We continue celebrating the best gastronomic events of our calendar. Well, March 20th is Ravioli Day. A type of stuffed pasta very popular all over the world. And, to celebrate it, we are going to see how to make them at home, as well as many other curiosities.
But, what are Ravioli?
Ravioli, as we were saying, are a type of stuffed pasta of Italian origin. They consist of small squares of pasta, filled with a multitude of ingredients, which are usually served with a sauce.
And, although we can already find them in practically all supermarkets, we can also make them in our own home in a simpler way than we can imagine, as we will see below.
Ravioli Day, March 20th
And being such a popular type of pasta, it couldn’t be without its own day on the calendar. And, to commemorate this Italian dish, we celebrate Ravioli Day every March 20. This celebration has its origin in the United States. For there they are also a very popular type of pasta. And, we already know that the great majority of anniversaries find their origin in the United States.
Ravioli arrived there by the hand of the Italian army. Who took them during the First World War, in the year 1930. Since then, it is a type of pasta that has been elaborated a lot.
Celebrate Ravioli Day by making them yourself at home.
Ravioli consist of a simple dough made with flour, egg yolks, oil, water and salt. No other ingredients are needed for this dough.
However, to complete the recipe remember that we still need a filling and a sauce. We are only going to see how to make the ravioli dough. Once ready, you can accompany them with the filling of your choice, as they can be made with all kinds of ingredients.
We will begin by mixing all the ingredients until we obtain a homogeneous and smooth dough. The ideal to work this dough is to do it directly on the worktop. Which, we have to have it very clean.
To mix the ingredients, we will do it by hand. And, once they are all integrated, we will continue kneading, also by hand. Until our dough has an elastic texture and does not stick to us. When it is ready, we have to let it rest, covering it with a clean kitchen towel. It will be enough with about 20 minutes, after that time, we can begin to stretch the dough and then cut the respective squares that will shape our ravioli.
How to make ravioli dough
Ingredients
- 500 g Flour
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tsp Olive oil
- Water
Instructions
- On a smooth and clean surface, where we are going to work the dough, we put the flour. Shape it into a volcano (i.e., making a hole in the middle), add the egg yolks, the oil and 4 tablespoons of water. Add a pinch of salt.
- With your hands, we are going to start mixing all the ingredients. Once they are well mixed we start to knead.
- We will add water, very little by little, (spoonful by spoonful) if we notice the dough is too dry. Knead for about 15 minutes until you get an elastic and consistent dough that does not stick to your fingers.
- Put the dough in a large bowl, where there is plenty of room, and let it rest for 20 minutes, covering it with a clean kitchen towel.
- After that time, we put our dough back on the work surface and cut it into two equal parts with a very sharp knife or a dough cutter. Never stretch the dough to tear off parts of it.
- Now, with a rolling pin, we have to get two very thin sheets of dough. Try to make them of the same shape, as we will put one on top of the other to make the ravioli.
- When we have them ready, in one of the sheets of dough that we have prepared, we will put the filling you have chosen, teaspoon by teaspoon (do not fill too much because they must be small). And we will do it following an order. Leaving the same space between filling and filling.
- Put the other sheet of dough on top of the fillings, and press with your fingers around the fillings, to join both doughs. Now, with a toothed wheel (you can use a pizza cutter) or a knife, cut the dough into small squares, in the parts where there are no fillings.
- Again, press the edges of each ravioli well, so that the filling does not come out, and sprinkle a little flour over them.
- We put a large pot with plenty of water, bring to boil and, when it starts to boil, we add our ravioli delicately. Cook for about 10 minutes, drain and serve with our favorite sauce.
Fillings and Sauces
Once we have the Ravioli dough ready, let’s take a look at some options we have for fillings and sauces to go with them. Well, remember that the best way to celebrate Ravioli Day is by preparing this magnificent recipe in our own home.
- Meat with carbonara sauce. One of my favorite sauces to accompany pasta is carbonara. And it looks spectacular with a simple minced meat filling for our ravioli. As these are cooked in very little time, we will prepare a sofrito of onion and minced meat, that we can aromatize with all kinds of spices.
- Cheese Ravioli. A classic, with a cheese sauce we can make ravioli stuffed with whatever we like. Cheese sauce goes well with everything. We can make a filling of chicken, mushrooms, zucchini… With whatever we prefer.
- Spinach Ravioli. A classic with a mild flavor and a delicious combination if we accompany them with a mild cheese sauce. We can also give it a touch more flavor if we include some pine nuts in the spinach filling.
- Shrimp Ravioli, do not forget the fish and seafood to accompany your ravioli. For example, we can elaborate a delicious shrimp filling, which will be spectacular with a simple sauce based on soft cheese or cream.
And here we finish our proposals to celebrate Ravioli Day. A great date to enjoy a good plate of ravioli, even better if we have prepared them ourselves.
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