Ravioli can seem daunting. You have to make the fresh pasta and then the filling before you even get to making the actual ravioli. That’s why I like to take leftovers, chop them up (sometimes with a touch of ricotta or egg yolk for richness), and create an “instant filling.”
INGREDIENTS
For 4
3 cups beer braised short ribs, shredded *RECIPE
1 cup yellow onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
8 sage leaves
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
fresh pasta dough (recipe below)
1 cup walnut pesto (recipe below)
DIRECTIONS
Heat a large sauté pan over medium heat, melt the butter, add the onions with a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook until soft (about 10-15 minutes). Add meat and sauté together for 5 minutes, seasoning to taste. Let cool.
Roll out fresh pasta sheet until very thin (level 8 on my pasta roller). Using a ravioli tray or doing by hand, fill each ravioli with 1-2 teaspoons of short rib mixture.
Brush water on edges of pasta, and add other layer, sealing in with a fork. Cut up ravioli, place on a parchment lined sheet in one layer, and freeze. They’ll be easier to handle. When ready to cook, boil in salted water for 2 minutes and drain.
In a sauté pan, melt four tablespoons of the butter over medium heat until a nutty golden brown (about 5 minutes). Add a 1/4 cup of the pasta water and whisk for one minute, creating a sauce. Add the parmigiano and season with salt and pepper. Plate the ravioli, and dress in the sauce. Drizzle with walnut pesto, extra brown butter if you like, a touch of balsamic and top with crispy sage.
INGREDIENTS (FRESH PASTA DOUGH)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 extra large fresh eggs
2 extra large fresh egg yolks
a standing mixer, with a pasta roller and cutter attachments
DIRECTIONS
Attach the dough hook to your mixer (you must use a dough hook, as paddle attachments don’t actually knead the dough). Pour the flour into the mixer’s bowl, and form a slight well. Add the eggs into the well, and start the mixer on the lowest speed. If the yolks aren’t breaking, feel free to break them yourself with a fork.
Blend for about 3 minutes on low speed, until the mixture has formed a ball on the hook. If it hasn’t, and is instead sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl or crawling up past the hook, add a few teaspoons of flour and give it a few more rotations. You can also do this whole process by kneading with your hands, it just takes longer.
Put the dough onto a floured surface and knead by hand for about 2 minutes, or until the dough is firm yet elastic. The easiest method for kneading is pushing the dough forward, folding it once, turning it 90 degrees, and repeating. This is binding and developing the gluten in the flour, to ensure elastic silky pasta dough. Cover the ball in plastic wrap and let it rest for 20 minutes.
INGREDIENTS (WALNUT PESTO)
Yields 1 1/2 cups pesto, or more if thinned out
3/4 cups cubed sourdough bread
1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups raw walnuts
3 cloves garlic
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 cup parm, freshly grated
DIRECTIONS
Soak the bread in milk and soak the walnuts in enough hot water to cover them for 15 minutes. The bread should be soft and the walnuts should have turned the water a nutty hue.
In a food processor, add all of the ingredients. Pulse to combine. Add a 1/4 cup of the walnut water and pulse until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper. If you want a thinner, sauce-ier pesto, add more of the walnut liquid.
