I love all kinds of pasta, but there’s something about good ravioli that really makes my heart go pitter-pat. I love the flat area of pasta around the filling itself, and I love it when the fork finally cuts into whatever the filling happens to be.
I love it in the morning and I love it in the night.
And I loved it last week.
I’d recommend loving it tonight if you can swing by the store!
First, let’s concentrate on the filling: throw some ricotta into a bowl with some grated parmesan.
ruh-CAWT-uh
ree-COAT-uh
ree-CAWT-uh
reecoatacawtacoatacawta
It is my fervent wish to be able to pronounce ‘ricotta’ correctly sometime before I croak.
Crack in an egg and sprinkle in some salt and pepper.
Stir it all together and set it aside for a minute.
Next, heat a skillet over medium-high heat and drizzle in some olive oil. Throw in some arugula. You can also use spinach, but I happened to have a buncha arugula on hand.
Just grab somethin’ green, man.
Stir it around and cook it just along enough to wilt–only about 30 to 45 seconds.
Then throw it into a bowl and let it cool down a bit.
Once it’s cool, give it a rough chop…
Then stir it into a separate bowl with half the ricotta mixture.
And now. For a little something on the side: Homemade marinara sauce. I generally don’t use a recipe, so here are some approximations:
1/2 cup to 1 cup wine. This is optional.
Pour it into a pot of diced onions and garlic. About 1 large onion and 3 cloves of garlic.
1 large can of whole tomatoes. (These are fire roasted fancy ones, but I usually just use the normal ones.)
1 large can of crushed tomatoes…
And salt, pepper, and a good amount (1/4 cup-ish, maybe a little less) sugar.
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble. Cook, cook, cook. Then just add herbs as you see fit: parsley, basil, etc.
Man, do I love marinara sauce.
But today…today is about zee ravioli!
To make the highly gourmet, 100% homemade ravioli…
Grab some wonton wrappers! Ha.
But seriously, here’s how I feel about it: truly homemade ravioli is to die for. There’s absolutely nothing like it. If you have the time and the tools and the inclination, please make the pasta dough from scratch, then please roll it out and fill it and cut it, and then please invite me over so I can have some, too.
But if you want to whip up the next best thing, wonton wrappers really are a remarkably good subtitute–especially if you want to experiment with different toppings and make a variety. You can sink all your effort and creativity into the filling instead of the dough.
I’ll be quiet now.
Spoon a very small amount of filling–probably 3/4 to 1 teaspoon–onto the center of the wonton wrapper.
Brush a little egg wash (1 egg beaten with a little water) around the edges of the wrapper.
Then lay a second wrapper on top, but here’s how you do it: lay it on top, then gently press the top wrapper all around the edges of the filling first, making sure to get out all the air bubbles. Then work your fingers out to the edges, lining up the corners and pressing it to seal. (Don’t seal the edges first; lots of air will be trapped in there.) This one actually looks like it has a little air stuck inside…but the world (and my kitchen) is an imperfect place.
Repeat with the other filling and the rest of the wonton wrappers.
If you have a sweet girl with a bun on top of her head to help you…even better!
School debris in the background. The Lodge is a one-room schoolhouse this year.
As you (or your girl) assemble the ravioli, place them on a tray until you need them.
And now. Who can guess what kind of ravioli this is?
Whether you can guess it or not, I promise you it will rock your ever-loving world.
Then it will knock your ever-loving socks off.
Then it will make you faint.
Here. Let’s just go ahead and cook these first.
Drop the ravioli three or four at a time into boiling water. Let them cook for about three minutes…
(Note: the egg yolk variety only cooked for about 90 seconds or so, as I was afraid of the yolk setting.)
Then remove them with a slotted spoon and place them on a plate. For these special little numbers, olive oil (I had a hand spasm and drizzled on more than I intended), salt, and pepper were all I needed.
You’ve probably figured out what kind of ravioli this one was. Yes–egg yolk, my friends. Have you seen it? Have you had it? It’s offered in some restaurants here and there, and it will change your life, turn you upside down, and make you wonder how you ever lived without it. It’s very bizarre and very wonderful at the same time.
1. Crack an egg
2. Cup the yolk in your hand and let the white drip through your fingers.
3. Carefully place the yolk onto the center of a wonton wrapper and repeat the other steps for assembling.
So incredibly delicious. But then again, I have an unnatural love for egg yolks.
Here’s the cheese variety. Yum.
Zee marinara was goot! And look how pretty that “pasta” sheet looks.
Mmmm. Divine.
For the arugula version, I went back to the olive oil, salt, and pepper approach, which is so darn wonderful. Simple. Delicious. If you don’t want to mess with a sauce, it’s a quick and easy way to dress up your ravioli.
Make wonton ravioli sometime this week! The possibilities for filling are endless: sauteed mushrooms, crabmeat, even pulled pork or shredded brisket. The world is your oyster!
Here’s the handy dandy printable:
