Ravioli, famous Italian pasta, are small squares of pasta filled with a savoury mixture of meat, cheese, etc. The word ravioli derives from the Italian verb " ravvolgere" ("to wrap").
Since raviolis are typical product of italian cuisine, almost every Italian region has its own varieties of ravioli with different forms and stuffings. Both cities of Cremona and Genoa claim to have created ravioli. Legend has it that the raviolis were invented in 1200 by a family who ran an inn on the road that led from Genoa to the Po Valley.
But the earliest written mentions of ravioli appear in 14th century manuscripts by Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato, Tuscany. Even cuisines of Babylon, Egypt, Greece and Rome already had similar dishes.
FOR HOMEMADE RAVIOLI
Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups of flour (American bread flour or grade 00 Italian flour)
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons of cold water
Preparation:
1. Put the flour on a work surface (countertop or a bread-board) and form a mound. Make a well in the middle of it, and pour the eggs into it.
2. Add the salt and the water, and mix all together until you have a smooth paste which you can roll out. Knead the dough for about ten to fifteen minutes.
3. Flour your countertop, use a rolling-pin and roll the dough out very thin, flouring it as necessary, about the thickness of a dime. Let it stay spread out like this until it dries a little.
FOR MEAT FILLING
Ingredients:
cooked meat (turkey, chicken, veal); you can also use left-over meat
1 egg
1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
a pinch of grated lemon zest
a pinch of nutmeg
1 tablespoon of butter
Preparation:
1. Finely chop the meat and put in a bowl. Add egg, grated Parmesan cheese, a pinch of nutmeg, a pinch of grated lemon zest, and a tablespoon of cold butter. Mix all ingredients.
2. Take about a teaspoon of the filling and put it into the paste sheet, out two inches from the margin of the sheet. Take another spoonful of filling and put it about two inches away from the first scoop. Continue doing like this until you have a row of scoops across the paste. Carefully fold the pasta over the spoonfuls of filling.
3. Then start cutting the ravioli out by slicing between the filling pillows to get individual pockets. Edges should be well pressed together so that the meat filling cannot fall out when the ravioli are cooked.
4. Cook the meat ravioli in a large quantity of boiling salted water and boil for ten minutes. Serve with tomato sauce, or with butter and grated Parmesan cheese.
Sandra D. is a blogger and owner of http://www.stainlesssteelbacksplashguide.com
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