The CookingBites Cookalong: Ravioli

Ken Natton said:
Nope. Me and ravioli are just not very easy bedfellows.

Okay here’s the story. Tonight, circumstances left me cooking tea just for myself. So I had to grab the opportunity. Not just to make ravioli, but to make ravioli with a seafood filling. So I bought some crabmeat. Yeah, don’t give me a hard time, buying an actual crab and preparing it was never an option. In any case, I made some pasta with my newfound confidence after the mushroom tagliatelle, and I formed five ravioli, filled with crabmeat mixed with chopped little gem lettuce, seasoned and with a little lemon juice. And then it all started to go wrong. Of five ravioli, only three actually made it to the pot, and after cooking, only one was even close to being worth serving. And an awful lot of expensive crabmeat was wasted. The one I actually eat was lovely. Shame it wasn’t five.
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I love your honesty! What do you think went wrong?
 
morning glory said:
I love your honesty! What do you think went wrong?
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Well, it is interesting. The making of the pasta didn’t just go quite as well as it did with the mushroom pasta. And I have to think – maybe there is some significance. You and others have spoken about semolina giving something to the pasta that it doesn’t have without it. And maybe, just maybe, the mushroom in the pasta gave it a substance that helped it to form much better. I honestly don’t know.

But though the pasta itself somehow wasn’t as good, it wasn’t yet a disaster at that point. Instead of cutting the pasta strips into squares, as ‘The Late demonstrated, I went for the technique of laying my little piles of crabmeat mix along the base layer at regular intervals, and then laying the second long strip of pasta over the lot. I had egg washed both strips beforehand. Then I used a pastry cutter to cut each individual circular raviolo. Now already, I wasn’t entirely happy with how the top layer was sticking to the bottom layer. But it was when I tried to pick up the individual ravioli from the surface that it really started to go wrong. The bottom layer stuck to the surface and by the time I had all of them up, only three were salvageable. But then another two didn’t just leak, they broke apart so badly in the cooking water as to be worthless. The one I did eat wasn’t perfect, but it was okay. I did do a caramelised onion in butter sauce to go over it, and the result was very nice. But the experience of eating It was tinged with regret.
 
Ken Natton said:
Well, it is interesting. The making of the pasta didn’t just go quite as well as it did with the mushroom pasta. And I have to think – maybe there is some significance. You and others have spoken about semolina giving something to the pasta that it doesn’t have without it. And maybe, just maybe, the mushroom in the pasta gave it a substance that helped it to form much better. I honestly don’t know.

But though the pasta itself somehow wasn’t as good, it wasn’t yet a disaster at that point. Instead of cutting the pasta strips into squares, as ‘The Late demonstrated, I went for the technique of laying my little piles of crabmeat mix along the base layer at regular intervals, and then laying the second long strip of pasta over the lot. I had egg washed both strips beforehand. Then I used a pastry cutter to cut each individual circular raviolo. Now already, I wasn’t entirely happy with how the top layer was sticking to the bottom layer. But it was when I tried to pick up the individual ravioli from the surface that it really started to go wrong. The bottom layer stuck to the surface and by the time I had all of them up, only three were salvageable. But then another two didn’t just leak, they broke apart so badly in the cooking water as to be worthless. The one I did eat wasn’t perfect, but it was okay. I did do a caramelised onion in butter sauce to go over it, and the result was very nice. But the experience of eating It was tinged with regret.
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Oh dear! I am not the expert here at all. Calling on @The Late Night Gourmet and @MypinchofItaly to advise.
 
patriziamariapia said:
I've just discovered it in wordreference. I'm glad you are from Milan, I'm writing in english because I'm studying it and I have to practice. (Maybe with many mistakes.)
Anyway I absolutely don't use stock :) Where do you live in Milan?
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MypinchofItaly said:
I make a lot of mistakes in English here too :happy:...CB members have a lot of patience with my English! It's a good thing to have practice, ottimo, anche per me è un po' così..
I don't live anymore in Milano since few months..now I live in Saronno (a lot of amaretti biscuits :laugh:, I like it very much. And where do you live in Milano?
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I just want to say your English is a million times better than my Italian.
I can say pizza and lasagna.
 
MypinchofItaly said:
I make a lot of mistakes in English here too :happy:...CB members have a lot of patience with my English! It's a good thing to have practice, ottimo, anche per me è un po' così..
I don't live anymore in Milano since few months..now I live in Saronno (a lot of amaretti biscuits :laugh:, I like it very much. And where do you live in Milano?
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Hi MypinchofItaly I'm from Baranzate..it's the town near Ospedale Sacco. Do you know it? I'm sure yes
 
Ken Natton said:
Well, it is interesting. The making of the pasta didn’t just go quite as well as it did with the mushroom pasta. And I have to think – maybe there is some significance. You and others have spoken about semolina giving something to the pasta that it doesn’t have without it. And maybe, just maybe, the mushroom in the pasta gave it a substance that helped it to form much better. I honestly don’t know.

But though the pasta itself somehow wasn’t as good, it wasn’t yet a disaster at that point. Instead of cutting the pasta strips into squares, as ‘The Late demonstrated, I went for the technique of laying my little piles of crabmeat mix along the base layer at regular intervals, and then laying the second long strip of pasta over the lot. I had egg washed both strips beforehand. Then I used a pastry cutter to cut each individual circular raviolo. Now already, I wasn’t entirely happy with how the top layer was sticking to the bottom layer. But it was when I tried to pick up the individual ravioli from the surface that it really started to go wrong. The bottom layer stuck to the surface and by the time I had all of them up, only three were salvageable. But then another two didn’t just leak, they broke apart so badly in the cooking water as to be worthless. The one I did eat wasn’t perfect, but it was okay. I did do a caramelised onion in butter sauce to go over it, and the result was very nice. But the experience of eating It was tinged with regret.
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I've never tried the method of laying one sheet over another although I have seen chefs do it and Gennaro uses that method in the recipe above. I think it might be easier to control the sticking if the squares or circles are cut first. But as I said, I'm no expert! If it stuck to the surface it sounds like either the pasta was too 'wet' or the surface wasn't floured enough (or both). Although, having said that, my memory is that I don't really use much flour/semolina on the surface when making pasta. Its a shame that you wasted the crabmeat - I think I might try using a cheaper filling!
 
I found this description from Ottolenghi. He is leaving the ravioli in the fridge for a day or two (no explanation as to why).

Use a fork to crush all the filling ingredients together, apart from the egg white. Use a pastry cutter (or rim of a glass) to stamp out pasta circles roughly 7cm in diameter. Brush each with egg white and place a heaped teaspoon of filling in its centre. Place another disc on top and, with fingers dipped in flour, squeeze out any air as you bring the edges of the discs together. You should end up with a pillow-shaped centre surrounded by a 1cm edge. Tighten the edges until you can't see a seam. Repeat with the rest of the dough, place the ravioli on a tray sprinkled with semolina, and leave to dry for 15 minutes. Cover with clingfilm and refrigerate for a day or two.
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https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/may/03/foodanddrink.recipe1
 
morning glory said:
I found this description from Ottolenghi. He is leaving the ravioli in the fridge for a day or two (no explanation as to why).
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Actually, you might be on to it there. I mean yes flour the surface, but I though I had done - maybe not enough. But I think the key might be not to try forming the ravioli too soon. Give it time to dry first. I think I left it too long from my first disaster before trying again and repeated a lot of the same mistakes. I need to try again while it is all fresh in my mind. But yes, start with a less expensive filling. I just felt the need to make the most of the opportunity that had presented itself.
 
Make fresh pasta is easy. It need only 1 egg and 100 gr flour 00 (for one person)....or 2 eggs and 200 gr flour 00 (for 2 people)...ect..
no water no semolina ..nothing else.. work the dough with hands for many time..it must become velvety.. use other flour with the rolling pin (non too much) in this way they won't break
 
Ken Natton said:
Actually, you might be on to it there. I mean yes flour the surface, but I though I had done - maybe not enough. But I think the key might be not to try forming the ravioli too soon. Give it time to dry first. I think I left it too long from my first disaster before trying again and repeated a lot of the same mistakes. I need to try again while it is all fresh in my mind. But yes, start with a less expensive filling. I just felt the need to make the most of the opportunity that had presented itself.
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I really don't know. I just made some! I haven't cooked the whole batch yet but I tested an individual one and it was fine! I used 50/50 flour and semolina and dusted the surface with semolina. I messed up on the first two I made (too much filling and I didn't get the knack). I rolled the dough by hand as it was a small quantity and then cut the squares, placed on the filling and egg-washed the edges. The knack is (for me) to place one egg-washed square on top of the square with the filling and lightly press the edges. Then use a palette knife to pick it up and put it in your hand. Then you can really seal those edges easily by pinching with your fingers until they are almost seamless.

Here are the photos so far. The dough is that lovely yellow colour due to The Black Farmer eggs. Filling is spinach, ricotta and lemon zest.

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