There are two parts to this particular recipe. First of all you have the pasta, which you’ll end up with far more than most normal households can eat for dinner. So feel free to freeze the extras. The pan sauce is designed for two people. In truth there are no real measurements on the ingredients, what is below is a rough approximation. But saying a “pinch” of everything leaves you wondering if maybe there should be more shallots than peppers. The honest answer is it should be whatever you like, but ratios certainly help. The shallot to pepper ratio should hover near 1:2, same as the wine to cream ratio. But if you don’t want to have so much cream feel free to just add a dash to bring the sauce together.
What’s below is what I served along with a grilled swordfish at the restaurant, but I always feel when following a recipe I want to eat what I like. Try it as ordered here the first time around, then play with the ratios to find what you enjoy the most.
Ingredients
Ravioli
1 recipe basic pasta dough
2 cups cranberries
1 whole clove
8 oz impastata cheese (or ricotta set to drain in cheesecloth for 4 hours)
Salt and pepper
1 shallot, finely diced
½ red bell pepper (roasted, seeded and peeled) cut into long strips
Small pinch of chopped garlic
2 oz white wine
4 oz heavy cream
Salt and pepper
Arugula
Thinly shaved fennel bulb (optional)
Lemon vinaigrette (optional, lemon juice, honey and olive oil)
Make your pasta dough. If you have a favorite dough recipe, go ahead and use that. I make about 4 lbs of dough at a time with a simple recipe. 4lbs 12 oz duram flour, 1 tbsp salt, 2 ½ cups pasteurized egg. Mix it all up in a mixer, and add a little cold water as needed until the dough comes together. Pasta dough should not be sticky to the touch, but it also shouldn’t be brittle and dry. You’re looking for a consistency similar to that of silly puddy. Personally I let the mixer do the heavy kneading for 15-20 minutes. If this is your first attempt at fresh pasta dough the thing to remember is if you think you’ve run it through the pasta roller enough to work the dough…you most likely haven’t. When your dough is mixed and kneaded wrap it in plastic wrap and set aside.
Cook the cranberries and whole clove in a small sauce pot over medium heat until the cranberries just start to burst. You want to still have pieces of cranberry in your filling, or at least I do. Do your best to pick out the whole clove, and if you can’t just devise some sort of reward for “finding” the present in your ravioli. Mix the cooked cranberries and cheese together until well blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Roll out the pasta dough to the second to last setting on the roller…and now make a decision on what kind of pasta you’ll make. You could do mezzalune (half moons), 3 in round ravioli, square ravioli, or even agnolotti. I wouldn’t recommend tortellini for this application, but if you must do so go right ahead. If doing mezzalune a teaspoon of filling each should be enough, but for larger ravioli’s a scant tablespoon will likely be the right amount. You should get enough ravioli’s from this recipe to make 15-20 servings. Freeze what you’re not going to use by laying the ravioli on a sheet tray lined with parchment and sprinkled with corn meal. Once frozen pack away in a freezer bag.
Place enough ravioli for two people into a pot of salted boiling water. While ravioli is cooking, in a very hot pan add a tbsp of olive oil along with the shallot and roasted pepper. Cook a minute or two until the shallot starts to turn dark, then add in the garlic. Remove the pan from the heat (for your safety, so please don’t forget to do this) and deglaze with the white wine. Cook for about 30 seconds, and then add in the heavy cream. Season with salt and pepper and reduce mixture by nearly half. Toss ravioli into pan sauce and finish cooking for about 30 seconds.
Serve with a little arugula on top, or even a shaved fennel and arugula salad dressed with lemon vinaigrette.
