Ravioli Filling: 3 recipes

Hi all!  Sorry about the long hiatus from posting--that's what you expect from a grad student.  Okay.  But here's the ravioli recipe I've promised!

During the ravioli party that I posted about last Sunday, we made three different types of ravioli.  Now, the fun thing about ravioli is that you can basically fill them with anything.  Course, there are things that go together better :)  Anyways, what I'll show you is the cheese base, then three different variations from that base.

Ingredients for the base:
-1 16 oz package ricotta
-1/2 cup grated parmesan
-1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
-salt and pepper to taste

So the first thing to do is make the base.  This is the same cheesy base that I make for all the recipes down below.  Mix the three cheeses together.  Here's the ricotta...plop!

Here's the parmesan!

And the mozzarella!

Mix together, salt and pepper them to taste.

Filling 1: Spinach and Toasted Pine Nuts
-1/3 of the filling base recipe
-1/2 package of frozen spinach
-1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

The first recipe is for a delicious spinach and toasted pine nut ravioli.  First, thaw the spinach and wring it out into little clumps (I use my hands).  Then chop the spinach by running your knife through it a bunch of times.

Toast up some pine nuts.  Just leave them on medium-low heat for a while (7-10 minutes) until it gets light brown and smells fragrant and wonderful.

Run your knife through them too. 

Mix into a third of the cheese mixture.

Filling 2: Rosemary and Kalamata Olive
-1/3 of the filling base recipe
-3 sprigs of fresh rosemary (or, 2 tsp dried rosemary)
-1/3 cups kalamata olives

Here is a little bit of rosemary from my lovely plant...the one plant I manage to keep alive, that is. 

Give it a nice chop.

Here are the kalamata olives I used. 

Drain them well add them to the cheese mixture.

Filling 3: Garlic Shrimp
-1/3 of the filling base recipe
-1 giant clove of garlic, finely minced
-1 cup cooked shrimp

For this one, which I think was my favorite, you want to get precooked shrimp and thaw it out in cold water.  Then give them a nice, course chop. 

Then, take a big clove of garlic and mince the heck out of it.  If you have a garlic press, that'd work perfectly.

And mix the two together into the cheese base. 

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The great thing about this is that you can make the cheese base, then you can add any combination of ingredients in it!  I wouldn't try to cram too many ingredients in there, but maybe two or three would work well. 

You could try ground beef and jalapeno peppers, or feta and artichoke, or oregano and pepperoni for a pizza ravioli.  So many possibilities! 

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