Thursday, August 25, 2011

basil-cheese ravioli with browned butter and sage sauce

YUM! Just the name makes my mouth water!

I adapted this a little bit from Giada's Ravioli Caprese recipe on the food.com website. I've only made ravioli once, and it was a pumpkin filled one with browned butter sauce. That one was good too, but this time, using Giada's recipe for the pasta dough, it turned out so much better. Easy to handle, nothing fell apart and the edges stuck together perfectly. It probably helped that I used a press/cut tool to make them.



Basil-Cheese Ravioli with Browned Butter and Sage Sauce

Pasta Dough:
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup very hot (almost boiling) water

Pour the water over the flour in a large bowl. Mix with wooden spoon until it starts coming together when pressed with your fingers. Dump out on lightly floured board and press together to form a ball. Knead a few times until dough is smooth. Wrap in a piece of plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes.

Filling:
3/4 cup ricotta
1 egg
1/2 cup grated fresh Parmesan
2-3 tablespoons chopped basil leaves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Mix all in a glass bowl until thoroughly combined.

After 10 minutes of resting, unwrap the dough and cut it in half. Roll it out in a long rectangle (about 5x12) to about 1/8" thickness.  Place a heaping teaspoon of filling along the center, every 3 inches.  Pick up the long edge of the dough and fold it over the filling, pressing around the filling to help seal it and to push out some of the air. Using a ravioli press or a knife, cut ravioli and place on a platter until time to cook. Repeat with remaining dough. 

To cook the ravioli, place half in a large pot of salted boiling water and boil for 3-4 minutes, stirring occasionally. When they float to the top, remove from the water with a slotted spoon and put in a serving bowl. When all the ravioli is cooked, pour the sauce over, toss, and serve hot.

Sauce:
1/2 stick salted butter
6-10 fresh sage leaves

Melt the butter in a pan over medium high heat. Add the sage leaves, and saute/stir until the butter browns and smells nutty. Remove from heat immediately and pour over ravioli and toss to coat.