Creamy wild mushroom and ricotta ravioli

Ravioli is a completely misunderstood Italian dish. For some unknown reason people shy away from attempting it in their own homes for fear of complexity and culinary anxiety. The exciting truth is that ravioli could not be simpler to bring into existence, especially when accommodating little kitchen tools like the Marcato ravioli stamps stroll into your life. Here’s a morsel of a recipe for creamy wild mushroom and ricotta ravioli all set and ready to awaken the Italian in you.

Creamy wild mushroom and ricotta ravioli

Ingredients: (serves 6)

1 batch pasta dough

For the filling:

40g butter
400g assorted mushrooms, finely chopped
200g ricotta cheese
The zest of 1 lemon
Handful of parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

For the sauce:

30g butter
300g wild mushrooms
3 tbsp garlic, finely chopped
300ml cream
Wild rocket
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

To make the filling: 

Fry the mushrooms in butter for 10 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool. Stir in ricotta, parsley and zest and set aside.

To make the sauce:

Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat. Add mushroom. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until softened. Add cream and garlic and simmer for 5 minutes. Switch off and set aside.

To make the ravioli:

1. Before any fun stamping and shaping can happen with the Gefu ravioli tools, you’ll ‘knead’ your own pasta dough.

2. With pasta dough at the ready, set your pasta machine to its widest setting. Shape your dough into a squarish shape, flour both sides and slowly feed it through your machine. You may need another set of hands for this, so find a willing bystander to rope in.

3. Repeat the process of rolling your pasta through the machine. With each repeat, take the setting down one notch until you’ve eventually rolled the pasta through the thinnest setting possible. Remember to re-flour both sides of your pasta before you feed it through the next reduced setting.

4. With your pasta sheet at optimal thickness, lay it out on a board and divide your dough into two equal lengths. Lightly beat one egg to serve as an egg wash and brush this over one of the lengths of pasta. Use a ravioli cutter to mark out your ravioli bases lightly (do not cut through the pasta – this is just to help you place your filling).

TIP: Pasta dries pretty quickly so it’s best to cut your shapes as soon as possible.

5. Add a teaspoon of the wild mushroom and ricotta filling into the center of each of your ravioli markings.

6. Lower the remaining length of rolled pasta gently onto the first layer and use your fingers to lightly tuck the pasta around each mound trying to avoid air pockets. Now comes the fun part. Punch out your raviolis with either the square or round crinkle cutter shape.

To complete your meal:

7. Half fill a pot with water, add a pinch of salt, then bring to the boil. All pasta needs a fair bit of space to cook, so only add a handful of raviolis to your pot at a time, then cook for 3-4 minutes until they rise to the top.

8. Whilst cooking your ravioli, reheat your sauce.

Once your little pasta pockets are cooked, pour your creamy mushroom sauce over the cooked and drained ravioli. Season with salt and pepper. Divide between bowls and top with wild rocket.

Buon appetito!