The dish, bewitching by its name, always attracts visitors to Italian restaurants. Everyone, without exception, strives to know the taste qualities of the national cuisine of Italy. As you know, Italian pasta in various variations has always been considered crown. Ravioli - and there is pasta, only stuffed with a variety of fillings. Cooked according to a similar scheme with Ukrainian dumplings and Russian dumplings, when the filling is wrapped directly in the dough. However, the proportions of the ingredients of Italian stuffed pasta differ significantly and the main emphasis, of course, is on the ravioli dough. By studying our recipe, you will learn, dear readers, the secret of distinguishing real ravioli from fake ones.
Until now, the exact place where these same envelopes first appeared is a mystery. Whether it was actually the Chinese province of Sichuan, from where the famous Marco Polo brought to Italy the recipe for ravioli, referred to by the then Chinese as huntong - such information is recorded in some book historical publications. Either the ravioli recipe never traveled, but appeared precisely in Italy, because there is evidence that as early as the 13th century they were known in Italian cuisines.
Italians are very sensitive to ravioli, because it is not for nothing that this dish is considered homemade, let’s even say more family, where each family has its own recipe. More than one dish in the world can boast of such a variety of fruit, berry, meat and other various fillings. Classic boiled ravioli combine: the filling of the traditional Italian dairy product Ricotta (Italian Ricotta) and spinach, with a small addition of hard Parmesan cheese for piquancy.
Also, in every modern Italian family there is always a machine for rolling and molds for ravioli, which, if desired, will not be difficult to buy from us. The dough is laid out in the mold, rolled into a thin layer on both sides, and the filling is clamped in special recesses. The variety of shapes (round, square and triangular, etc.) for making ravioli suggests that stuffed pasta is really very popular. Especially designed in the form of an envelope with a carved edge and a cheese center. It is these curly homemade ravioli that we will sculpt, and their recipe was borrowed from an Italian coffee shop.
For ravioli dough:
For minced cheese:
For cream dressing:
Sift the flour, mix with salt and lay out a slide.
Break the eggs into the recess in the flour at the rate of 1 egg per 100 g of flour.
Now we introduce vegetable oil a little.
Knead the dough by hand until elastic and let stand for about 30 minutes.
Put ricotta cheese or ordinary cottage cheese in a bowl and rub it until a homogeneous mass is obtained.
Add some crushed lemon zest.
Finely chop parsley and put half in minced meat.
Thoroughly mix all the minced ingredients.
Optionally, you can also add a little blue cheese.
Instead of blue cheese, you can use any kind of grated hard cheese, for example, parmesan.
We introduce the egg yolks provided for in the recipe into the minced meat.
Once again, we mix everything until smooth.
In the meantime, the dough is already ready. Part of the dough should be rolled into a cake of small thickness.
On top of the cake at a distance of 4 cm from each other, lay out minced meat in small portions, as in the photo.
We cover the minced meat with dough, get rid of excess air and cut the ravioli with a curly knife.
According to the original recipe, ready-made ravioli should lie down a bit to dry.
Cook ravioli in salted water or broth until they float to the surface.
Remove the finished product from the water with a slotted spoon and let it drain well.
Now we lay out the ravioli on plates and let cool a little.
For the sauce, melt the butter and add the rest of the chopped herbs to it.
Pour the ravioli with the finished sauce and serve.
Bon appetit.
Ravioli Cooking Variations
As for the filling: it can be as varied as the chef has enough imagination. Meat, fish, as well as vegetable, cheese and fruit ingredients, bouquets of various herbs and herbs, spinach, salads and even nettles - all this can be stuffed with ravioli. It is the same with sauces: garlic-creamy, creamy-mushroom, just tomato and just creamy - the variety has no limits in culinary creativity.
What a middle ground - such a benefit! All fermented milk products, and especially cheeses, are the main sources of the most useful element - calcium, and are fully enriched with protein. In our recipe, along with cottage cheese, a small amount of blue cheese is used, which is so rich in amino acids, vitamins, and phosphate salts. Melanin, which protects the skin from exposure to the sun, is formed with the regular consumption of cheeses of this group.
Lemon peel, present in the ravioli recipe, is generally an invaluable product, but it is not known why, it is not used by housewives, but in vain. The antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial action of the zest, when added to food, is undeniable, even in small quantities.
We will not forget that ravioli is still flour food, and we also have lemon zest. Overweight people, as well as those prone to inflammatory diseases of the digestive system, should not get carried away with this category of food, despite the excellent taste and speed of cooking.
In conclusion, we want to reveal the promised secret of Italian ravioli - the dough is always prepared with a large number of eggs, sometimes from the same yolks, and rolled out thinly and thinly. A real Italian will always distinguish boiled fresh dough, kneaded on water alone, from the right one, which means: there should be no savings. Only in this way we get a wonderful and unique taste of stuffed homemade pasta - ravioli!