Homemade Ravioli

Homemade ravioli. Again, the key ingredient is patience. Lots of people think that some recipes are hard when all it really means is that you need time to cook it slowly. Italians have in recent years tried to reinstate the idea of slow-food. I like the idea, and if you are here reading recipes it's probably because you you like cooking and don't mind spending 15 minutes more if the end result is so much better. So while this probably isn't something you'd whip up a Wednesday after work, make a big portion on Sunday, eat half and freeze the rest.

Ingredients:
Pasta (4 people)
1 l. flour
4 big eggs
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil
160ml water
Filling:
It's really up to you. Empty your cupboards and make some cheese and nuts filling or a minced beef with mushrooms. You decide.

Start by making pasta. It's really simple. Mix the flour and the salt and make a mountain of it with a "crater" inside. Add the eggs and the olive oil in the crater. Mix the eggs slowly from the centre and out with your fingers or a fork. Once the eggs are well mixed with the flour, add the water bit by bit while mixing. Careful it doesn't run out over the side. Once the right consistency has been reached, the dough will have absorbed all the flour and it will be soft and bouncy but not sticky nor dry. Knead well. Really well.

Wrap and leave in fridge min. 30 min. This is important for the dough to set and it gives you time to make the filling.

The following are suggestions. You can make almost anything. First up: Cheese and walnuts. I had a bit of gouda and goat cheese, but parmesan would also have been really nice. Crush some nuts, add basil. Again, fresh basil would have been a thousand times better, but those were the circumstances...

Mix, add pepper. Refridgerate.

Next: Meat stuffing. Meat, onion, garlic, tomato sauce, oregano...

and finely chopped mushrooms.

Fry onion, garlic, mushrooms... then add the meat.

Then spices, tomato sauce. Cook til tender. Add salt to taste. Drain excess liquid/fat.

Now for making the raviolis.

Roll out thin.

Fold the dough over itself. Roll again...

... fold, roll... at least 6 times to strech the gluten.

As I had a lot of dough, I cut it into to pieces. One for cheese, the other for meat.

Roll to a large square. The pasta needs to be as thin as possible. I keep going till I can see the outline of my hand by holding it up against the light.

Cut in two pieces. One slightly bigger than the other.

Trim off edges so you end up with nice square pieces - still one being slightly bigger.

Put egg white on the smaller of the two. Place balls of filling with a couple of centimetres between them (see further down). Place the larger piece of dough on top.

Press down around the filling. Cut squares. I used a pizza cutter. Press borders with fork to make sure filling won't run out when boiled.

Make all.

Roll out excess dough. Repeat process.

Then i had a little help from this beautiful kitchen elf who made a delicious onion/cream sauce to go with the raviolis. Sauce was made up on the spot but had fried onions, cream, cheese, tomato sauce...

Boil till ravioli is "al dente". They will probably bubble up and then deflate after cooking. Don't worry as long as the filling isn't running out.

Serve with sause and fresh basil oil (blended olive oil, garlic and fresh basil leaves). Serve and eat while hot.