Ingredients:
(makes about 8 dozens)
For the filling:
- 1lb. of mixed ground meat (veal, pork, and beef)
- 1 carrot
- 1 stalk of celery
- half yellow onion
- rosemary
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 pinch of salt
- ¼ pound spinach
- 4 oz. of parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 oz. of rice
- 1 cup of milk
For the pasta dough:
- 4 eggs
- 2 lbs. all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup of water
- 1 tsp. of salt
- 1 Tbsp. of olive oil
Preparation:
Chop finely the onion, the carrot and the celery and sauté in olive oil until golden.
Add the rosemary and the meat, then brown the meat for 10 minutes on high heat. Add salt and pepper, then cover and cook for 30 minutes. If the meat gets too dry, add some hot water.
Cook the rice in milk until soft and let it cool down. If the rice absorbs all the milk, add more hot milk. The rice will make the filling lighter and smoother.
Cook the spinach in just the water clinging to the leaves after washing, for 5 minutes, then drain.
Make the pasta dough: in a large bowl, break the eggs, add the olive oil, the water, the salt and beat with a fork. Still using the fork, incorporate the flour little by little. Keep adding flour until the dough will be hard enough to be kneaded. Knead for ten minutes with strength, adding flour every time it becomes sticky. The dough must be firm.
Shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Let it rest for 30 minutes. This passage is very important because the dough will form the fibers necessary for rolling it thin.
In the meantime, continue the filling preparation. In a food processor, put the cooked meat, the parmesan cheese, salt, nutmeg, spinach, cooked rice, and blend the ingredients.
Pour the filling into a bowl, add one egg and stir with a wooden spoon.
Roll the pasta dough into a sheet. I recommend using a machine because the pasta will be more uniform and the stripes will be of the ideal width for the ravioli. After many years of intense use, I still love my sturdy and simple Imperia machine, but many other models are available for purchase online or in kitchenware stores.
The dough can also be rolled out with a rolling pin and then cut into stripes of the desired width.
After resting, the pasta dough is sticky, so keep adding flour to roll it out.
In order to keep the pasta stripes from drying out, I recommend rolling out the dough in small quantities, keeping the rest of it in the plastic wrap.
In a small bowl, whisk two eggs with two tablespoons of water.
When the first stripe of pasta is ready (about 4” x 20″) brush some beaten egg on it.
Take a tablespoon of filling and, with the tip of a knife, place small mounds of filling on the top half of the sheet, fold over, and press the edges to seal.
Cut out ravioli with a pasta cutter. First cut the longer side like in the picture below, then the single ravioli by cutting perpendicularly to the first long cut.
For fancier shapes, you can use a cookie cutter.
Repeat until you run out of filling. If you have some pasta left, you can cut it into fettuccine.
Place the ravioli on a flat surface, like a tray covered with waxed paper and dusted with flour.
The ravioli can be used immediately, or kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days, or even frozen. In this case, I suggest letting them dry for a few hours in a cool, dry place, remembering to flip them upside down after a couple of hours so that they dry on both sides.
Serving suggestion:
The normal portion of ravioli as a main dish is 2 dozens per person.
Cook them in abundant salted water (1 tsp. of salt in each quart of water), 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan melt 1 Tbsp. of unsalted butter per person, add a few leaves of sage, and grate 1 Tbsp. of Parmesan cheese per person. Drain a few ravioli at a time with a small strainer, transfer them to a serving bowl that you have warmed up with hot water or directly to each plate, pour the butter on them, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.