Recipe: Ravioli with Spinach and Goat Cheese

Makes | 4 servings (about 18 ravioli)

Cooking day | 2-3 hours   

I really like the vaguely psychedelic look of the streaky spinach running through this dough. However, if you prefer a more homogenous green colored pasta, you can puree the spinach with the eggs in a blender before combining it with the flour, instead of hand-chopping it. Just keep in mind this may make your dough a little softer, wetter, and stickier and you may need to add a little more flour as a result.

 

Ingredients

 2 tablespoons cooking oil
175 grams spinach leaves (approximately 1 bunch baby spinach with the fibrous stems removed)
290 grams (2 ¼ cups) 00 flour
5 eggs (2 whole large eggs, plus one egg yolk for the pasta dough, plus 2 yolks for filling, and 2 whole egg for sealing the ravioli)
1 dash extra virgin olive oil
salt, to taste
400 grams (14 ounces) fresh chevre
50 grams (½ cup + 2 tablespoons) coarse bread crumbs
50 grams (½ cup) grated parmesan
225 grams (approximately 2 cups) sugar snap peas
50 grams (3 ½ tablespoons) unsalted butter
50 grams (½ cup) chunk aged goat cheese
Fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

Tools
Pasta roller
Ring mold (one slightly larger than the other)
Plastic wrap
Rolling pin
 

Instructions:

Make the ravioli dough.

  1. Heat a skillet over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of cooking oil and briefly sauté the spinach. (Be sure there’s no excess water on the leaves to prevent a flare-up.) Remove the spinach from the pan and set aside to cool. 
  2. Once it’s cool enough to handle, squeeze out all the moisture. You should be left with a golf ball-sized mound of spinach weighing about 50 grams. Pass the spinach through a meat grinder or chop it roughly with a knife. 
  3. Combine the 00 flour and ½ teaspoon of salt in a mixing bowl. Make a well or indentation in the middle. Add 2 eggs and one yolk, the chopped spinach, and the olive oil to the well. Use a fork to scramble the liquid ingredients and slowly start to incorporate the flour until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass. Dump it out onto a work surface and knead it until it comes together in a smooth ball. Cover it with plastic film wrap and let it rest on the countertop for 30 minutes.
  4. After the pasta dough has rested for 30 minutes, divide it in half and roll each piece into a small ball. Rest the dough for another 30 minutes. While the pasta is resting, make your filling.
  5. Use a rolling pin to flatten one of the dough balls into an oval approximately ¼-inch thick. Open your pasta roller to the widest setting and pass the dough oval through two times. Close the rollers one setting and pass the dough through one time. 
  6. Fold the dough over into thirds so it becomes roughly square. Open the rollers up again to the widest setting, then pass the dough square through two times. Close the rollers one setting again and pass the dough through two times. 
  7. Dust the sheet with bench flour sparingly and only as needed. Continue in this manner until you’re at the thinnest setting. (The dough will become more sticky the thinner it gets, so you may need more bench flour later in the process.) 
  8. Fold your dough sheet (sfoglia) and cover it with a clean kitchen towel so it doesn’t dry out. Repeat the process with the other dough ball.

While the pasta dough is resting, prep your peas and make the filling.

  1. Prep your snap peas. Remove the fibrous thread that runs along the top and bottom seam of the snap peas. Start by carefully tearing away the corner of each pod and the stringy bit should pull away as well. Cut the snap peas on the bias into pieces ½-inch long.
  2. Combine the chevre, breadcrumbs, parmesan, and egg yolks in a mixing bowl and stir to combine. The consistency should be thick enough to hold its shape if you roll it into small balls, but not too stiff so that it cracks and breaks when you gently press those balls. You can adjust the consistency with breadcrumbs if the filling is too soft, or egg whites if it’s too thick.
  3. Roll the filling into 18 25-gram balls, roughly 1-inch diameter

 

Fill and cook the ravioli.

  1. Flour your work surface and lay out one sheet of pasta. 
  2. Place the balls of filling approximately 3-inches apart on half the dough sheet. 
  3. Whisk the last egg to make an egg wash and use a pastry brush to apply wash around each ball of filling. Fold the other half of the dough sheet over the filling. 
  4. Gently press down on the top sheet of pasta on top of each filling ball to flatten them slightly. 
  5. Curl your pinkie into a circle and use the heel of your hand to seal the raviolis as close to the filling as possible. Do your best to work out any air pockets. 
  6. Select a ring cutter with the exact diameter of the filling. Use the dull top edge of the ring cutter to seal and define the filled pocket of each ravioli. Use the sharper cutting edge of a slightly larger ring cutter to punch out each ravioli. 
  7. Bring a large pot of water to the boil. Season it liberally with water. It should taste like the sea. 
  8. Boil the ravioli and snap peas until the ravioli float and the snap peas are bright, vivid green. They should cook in the same amount of time, just a few minutes.
  9. Use two sauté pans to avoid crowding the pan (or else make two batches, one after the other), to make your butter glaze. Melt the butter with a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water. Add the ravioli and the snap peas and reduce the glaze over medium high heat until it thickens, approximately 2–3 minutes. Taste it and season with salt. Grate in a little of the aged goat cheese. 
  10. Garnish with big shavings of more goat cheese and black pepper and serve.