Ravioli: Round 1

I've spent the last few weeks focused on finding a new job and was starting to feel like I'd fallen into a rather grouchy slump. It wasn't the job hunting that was making me grouchy; finding a new job in a new city has been a very useful exercise. What had happened was that I was focusing so much time on reading about jobs, writing cover letters, applying to jobs and researching companies that I forgot about food. Gasp! Okay, I hadn't 100% forgotten about food. A girl needs to eat.

But what had happened was that I was focusing so much effort on jobs and very little on cooking. For someone who voluntarily spends a significant amount of time in grocery stores a markets, reading new recipes, watching food tv/movies (Netflix, yo) and reading food or chef-related books, the break from it all ended up being rather depressing.

It's curious how quickly you (or I) can lose a sense of self when you ignore the things that make you happy. For me, food is an experiment, an adventure and education all in one bundle. It satisfies my creative side and the part of me that refuses to stop learning.

So, back to the ravioli. I decided that the best way to get my mojo back was to try something entirely new, and that's what brings me to ravioli.

If you read my post about roasting the mushrooms shown below, you already know there is a local Italian store where you can buy sheets of ravioli dough. You buy it by the half or full table. That's their measurements. I bought the half table, which was pasta sheets wrapped in butcher paper. I didn't know I'd end up carrying it home, a few blocks' walk, holding the sheets horizontally (as instructed by the clerk) so the pasta doesn't bend or break. It was a good arm workout.

Prior to picking up the pasta sheets, I used my balsamic roasted mushrooms to create a mushroom filling for half the ravioli. I chopped the mushrooms I had roasted earlier that day and mixed in some goat cheese, grated parmesan and fresh herbs.

Then I proceeded to cut the dough. This part was an experiment, for sure. I found out a pizza cutter works better than a knife because the cutter will roll as it cuts, eliminating drag. I experimented with sizes and ended up with about a 2x2" square (1" smaller than a sticky note). Next time, I might like a slightly smaller size square or a slightly larger amount of filling. 

I also decided to use my oven-roasted tomatoes to make a caprese-type ravioli filling consisting of the tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh pesto and basil.

I used this tool, which was given to me by my friend Ashlee as a Christmas gift this past year. So far, I had only used it to seal dumplings. I pressed the tool to seal the edges. You don't want your filling leaking out later!

Here are the three stages of ravioli:

1. Filling is placed in the center and covered with the top half
2. Pressed to seal the filling inside
3. Crimped for good measure

I crimped the edges two ways, one that was just shown above in the 3-stage photo and the second (shown below). Why two ways? I wanted to distinguish the mushroom-filled ravioli from the caprese-style ones. For the mushroom, I trimmed the ravioli and then pressed the edges diagonally with the fork. For the caprese-style, I pressed the edges with a fork perpendicular to the center square and then trimmed.

Pressing the Edges of Ravioli 

Here is one of the caprese-style pieces. I ended up trimming the edges slightly to straighten them out. I'm not spectacularly precise in cutting same-sized pieces. If you're better at this or have a ravioli press, hats off to you. I am not so fortunate.

And here's one of the finished trays! The half table of pasta made me about 5 dozen ravioli, but mine are cut a little on the larger side I think. I layered them on a sheet pan and froze them flat before bagging them in freezer safe plastic bags.

The entire process took me a little under 2 hours, which I suppose isn't bad for my first attempt.

Here are things I would change next time:

• Use more filling or cut smaller pieces of ravioli - The filling to dough ratio wasn't exactly what I wanted
• Try a ravioli press - By the time I reached 3 dozen, my hand was starting to hurt from pressing, plus the tool cut through some of them slightly. I tried using it as a cutting tool, but couldn't get it to cut through the dough without a good deal of force.

Things I wouldn't change:

• Both fillings were very tasty - I served the mushroom with a cream sauce and the caprese-style with balsamic and olive oil
• Buying pasta sheets - What a time saver!