Ravioli Virtual Cooking Class with Anna Barnes

Mound flour in the center of the countertop or table. Make a well in the center. Beat eggs, water, and salt, slowly add to center of well. RE: whole eggs are pretty on Instagram, but a pain to chase around a table top.

Starting with a fork, begin working the ingredients into the flour. When the dough becomes difficult to work with the fork, switch to using your hands to gather the dough and form a ball shape.

Dust the countertop or table with a bit more flour and begin kneading the dough for about 10 minutes using classic bread dough technique: push the dough with the heel of your hand to stretch it, fold it back on itself, and make a quarter turn. Repeat. The dough will become stretchy, smooth, and silky.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and allow it to rest for 30 minutes. You will want to cover the dough whenever you are not working it, or it will dry out. If it does, it isn’t the end of the world. Simply wet your hands and rework it until it is soft and pliable again.

Divide the dough in half or thirds. Using a lightly floured rolling pin and a floured surface, roll the dough to 1/16”-inch. Flip and turn the dough as necessary. It may take several minutes to achieve an even depth. When the dough is to the correct thickness, lift it onto a clean dish towel and allow it to dry for 15 minutes before cutting.

Alternatively, you can use a pasta machine starting with the largest setting and work your way down. You do not need to let the dough dry for 15 minutes prior to cutting if you are using a machine; though you’ll probably need to toss the pasta with a bit of flour to prevent it from sticking together.

To cut hand rolled pasta, roll the dough up loosely jelly-roll fashion, starting from the narrow end. Using a sharp knife, cut crosswise into ¼-inch wide or wider strips. Unwind the strips. If you are cooking the pasta right away, spread the noodles on a clean cloth and allow to dry 15 minutes more prior to cooking so that the noodles won’t stick together.

For machine cut noodles, allow to dry on doweling or chopsticks, or a flour covered tray for 15 minutes prior to cooking to prevent sticking.

If you want to use your pasta later, place it in an airtight plastic bag. You also can freeze it for several months. Don’t thaw before cooking. Cook frozen noodles in batches as they will reduce the water temperature and potentially stick together.

To dry it for future use, hang the strips over a wooden dowel. Allow to dry 4 hours or overnight, especially during humid weather. Pasta is dry enough to store when it snaps instead of crumbles when a piece 

is broken off. You can store dry pasta in a tightly covered container for up to 3 weeks in a cool, dry place.

Use 6 quarts of pasta with 1 T of salt to cook 1 pound of pasta. Allow the noodles to move freely. Remove any excess flour from pasta with a colander. Gently lower the noodles into the water. Wait until the water returns to a boil and start timing. Fresh pasta takes approximately 4 minutes, dry 5 minutes. Start checking sooner to prevent over cooking. Perfectly cooked pasta should be tender but firm.

Drain but do not rinse pasta. Toss quickly with any seasonings, olive oil, or butter. If you are using sauce, do not add oil or butter first as the sauce will not be able to stick to the pasta.

When cleaning pasta tools and your counter, take a tip from Babette’s Feast and “Let it soak.”  But do not use hot water as you will create glue. Throw all tools into a bowl of water as you finish using them. A spatula or dough scraper and old kitchen cloths with cool to warm water are your friends for cleaning up a counter after making pasta. Lay them on the counter for several minutes to loosen the flour residue, if necessary.

Start with strips of rolled pasta that are at least 5 inches wide.

Place the filling on one half of the pasta with a pastry bag or spoon—be sure to leave an inch of space between each dollop of filling and between the filling and the edge of the pasta so that the dough can seal. Less is more. A tablespoon or less is typically plenty of filling.

You may or may not need to wet your finger with water to seal the dough. Do a test first with a scrap of dough.

Fold dough over filling, using fingers to press between filling and around edges. You can use a fork to lightly press the edge of the dough to help seal it.

Place filled ravioli on a baking sheet dusted with flour to keep them from sticking. Remove flour prior to cooking.

Alternatively, you can cut out rounds of pasta and make round ravioli, using water to seal if necessary, and placing on a flour dusted baking sheet as above.

Cook ravioli in batches in boiling salted water for 4 to 5 minutes. 

Preheat an oven to 375ºF. Wash squash with soapy water to remove any field dirt. Cut off squash stem, then stand the squash up and slice lengthwise keeping your fingers on top of the blade.

Roast squash cut side down on a baking tray for at least one hour. At the same time place a large unpeeled garlic clove on a small square of aluminum foil with a drizzle of olive oil. Place the wrapped garlic on the baking sheet with the squash. Roast until the squash is very soft and reaches a paste-like consistency.

When cool enough to handle, scoop out seeds with a tablespoon and remove flesh from the skin with the side of the spoon. This will be easier if the squash is still a bit warm. Refrigerate squash and garlic until ready to use.

Place ¾ c of squash in a medium bowl. Mash garlic if not already paste like. Stir into squash along with ricotta, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika.

Heat 1 T olive oil. When shimmering, add thyme and sage leaves. It will sizzle. When sage leaves are crisp, stir in coriander. Remove from heat. Remove sage leaves and add oil mixture to filling. Finely mince sage leaves and stir into mixture.  

See previous ravioli instructions for dough, assembly, and cooking.

Serve with browned butter and sage sauce below. Or, drizzle ravioli with olive oil and top with crumbled gorgonzola or blue cheese and chopped, toasted walnuts. Alternatively, drizzle on some pecan oil and sprinkle with chili flakes and fried shallots.

Melt butter in a light colored pan (stainless steel, lighter nonstick, or porcelain coated) over medium heat. You need to be able to see the color change in the butter when it happens. As the butter melts and starts to sizzle, add the sage leaves. This is going to flash fry the leaves so be careful as there can be some popping. Gently swirl them in the pan instead of stirring. This protects your hands and makes the brown specks easier to see.

Keep swirling until you see brown specks develop in the bottom of the pan. This may take up to 5 minutes. Do not let the specks become black and remember that the heat of the pan will continue to brown

the butter after it leaves the stove. Turn down the heat if the process is progressing too rapidly. You can skim the foam or not. Spoon the butter and sage over your ravioli or pasta, arranging the sage leaves on top.