I have been wanting to make these for a while now but was a little intimidated. Let me tell you they were easy as pie except for placing the yolk without breaking it, you must be very gentle. I must admit I broke a few so make extra if serving a certain amount of guests. First I made a basic pasta recipe with just flour and eggs, I added a little salt and pepper but you don't have to.
Next I mixed the dough by hand and ran it through the pasta maker to make sheets. The key to this step is to roll the sheets out thin enough so the egg yolk doesn't cook before the pasta does, you want it to remain runny, it take a little practice. After the pasta was all rolled out it was time to fill them. You can season the ricotta if you like with parsley, grated parmesan, salt and pepper, maybe even a little lemon zest would be nice.
At this point I put the top sheet of pasta over the raviolo's and cut out circles with a large enough glass to leave at least a 1/4 border, you can use a mold ring also or whatever you have that will do the job. Make sure you are still being gentle so you don't break the yolk and you get all the air out. After I got them cut out I sealed them with the back of a fork.
Start your sauce by simply melting butter with some sage leaves, I added a little heavy cream but it is not necessary. Pasta never waits for sauce!!! Now get your salted water to a boil, not too strong, and drop the raviolo in with a large slotted spoon you can't do too many at a time maybe 3 or 4. This is not a recipe for a large crowd they really have to be make to order 4 guest at the most if you want everyone to get their plate at the same time. As soon as the raviolo are ready coat them with the sauce and serve immediately, garnish with parmesan, cracked black pepper and a sage leaf or two.
Please give this recipe a try, whoever you make it for will be totally impressed!!
*a simple salad and garlic bread to soak up the runny egg yolk makes a perfect date night dinner
**the best way to a man's heart is through his stomach ;)
***you can add a little of the starchy pasta water to the butter and sage sauce to give it a little body
