Shrimp Ravioli from Scratch

Something I have always wanted to try is to make my own ravioli completely from scratch.  Forget that i don't own a pasta roller or a ravioli cutter.  I decided a rolling pin and a pizza cutter was all i needed.

I would have done sausage ravioli if it were up to me, but my sous chef fiance (yup, still weird) suggested doing a shrimp-ricotta filling.  Smart boy.  That is much healthier, isn't it?  Okay.

Let us roll.

Ingredients (for 2 filling portions):
Dough
-2 cups flour
-2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks
-a little dash of salt

Filling
-2 oz shrimp, cleaned and chopped, raw is best
-1/3 cup ricotta cheese
-1 tsp italian seasoning
-1 tsp garlic powder
-1 tsp salt
-1 tsp pepper

The "Glue"
-2 egg whites (left over from the egg yolks used in the dough recipe above)

Equipment:
-rolling pin
-pizza cutter
-wax paper

For the dough:
1.  Break 2 whole eggs and 2 egg yolks in a bowl and mix well.  Add salt.
 
2.  Put flour in a bowl and make a little well in the middle.  Pour in the egg mixture. 

3.  Take a finger and push some flour into the well.  Push more and more and kinda stir it around with that one finger.  Haha.  Don't lick it.

4.  After a while, you'll be able to kinda knead it.  It'll still be sticky, so be prepared to use one hand to mix and another clean one to take a spatula and scrape it off your hand.

5.  Place HALF of dough on a heavily floured surface and knead till it doesn't stick to everything.  Roll out into a very very thin sheet.  Place on some wax paper. 

Do the same thing with the other half of the dough.


For the filling:
6.  Pan fry chopped shrimp until they are no longer translucent. 

7.  Add shrimp to small bowl with ricotta, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

Mmmm.  There was some leftover filling, so I got to eat it straight out of the bowl, and it was glorious.  


For the assembling:
8.  Drop small spoonfuls (1.5 tbsp?) of the filling onto one of the sheets of dough with even spaces between them. 

9.  Brush egg mixture, or the "glue" between the mounds of filling. 

10.  Cover the whole thing with the second sheet of dough, and firmly press between the mounds so that each raviolo is well-sealed. 

Hehe, looks like the U of M Wave Field.  Except this will be much more delicious.

11.  Take the handy-dandy pizza cutter and cut between the mounds. 

The excess dough can be thrown away or cooked along with the ravioli as extra pasta pieces.  That's what we did.

Cooking the ravioli: 
12.  Put ravioli pieces on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper.  You can freeze them first before cooking them.  I put them in the freezer for about 10 minutes until they were easier to handle.

13.  Boil a large pot of water.  Salt generously.  Once the water comes to a boil, drop in a few ravioli, taking care not to overcrowd the pot.  Cook 6 minutes then fish out with slotted spoon (which "can catch the potato"). 

Mm, the first few!  Hey, not too bad for my first try, huh?

We decided to make the sauce using some leftover shrimps (<--my favorite thing to do is turn mass nouns into count nouns...it's becoming much more common in these parts.  neat!)  Here they are served with sauce.

These ravioli were quite hearty.  I mean, they're a good 2.5" x 2.5", and stuffed with ricotta and shrimp.  Oh and were they good!  They had a definite homemade feel and taste to them...a bit uneven here and there, nice thick dough, and the size of 3 restaurant sized ravioli :) 

They were tons of fun to make, didn't take that long to do it, and it was a delicious and satisfying dinner!  Mm, the savory cheese all melted and creamy on the inside, springy and flavorful shell, and of course the fragrant flavor of shrimp--all tied together in one nice package! 

I think if I had a pasta roller, I'd definitely use it.  But until I get me one of those Kitchen Aids with the pasta rolling attachment someday soon, rolling it by hand was not too bad at all! 

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone! :)  Please share this blog with your friends and family!  My only "advertisement" is through my own friends and word-of-mouth, so share the link and spread the joy of simple, healthy, and cost-efficient cooking with your friends!  Love you guys :D

For a printable version of this recipe, please click here.