Kitchen Gadgets: Ravioli Form

Ms mom has lots and lots of gadgets. The last time I was over there, she showed me her madeleine forms (cast iron AND tin!), her cast iron alphabet cookie form, her cake pans, and something near and dear to my heart, a ravioli form!!!

I've always wanted a ravioli form. There were times when I picked up a single ravioli stamp and showed M, and he responded with, "what is that?! Do you need it?"

Of course, the answer was always, "No. No, I don't need it." ...but I want it!

I was glad that Mrs. Y lent me hers - it is a beautiful two piece mould that comes with one piece that has holes and lattice edging on one side, and another piece with recesses to shape malleable pasta dough for filling. I *love* it.

The ravioli I made the first time were a simple beef and spinach filling. I precooked it because I did not know how the pasta dough and the filling were going to cook up; next time I want to do a butternut squash or pumpkin filling and serve it with butter, parsley, and walnuts.



The pasta dough recipe I used was something from culinary school. Of course, the first batch didn't quite work out because I worked it too much! But second times the charm.

Ingredients
Scant 2 3/4 c all purpose flour
3 eggs
pinch of kosher salt

Sift the flour onto a smooth surface and make a well in the middle.

Using a fork, beat together the eggs and the salt until the egg is well mixed and the salt combined.

Pour the eggs into the well. Gently and gradually using the fork, incorporate small amounts of flour from the sides of the well. Make sure that the egg doesn't seep out of the well!

When most of the flour has been incorporated, knead the dough with floured hands until the dough is smooth and elastic. Allow to rest, covered in a bowl for about an hour. If the dough becomes tough and overworked, you may have to start over. It will be very hard to work it through the pasta machine if it has become tough.

Cut the dough into four parts. Lightly flour the dough on both sides by sliding through a couple tablespoons of flour sprinkled on a cutting board.

Gently work through the pasta machine set on the lowest setting. You may have to fold the dough over on it self a couple times before it goes through cleanly. Work the dough through the pasta machine about three to five times before going to a thinner setting. Slide the sheet of pasta through the flour as required.

For the ravioli, I worked the pasta to the #6 setting. It was beautiful!!! :p The sheets were nearly see through and the pasta was still slightly moist.

I placed a sheet of pasta onto the ravioli form, used the other piece to stretch the dough to allow room for the filling. I placed about two to three teaspoons of filling into the hollow, moistened all the edges with a touch of water, then put another sheet of pasta dough on top. Finally I ran a rolling pin over the form to cut the dough, and generously floured the ravioli before putting them on a surface to dry.

The ravioli were refrigerated in single layers until ready to cook.



Sorry there's so few photos! I believe it was a weekday and I was just getting a little overwhelmed. I'll post more when I make pumpking ravioli.