Sam's Place: Homemade pasta recipe

Showing posts with label Homemade pasta recipe. Show all posts

Easy Homemade Ravioli Recipe

When it comes to Italian food there is nothing like this easy homemade ravioli recipe. Ravioli are so versatile because there are so many options for the filling.

We happened to be visiting Sammy and as luck would have it he was in the process of making ravioli. This was a great opportunity to capture the process and post it.

The filling that Sammy had ready was ricotta cheese, sausage, and spinach. This is one of the many fillings you can use for ravioli.

Filling with ricotta cheese, sausage, and spinach:

1 lb. (16 oz.) ricotta cheese
1/2 lb. Italian bulk sausage (cooked, crumbled and cooled)
1 egg
2 cups chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)
1 clove minced garlic (Optional)
salt and pepper to taste

In a small frying pan cook the sausage. Break it up as fine as possible while cooking. Let the sausage cool before mixing with the ricotta cheese.

Mix the ricotta cheese, spinach, garlic, egg, and salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Now add the cooled sausage and mix well. Cover and refrigerate while you make the dough.

The Dough:

4 cups all-purpose flour (more if needed)
4 eggs
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt

We use our KitchenAid Stand Mixer for this. Add the flour, olive oil, and salt into the mixing bowl. Add one egg at a time mixing on low speed. Do this until a ball of dough forms, then knead it by hand on a floured surface. Let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

If you don't have a stand mixer you can mix the dough by hand. Mound the flour onto a clean surface. Use your fingers starting in the middle of the mound to create a well. Add your eggs, oil, and salt to the middle and work in the flour. Knead by hand until the dough is formed.

Tip: If the dough is too dry add a teaspoon of water or more as needed. Or, if the dough is too wet add a little more flour.

Getting ready to roll the dough. Cut the dough into four equal sections. I know, here you only see three that's because Sammy has one in the roller.

Easy Homemade Ravioli Recipe: Rolling the Dough

Using the pasta attachment for the KitchenAid. Take one section and begin on a wider setting running the dough through. Then, move the dial to thinner settings and then to the thinnest setting. Make sure you don't have any tears or holes in the dough.

Again if you don't have a KitchenAid or a pasta machine get out the rolling pin. Take one section of dough and on a floured surface roll into a circle as thin as you can without holes or tears in the dough. Cut about 4-inch strips.

Lay the strip of dough on a floured surface and cut it in half. Sammy used a 1-1/2 tablespoon scooper to place the filling onto the dough. With two fingers, Sammy spreads a little water on both halves of the dough. The water helps stick the dough together.

Place the second half of the dough over the filling. Lightly press around the filling to form the ravioli.

Now Sammy centers this handy ravioli cutter over the filling and firmly presses to cut out the ravioli. Tip: If you don't have one of these handy cutters just use a mason jar you'll have the same tasty ravioli only it will be round.

After cutting the ravioli carefully pull the extra dough away. Roll out the extra dough into another strip and make more.

Sammy yielded about 30 delicious ravioli from this recipe.

As I said, in the beginning, there are so many options for ravioli fillings here is our typical ricotta cheese filling recipe.

Ricotta Cheese Filling:

1 lb. ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons parsley
1 clove garlic minced (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Here is a link for 20 more ravioli-filling ideas

You might also like this easy to make Marinara Sauce

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy

Some Handy tools for making Easy Homemade Ravioli

Imperia Pasta Maker Machine - Heavy Duty Steel Construction w Easy Lock Dial and Wood Grip Handle- Model 150 Made in Italy

KitchenAid KSMPRA Stand Mixer Attachment Pasta Roller & Cutter, 3-Piece Set, Stainless Steel

Zoie + Chloe Ravioli Maker Cutter Stamp 2-Set - Round & Square Shape Mold - Large Size Aluminum Press with Natural Beechwood Handle

OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop,Black/Silver

Why I Love My KitchenAid Stand Mixer

In today’s busy world we need all the help we can muster, especially in the kitchen. My KitchenAid is a real time saver for me.

I have a passion for making homemade pizza, bread, and homemade pasta. My mixer makes short work of the dough for any of these.

Just add the ingredients attach the dough hook and turn it on. I have a nice batch of fresh dough for my homemade pizza in about 5 minutes.

There is nothing like the smell of homemade baked goods coming from the oven. What did you say? You like homemade cookies; well this mixer will help cut the time to mix your favorite cookie dough or batter.

With the time you save you could be helping the kids with their homework, or talking with a friend on phone. I love oatmeal raisin cookies, and mixing up a batch in the KitchenAid is really easy.

Here is my quick and easy pizza dough recipe:

5 1/2 to 6 cups of all-purpose flour
2 package of dry yeast
3 tablespoons of oil or Crisco
1 teaspoon of salt
2 1/4 cups of warm water

All I have to do now is put all of these ingredients into my Kitchen Aid bowl, attach the dough hook and turn it on. In about 3 minutes I have enough dough to make 2 fresh homemade pizzas.

Get the recipe for homemade pizza here

Some Features of My Mixer

I have the one pictured it's the 6-quart Professional Mixer, and it comes with a Flat Beater, Wire Wisk, and A Dough Hook. You'll find that these tools are able to take on many tasks to assist you in the kitchen.

Here is a fresh batch of dough for my homemade Cavatelli.

Get the recipe here for homemade Cavatelli.

A video of the many attachments and their uses

As always Thanks for stopping by and enjoy.

KitchenAid RRK150BK 5 Qt. Artisan Series Stand Mixer - Imperial Black (Renewed)KitchenAid NEW 7 Quart Bowl Lift Stand Mixer with Double Flex Edge Beater KSM70SK, Empire Red

Homemade Cavatelli

This homemade cavatelli pasta recipe has been in our family for years; I swear every time we make them they get better.

The homemade cavatelli dough is really easy to make and we enjoy spending a little extra time to have something homemade.

If you like pasta you're going to love cavatelli. There is always something special about fresh homemade pasta.

You may not know what cavatelli are. So let me explain right from Wikipedia. Cavatelli is a type of pasta. The most common meaning is small pasta shells that look like miniature hot dog buns.

Homemade Cavatelli Recipe Ingredients:

Ricotta Cheese

All-Purpose Flour

Salt

Egg

You can use the whole ricotta cheese but we prefer to use the part skim.

Here is the Recipe for homemade cavatelli:

2 1/2 to 3-Cups of flour
1-pound of ricotta cheese (You buy ricotta in 15 oz. containers) this is okay
1-Egg
1-Tsp of salt

Combine all ingredients in the bowl, set your KitchenAid on the lowest speed and let it work until the dough binds together.

You'll probably have to take it out of the bowl and work it with your hands until it's smooth.
If you don't have a KitchenAid stand mixer that's okay.

You really don't need one. You just have to mix the dough with your hands. Just work the dough until it all comes together and it's smooth and forms a ball. Don't forget to wash your hands first!

Here you see the dough formed into a ball.
This recipe yields 2 lbs. and we call this one batch of cavatelli. I don't know why but that's what we call it.

Now cover this with a bowl and let it rest for about 1/2 hour. While you’re waiting you could mix up the second batch.

Now you'll want to spread some flour out onto a cutting board or your counter. Form the dough into one large log, as you see in the picture.

Then cut 1/2" slices which you will then roll into smaller 1/2" logs. Roll them in the flour because you don't want the dough to be wet.

As you can see in the picture here, I have made three batches. We like to make cavatelli for some family events.

Attach the cavatelli machine to your counter. Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper and spread some flour over it.

Start feeding the logs and crank out those little beauties onto a floured cookie sheet.
Keep adding some flour to the rollers of the machine so they don't stick.

If adding flour doesn't prevent them from sticking, just let the logs set a while, as they are too wet.

Pictured here is our grandson Bobby cranking out the cavatelli. He was 7 years old in this picture and he is the greatest helper.

My grandmother used to make these without a machine; she would cut the logs and sort of flip them with two fingers. I never could master that so I opted for the machine, it is much faster.