Lemon Ricotta Ravioli & Raviolo Al Uovo

I love homemade ravioli. Firstly, you can make the dough really thin, which is something you don't get with the store bought stuff because it would just be too delicate and fall apart. Secondly, you can control exactly what goes in the filling and there are no preservatives or mystery ingredients involved. Lastly, I think it's a lot of fun to make and the reward is most certainly worth the effort.

Ingredients [serves 4]:
½ batch pasta dough
1 cup lemon ricotta
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 clove garlic, minced
3 sage leaves, finely chopped
½ cup grated asiago
1 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons butter

If you are ambitious, make your own ricotta. It has a better texture, a better taste, and it's preservative-free. If you don't want to make your own lemon ricotta, add some lemon zest to a container of ricotta and if it seems wet, scoop it out onto some cheesecloth and let it drain for a few minutes to thicken it up.

Season the ricotta with garlic, sage, cheese, and black pepper and stir in an egg.

Make the pasta dough and then set aside for a few hours to relax the gluten.

Scoop the ricotta into a piping bag.

Roll out the pasta dough nice and thin - to a 7 or 8 on the pasta maker - and start making some ravioli.

Pipe some ricotta along the edge of the dough, brush on some egg white, fold over, and seal the ravioli. As you're sealing the ravioli, make sure to press out any air.

To make the raviolo al uovo, grab some larger pieces of dough, pipe a ring of ricotta, nestle a yolk inside the ring, and gently seal the pasta with egg white, and handle them v. gently. I recommend one raviolo al uovo per person.

 Cook the pasta in salted boiling water. You'll know they're done when they're floating.

Heat a skillet with some butter and add in a scoop of the pasta cooking water. Toss the ravioli in the butter.

To cook the egg yolk pasta, gently poach them in simmering water for three to four minutes. You don't want these guys to burst and you don't want to overcook them; the yolk needs to be runny.

Plate up the pasta and garnish with lots of cheese.

We enjoyed our ravioli with some spicy Italian sausage and a bright arugula salad.

The ravioli are so bright and fresh (thanks to the lemon) and cheesy and the pasta dough is lovely and tender. I love the unctuous, velvety texture of the raviolo al uovo. You really only need one because it's so rich.

Here's the recipe page: