and then milled into flour. These methods break down anti nutrients and other "toxic" elements, making the nutrients of the grain more bioavailable and digestible and less harmful.

Why thanks for that

I will look into it more. I make a lot of my own foods and I have many friends who have various eating diets based on cholesterol, diabetes and so on. I don't mind learning something that could help those I cook for eat better and esp if it helps me cook healthier foods

Thanks!

Thanks, mblah, I am going to try ravioli once again. I have had some difficulties in the past with them coming open and losing stuffing - I had originally tried making ravioli based on my method of making wonton soup, similar pasta process (more on that in a moment), then in Chat the other night you told me you "baked" the ravioli, "Doh!" (_8(|) (that's my Homer smiley, which is more often not recognized if I don't tell what it is). Like, yeah! Baking ravioli is how it is supposed to be done - (smack palm to my head). So I will have a go at it again, the right way this time. Thanks again.

I have seen demo videos of the attachments for ravioli and I am sure that's not the way for me. I have been looking around for a round ravioli cutter, like I have seen used by top-quality restaurants, but they're not to be found here, yet. So I double the pasta, use brush to moisten the layers of pasta so they will (hopefully) stick together, press tightly around the edges, then use my crinkle-wheel cutter to get that zig-zag pattern at the separations. If I were to ever find that round cutter I'd just be wasting pasta, so square ones really are the best way to go. In the past I would cook those raviolis in water before baking and that's where I would have problems with them coming open. Why not just bake them to start? See, this is why this cooking forum is so great! That tip from you will solve all my problems making ravioli.

Not to stray too far from ravioli-making I do want to mention wontons since they are similar. I had mentioned before about using the pasta-maker for eggroll and wonton wrappers and mentioned I found it best to not use egg in the pasta to get them more crispy. I need to mention that this hint is only good if you're going to fry them, otherwise for wonton soup I recommend you still use egg in the pasta mix. And for some very strange reason I don't have problems with my wontons opening up in the soup, except for an odd occasional one - which is acceptable though not desireable. I use the straight-wheel cutter for wontons, though that is just a matter of preferrence.

I won't go into the stuffings I use as these may vary each time I make wonton due to what is on-hand at the time - Oriental-style stuffing for wonton, Italian-style ingredients for ravioli is all the guideline I use for that. I will, however, tell about a Fusion-Fest event I was invited to here in Mexico. A discussion came up about Mexican-Asian foods on a local chat site so we made it into a potluck event and had a nice fiesta at a friend's home along Lake Pátzcuaro. As far as I know there is little experimentation with this sort of fusion, so I got creative.

With wife Tere assisting we presented Sweet and Sour Chiles Rellenos and Mexican Eggrolls using chicharrones (fried pork rinds) in small pieces in the stuffing for both - a very Mexican touch. The sweet and sour sauce was spiked-up with chiles and was also used as the dipping souce for the eggrolls. Although chiles rellenos can be stuffed with a variety of things the most common ones have only cheese inside. These had the eggroll stuffing added to the cheese at about a 50-50 ratio. The eggroll stuffing was fairly traditional with onion, cabbage, mushroom, egg, etc., plus had the chicharron for the meat. I broke traditions with these, got scolded bigtime by a local food critic that read about it online - though didn't attend our Fest - but these selections went over really well with the guests and which ideas have now crept into our local recipes - which is likely why this food critic continues to harrangue me about messing with local food traditions.

Thanks again, mblah. Your cooking threads are both inspirational and very helpful.

Tell me something, me and the wife have a kid free weekend coming up. Friday night i'd like to prepare ravioli and then sat. make the sauce for dinner that night.

will the ravioli be messed up in any way sitting in the fridge overnight?

reply to post by blair56


You can put the ravioli in the freezer if you're concerned about them taking on moisture in the fridge.

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro
Thanks, mblah, I am going to try ravioli once again. I have had some difficulties in the past with them coming open and losing stuffing - I had originally tried making ravioli based on my method of making wonton soup, similar pasta process (more on that in a moment), then in Chat the other night you told me you "baked" the ravioli, "Doh!" (_8(|) (that's my Homer smiley, which is more often not recognized if I don't tell what it is). Like, yeah! Baking ravioli is how it is supposed to be done - (smack palm to my head). So I will have a go at it again, the right way this time. Thanks again.

You are welcome.

I recognize Homer's "Doh!" lol Hehe.

I always liked baked pasta over boiled. It just tastes better to me. I have done it both ways, bake and boil but prefer baked.

Let me know how they turn out and if the baking method works better

I have seen demo videos of the attachments for ravioli and I am sure that's not the way for me. I have been looking around for a round ravioli cutter, like I have seen used by top-quality restaurants, but they're not to be found here, yet. So I double the pasta, use brush to moisten the layers of pasta so they will (hopefully) stick together, press tightly around the edges, then use my crinkle-wheel cutter to get that zig-zag pattern at the separations.

I use to use a pizza cutter and just make the zig zag pattern myself lol. I have since however found many kitchen "accessories" at thrift stores. That is how I found the pasta maker and ravioli maker. Any pasta that I don't use I wrap in plastic wrap and use later that week for something or I freeze it.

If I were to ever find that round cutter I'd just be wasting pasta, so square ones really are the best way to go. In the past I would cook those raviolis in water before baking and that's where I would have problems with them coming open. Why not just bake them to start? See, this is why this cooking forum is so great! That tip from you will solve all my problems making ravioli.

I made some ravioli out of wonton wrappers a while back and even made a thread on it. Not many seemed too interested and when I told people what I was making they kind of put their nose up until they tried it. it was really good and I made the round "hat" ravioli with the wontons and they were stuffed with meat, spices and carrot. It was a Middle Eastern Dish I tried. Afghan Beef Raviolis

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro
Not to stray too far from ravioli-making I do want to mention wontons since they are similar. I had mentioned before about using the pasta-maker for eggroll and wonton wrappers and mentioned I found it best to not use egg in the pasta to get them more crispy. I need to mention that this hint is only good if you're going to fry them, otherwise for wonton soup I recommend you still use egg in the pasta mix. And for some very strange reason I don't have problems with my wontons opening up in the soup, except for an odd occasional one - which is acceptable though not desireable. I use the straight-wheel cutter for wontons, though that is just a matter of preferrence.

This is good to know since the recipe I previously linked involves wonton wrappers I'll have to make my own next time.

I won't go into the stuffings I use as these may vary each time I make wonton due to what is on-hand at the time - Oriental-style stuffing for wonton, Italian-style ingredients for ravioli is all the guideline I use for that. I will, however, tell about a Fusion-Fest event I was invited to here in Mexico. A discussion came up about Mexican-Asian foods on a local chat site so we made it into a potluck event and had a nice fiesta at a friend's home along Lake Pátzcuaro. As far as I know there is little experimentation with this sort of fusion, so I got creative.

Ohh I love meals like that! I am very interested in the fusion trend I see coming more and more to where I am. Many places are using this term now. We have a few newer places with "infusion" style recipes and they are pretty good.

With wife Tere assisting we presented Sweet and Sour Chiles Rellenos and Mexican Eggrolls using chicharrones (fried pork rinds) in small pieces in the stuffing for both - a very Mexican touch. The sweet and sour sauce was spiked-up with chiles and was also used as the dipping souce for the eggrolls. Although chiles rellenos can be stuffed with a variety of things the most common ones have only cheese inside. These had the eggroll stuffing added to the cheese at about a 50-50 ratio. The eggroll stuffing was fairly traditional with onion, cabbage, mushroom, egg, etc., plus had the chicharron for the meat. I broke traditions with these, got scolded bigtime by a local food critic that read about it online - though didn't attend our Fest - but these selections went over really well with the guests and which ideas have now crept into our local recipes - which is likely why this food critic continues to harrangue me about messing with local food traditions.

That sounds really good!!

I can't believe he scolded you! I like when people try something new in food. Isn't that how new recipes and styles of food come out?! Sounds like he wants to keep it the traditional way. If the locals like it then hey it's a plus! I never listened to critics on anything because to me it's one person's view and how can one person's view be the right one? I never understood critics because to me each person has their own tastes and qualities in what they like so it's natural they won't like everything! It doesn't mean it's a bad dish

That's my take on food critics, even movie and design critics lol

Thanks again, mblah. Your cooking threads are both inspirational and very helpful.

edit on 1-2-2012 by Erongaricuaro because: (no reason given)

Why thank you That is very kind of you to say. I just like sharing my cooking with people. I always have and it's nice to see others enjoy it.

I also enjoy your posts like I mentioned. They are just as helpful! I don't make a lot of Mexican type foods but some of the things you suggest are really good. I think at least where I am we don't get real Mexican food, minus the 2 restaurants I know of, its mostly been Americanized here.

Thanks for the wonton advice I might try those this weekend and make something for Sunday, Super Bowl lol. I wont watch but I sure as heck will cook for it!

Originally posted by Erongaricuaro
Not to stray too far from ravioli-making I do want to mention wontons since they are similar. I had mentioned before about using the pasta-maker for eggroll and wonton wrappers and mentioned I found it best to not use egg in the pasta to get them more crispy. I need to mention that this hint is only good if you're going to fry them, otherwise for wonton soup I recommend you still use egg in the pasta mix. And for some very strange reason I don't have problems with my wontons opening up in the soup, except for an odd occasional one - which is acceptable though not desireable. I use the straight-wheel cutter for wontons, though that is just a matter of preferrence.

This is good to know since the recipe I previously linked involves wonton wrappers I'll have to make my own next time.

I won't go into the stuffings I use as these may vary each time I make wonton due to what is on-hand at the time - Oriental-style stuffing for wonton, Italian-style ingredients for ravioli is all the guideline I use for that. I will, however, tell about a Fusion-Fest event I was invited to here in Mexico. A discussion came up about Mexican-Asian foods on a local chat site so we made it into a potluck event and had a nice fiesta at a friend's home along Lake Pátzcuaro. As far as I know there is little experimentation with this sort of fusion, so I got creative.

Ohh I love meals like that! I am very interested in the fusion trend I see coming more and more to where I am. Many places are using this term now. We have a few newer places with "infusion" style recipes and they are pretty good.

With wife Tere assisting we presented Sweet and Sour Chiles Rellenos and Mexican Eggrolls using chicharrones (fried pork rinds) in small pieces in the stuffing for both - a very Mexican touch. The sweet and sour sauce was spiked-up with chiles and was also used as the dipping souce for the eggrolls. Although chiles rellenos can be stuffed with a variety of things the most common ones have only cheese inside. These had the eggroll stuffing added to the cheese at about a 50-50 ratio. The eggroll stuffing was fairly traditional with onion, cabbage, mushroom, egg, etc., plus had the chicharron for the meat. I broke traditions with these, got scolded bigtime by a local food critic that read about it online - though didn't attend our Fest - but these selections went over really well with the guests and which ideas have now crept into our local recipes - which is likely why this food critic continues to harrangue me about messing with local food traditions.

That sounds really good!!

I can't believe he scolded you! I like when people try something new in food. Isn't that how new recipes and styles of food come out?! Sounds like he wants to keep it the traditional way. If the locals like it then hey it's a plus! I never listened to critics on anything because to me it's one person's view and how can one person's view be the right one? I never understood critics because to me each person has their own tastes and qualities in what they like so it's natural they won't like everything! It doesn't mean it's a bad dish

That's my take on food critics, even movie and design critics lol

Thanks again, mblah. Your cooking threads are both inspirational and very helpful.

edit on 1-2-2012 by Erongaricuaro because: (no reason given)

Why thank you That is very kind of you to say. I just like sharing my cooking with people. I always have and it's nice to see others enjoy it.

I also enjoy your posts like I mentioned. They are just as helpful! I don't make a lot of Mexican type foods but some of the things you suggest are really good. I think at least where I am we don't get real Mexican food, minus the 2 restaurants I know of, its mostly been Americanized here.

Thanks for the wonton advice I might try those this weekend and make something for Sunday, Super Bowl lol. I wont watch but I sure as heck will cook for it!

Originally posted by blair56
Tell me something, me and the wife have a kid free weekend coming up. Friday night i'd like to prepare ravioli and then sat. make the sauce for dinner that night.

will the ravioli be messed up in any way sitting in the fridge overnight?

Ooops that is tonight. Hope i'm not too late

Nope and it would be best to put it in the freezer. What I did was take a paper plate and sprinkle some Semolina flour on it and lay the stuffed ravioli on the plate, the I covered it with another place to where the top of the plate was facing down. Then I put it in a ziplock baggie and got as much air out as possible and froze them.

I actually made the left over frozen ravioli on Wednesday night. I added some lobster tail and shrimp to the sauce i made for the ravioli and when it was time to cook the ravioli I put them in the dish frozen and baked accordingly. It was really good!!

If you leave it in the fridge they could get moisture and become soggy so to be safe I always just freeze the past I want to use later.

Hope your dinner night goes well

Originally posted by kalamatas
reply to post by blair56

 

You can put the ravioli in the freezer if you're concerned about them taking on moisture in the fridge.

LOL yup, guess I should have scrolled down

I also freeze the pasta balls I have made if i dont use it all. It's a pain to re-knead sometimes but just use a little water and flour and re work the dough and voila pasta! I try not to toss pasta or bread dough. Bread dough it different cause of the yeast but I just freeze the bread when it's done instead