Making homemade pasta, and ravioli at that, will have one of two effects on our readers; Either they will slam their computer closed before having the chance to say “delicious”, while others will be half way into the kitchen with their apron on! Whichever category you fit into there is just one thing to bear in mind: one step at a time!
Pasta is not that hard to make, in fact it is incredibly easy once you have a feel for it. This does require some practice, which basically means even if you are a first timer you have to get started at some point! And what better time than now, under the gentle and extremely skilled guidance of Chef Ryan?
This really is the most delicious pasta recipe and we cannot express honestly enough that if you follow the instructions step by step you will completely surprise not only yourself, but everyone who gets to share this wonderful meal with you. Enjoy!
Pasta:
- 2 eggs
- 200 g cake flour
- pinch of salt
Filling:
- 1 pkt button mushrooms
- 1 med onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 15 g butter
- 125 g Brie cheese
Cream Sauce:
- 2 cup fresh cream
- 1 small bunch thyme
Method
For the pasta:
- Place the eggs, flour and salt into a food processor and pulse until the mixture forms a rough dough.
- Transfer the dough onto a clean working surface and knead until smooth and elastic. If the dough is sticky, add a bit of extra flour.
- Once the dough has been kneaded, wrap with clingwrap and set aside to rest until needed.
For the filling:
- Roughly dice the onions, garlic and mushrooms.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, fry the onions with the butter.
- Once the onions have turned transparent in colour, add the garlic and mushrooms.
- Continue cooking the mushrooms until all the moisture has evaporated.
- Place the cooked mushrooms in a food processor along with the brie cheese.
- Pulse the mixture until it resembles a thick paste. Season to taste.
- Transfer the mixture into a bowl and refrigerate until needed.
To make the ravioli:
- Divide the pasta dough in half.
- Roll each half into a ball and flatten.
- Sprinkle the flattened pasta with flour and then roll through a pasta machine with its rollers set to the widest setting.
- Fold the pasta in half, sprinkle with flour and roll through the pasta machine again.
- Repeat this process until the pasta is smooth and silky to the touch.
- Once the pasta is smooth, set the rollers on the pasta machine to the next available setting. (Each setting will bring the rollers closer together).
- Sprinkle the pasta with flour and roll through the pasta machine and then change the setting to the next available number.
- Continue this process until the second smallest setting on the pasta machine.
- Roll the pasta through the second smallest setting twice. This ensures that the pasta will not shrink when cutting.
- Lay the sheet of rolled pasta on a clean, floured work surface.
- Trim the top and bottom edges of the pasta with a sharp knife to form a long rectangle.
- Brush the top edge of the pasta with egg wash.
- Place small spoonful’s of mushroom filling along the middle of the pasta sheet, leaving gaps of about 4cm between each spoonful.
- Fold the pasta over the mushroom filling from the bottom and then roll up over the egg wash to seal the pasta together.
- Cut between the gaps to separate the ravioli’s.
- Squash the air out from around the mushroom filling and then press the edges together to completely seal the ravioli.
- Place the ravioli on a floured tray until needed.
For the Cream Sauce:
- Place the cream and thyme in a saucepan over medium heat.
- When the cream reaches boiling point, reduce the heat and simmer until the sauce has reduced by half.
- Once the sauce has reduced, strain through a sieve and season to taste.
For the plating:
- Bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil.
- Boil the ravioli for about 4 minutes.
- Strain the ravioli into a bowl and toss with some olive oil.
- Sauté some black mushroom and asparagus with butter.
- Arrange in a serving bowl and coat with the thyme sauce.
