Today, I am very excited to share with you all a delicious little recipe that I created myself. Yes, I’m very proud, thank you. Earlier in the year I had a completely spontaneous thought. You see, I’d started to switch from regular pastas (bleached flour=bad) to whole wheat pastas (whole wheat=good). These are easy to find in any grocery store, and that was all well and good for a while. What I wanted, though, was a more creative whole wheat pasta and so I came up with the idea for a whole wheat ravioli with a goat cheese and sweet pea filling. Now, I am not a pasta chef, much less any kind of trained cook, but I do enjoy my time in the kitchen and like to try making new delicious things. I set about researching homemade pasta recipes first and created the filling portion entirely from scratch. The sauce was adapted from a few recipes for cream sauces with various herbs and I chose the sage because its what was fresh in my house at the time.
Whole Wheat Goat Cheese & Sweet Pea Ravioli (makes about 6 dozen raviolis)
Dough: Filling:
3 C whole wheat flour 2 C goat cheese, softened
3 C unbleached white flour 2 C ricotta, part-skim
1 C plus water 2 T olive oil
4 eggs 2 T garlic, minced
salt and pepper 1.5 C+ peas, fresh or frozen (thawed)
salt and pepper to taste
To make dough, blend flours, salt and pepper in large mixing bowl. Form a deep well in the center of the flour mixture. Add eggs to well and beat with a fork. Gradually whisk flour from sides of well in with the egg mixture; dough will be crumbly. Slowly add water, 1-2 Tbsp at a time. Work mixture after each addition. Add water until right texture is achieved.
Lightly flour a work surface and knead dough for 5-10 minutes. If it becomes crumbly, lightly spray with warm water. After kneading, form dough into a ball and let sit for 15 minutes.
To make filling, blend all ingredients in a food processor for best mix. You can adjust the quantities to your personal taste.
To make raviolis, flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll a section of dough into a rectangle and to desired thickness. Visually divide the rectangle in half lengthwise; you will work with the half closer to you. Drop a generous spoonful of filling mixture onto sheet about 2 inches apart down the length of the sheet. Fold back half of dough over front half so that edges meet approximately. Carefully press and seal edges around filling pocket – this is critical!
The shape of the ravioli is up to you – I made some squares just using a pasta cutter and then some rounds using a cookie cutter. Have fun with it! Once you’re done cutting, set raviolis aside to prepare sauce.
**Remember, when cooking fresh pasta, you don’t need to cook for the 8-10 minutes that dried pasta requires!
Sauce:
4 T butter
1/2 C chopped walnuts
1/2 C chopped leeks
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1/2 C dry white wine
1/2 pint plus whipping cream
1/4 chopped fresh sage
salt and pepper
To make sauce, melt 2 T butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add walnuts and cook until brown and fragrant, stirring – about 3 minutes. Remove from pan.
Add remaining 2 T butter, leeks and garlic. Saute for 1 minute. Stir in wine and cream and bring to a boil. Cook over med-high heat until thickened, about 4 minutes. Stir in sage, salt and pepper. Add walnuts.
Serve over cooked ravioli.
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