I’m thrilled to share a favorite recipe around the Miller household. It’s fantastic comfort food and very difficult to mess up. If you need to make a substitution feel free – I’ve done so many times and it’s always disappeared quickly from our plates. If this is your first foray into making your own pasta dough – prepare to be an instant convert. It’s incredibly easy, albeit a bit time consuming, but elevates your dish to insane levels of delicious-ness. If you can mix dough and were an expert Play-Doh craftsman back-in-the-day then you already know all you need to know to make fabulous pasta. Let’s get going!
To make the ravioli dough, I highly recommend using a food scale. While you can use standard measurements, I’ve found that they vary wildly depending on how tightly packed my flour happens to be, what brand I’m using, etc. A food scale ensures that your proportions are right on, each and every time. We find ourselves reaching for ours so frequently that we are already on the second one after the one from our wedding registry died on us.
Measure our your ingredients, mixing the dry ingredients in the bowl first, forming a well in the middle, and adding the wet ingredients. *True* pasta chefs would be shaking their heads at me for using a bowl as the tradition method dictates forming your flour well directly on the countertop but I’m just not that cool (plus, it makes a mess!). Whisk the eggs into a scramble using a fork, slowly incorporating the flour. When the mixture can hold together on its own, clean as much as possible off the fork and switch to your hands. Fold and knead the dough, forming a single mass. I find driving the heel of my hand into the dough, flipping it 90 degrees and repeating is the best rhythm for me. Fun fact: this kneading motion is how all the Italian grandmothers you know get their thick wrists! Don’t know any Italian grandmothers? Neither do I but every pasta cookbook I’ve devoured throws that in there at least once so I wanted you to get the experience. You will want to knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes or until the dough stops changing appearance and texture. Unlike bread dough, it’s tough to over-knead pasta dough so make sure that you think it’s ready. It should feel like Play-Doh when it is. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes.
While the dough rests, you can begin making the filling. Simply chop the cheese into large chunks, removing the rind, and place into a food processor. Add the cream and puree. It will be very thick. Refrigerate until you are just ready to stuff the pasta.
While the pasta continues to rest, wash and prep your produce. Clean the mushrooms and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. You don’t have to be exact as we are just looking for them to be similar in size so they cook evenly. I used half baby bellas and half wild Washington chantarelle’s in this version of the recipe but our favorites are wild morel. I find the best wild mushrooms at our local farmers market but – truly – this recipe is very forgiving. Feel free to use whatever you can find. Same “whatever goes” rules apply to the rest of the produce. I didn’t have parsley in the herb garden when I prepared this but had some extra ginger from a previous recipe. Throw it all in! Whatever flavors you like.
Next roll out the pasta dough using a pasta machine. I typically break the dough into three even chunks and work one chunk at a time. Our mold makes 12 ravioli pieces so I typically end up with 36 finished pasta pieces. To begin, I roll the chunk to a reasonable thickness with a rolling pin so it will fit in the pasta machine. The majority of pasta machines have 7 settings so I begin by running each chunk through the machine twice at a 7, move the machine to a 5 and run it through twice more, finally finishing with a single run through at a 3. I like to make sheets that are twice as long as the ravioli mold so you can easily place one side down, add the filling, and fold the other half over the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to seal the mold and create your ravioli! I like to lightly flour my finished pasta pieces and keep them on a baking sheet covered with a kitchen towel while I make the sauce.
Finally! The sauce. Heat a pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Heat a large saute pan over high heat (medium-high if you have stainless steel pans). Add 2 tablespoons of the butter and heat until it sizzles. Add the mushrooms, garlic, spring onions, and ginger to the pan. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. (The slat helps the mushrooms and onions to sweat without browning.) Continue to cook, string constantly, until the mixture is fragrant and the mushrooms have begun to brown. Drop the pasta into the boiling water. Add 1 cup of pasta water and the remaining butter to the pan of mushrooms and swirl vigorously to create an emulsion. Once the pasta is about 80% done (about 2 minutes) add it to the pan. Add the thyme and parsley, continuing to swirl to maintain the emulsion. When the sauce begins to coat the pasta, about 2 more minutes, remove from head, add the sherry vinegar, and stir to combine.
To serve, divide the pasta and sauce between 3-4 plates and garnish with Parmigiano-Reggiano and watercress leaves.
Buon Appetito!
- 1 wheel of Red Hawk Cheese (340 grams) (This cheese is made by Cowgirl Creamery - if you can't find it just substitute any triple cream brie cheese. I've even used cream cheese before!)
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 360 grams 00 flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 100 grams whole eggs (1/2 cup or about 2 large eggs)
- 90 grams egg yolks (1/3 cup of about 4 yolks)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 6 ounces morel, chantarelle, or other wild mushroom (I've also used a mixture of these or added some baby bellas and it's delicious every time!)
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup finely diced spring onion
- 3-6 cloves garlic, minced (We used more garlic always but whatever flavor you prefer.)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh Italian parsley (optional)
- 1-2 inches ginger, peeled and minced (optional)
- 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
- Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, for finishing
- Young watercress leaves, for garnish
- To make the ravioli dough, mix the flour and salt in a bowl. Create a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the eggs and olive oil. Beat the eggs with a fork, slowly bringing the flour in to the mixture. When the mixture can hold together on its own, clean as much as possible off the fork and switch to your hands. Fold and knead the dough, forming a single mass. I find driving the heel of my hand into the dough, flipping it 90 degrees and repeating is the best rhythm for me. You will want to knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes or until the dough stops changing appearance and texture. It should feel like Play-Doh. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for at least 30 minutes. (See the tips and tricks that have worked for me in the post above.)
- While the dough rests, you can begin making the filling. Simply chop the cheese into large chunks, removing the rind, and place into a food processor. Add the cream and puree. It will be very thick. Refrigerate until you are just ready to stuff the pasta.
- Next roll out the pasta dough using a pasta machine. (Again, see tips and tricks that have worked for me in the post above.) I like to make sheets that are twice as long as the ravioli mold so you can easily place one side down, add the filling, and fold the other half over the top of the dough. Use a rolling pin to seal the mold and create your ravioli! I like to lightly flour my finished pasta pieces and keep them on a baking sheet covered with a kitchen towel while I make the sauce.
- Finally! The sauce. Clean the mushrooms and cut into 1/2-inch pieces. You don't have to be exact as we are just looking for them to be similar in size so they cook evenly.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Heat a large saute pan over high heat (medium-high if you have stainless steel pans). Add 2 tablespoons of the butter and heat until it sizzles. Add the mushrooms, garlic, spring onions, and ginger to the pan. Add 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. (The slat helps the mushrooms and onions to sweat without browning.)
- Continue to cook, string constantly, until the mixture is fragrant and the mushrooms have begun to brown.
- Drop the pasta into the boiling water.
- Add 1 cup of pasta water and the remaining butter to the pan of mushrooms and swirl vigorously to create an emulsion. Once the pasta is about 80% done (about 2 minutes) add it to the pan. Add the thyme and parsley, continuing to swirl to maintain the emulsion. When the sauce begins to coat the pasta, about 2 more minutes, remove from head, add the sherry vinegar, and stir to combine.
- To serve, divide the pasta and sauce between 3-4 plates and garnish with Parmigiano-Reggiano and watercress leaves.
