This easy 'how to make ravioli' guide makes fresh, filled pasta simple thanks to expert advice from celebrity chef Theo Randall.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Hello my name is Theo Randall from Theo Randall at the Intercontinental. Today
00:03I'm going to show you how to make ravioli.
00:10So first of all we're going to start with the filling. So the filling we have some spinach.
00:14Now you can do anything you want. You could use broccoli, you could use the classic chimo d'arrape
00:19which is the turnip tops, you could use Swiss chard. Anything kind of green and slightly robust
00:24that you can cook, blanch and then finely chop and mix in some ricotta and some parmesan cheese.
00:30So we've just got spinach here, so I've left the stalks on the spinach, so it's got a nice texture to it.
00:34Then I'm just going to finely chop the blanched spinach which I've squeezed out. Now it's important
00:38that you take out a lot of the water because if it's too wet the mixture will be too wet which will
00:44make the pasta soggy. So it's really important to make sure that you squeezed it out. Now I find if
00:51you blanch the spinach and you then put it into a colander and let it cool down to room temperature
00:56it's much better flavour than by putting it into ice cold water because when you put in ice cold water
01:01it dilutes the flavour. So it takes a little bit longer but you get a much nicer result.
01:06So finely chop the spinach so it's really fine. You can leave a little bit of texture in there but
01:11it's quite nice if it's nicely finely chopped. And then we're going to add some ricotta cheese and
01:16we're going to add some parmesan and some salt and pepper. So very very simple filling. Okay so we put
01:22the chopped spinach into a bowl then we're going to add our ricotta cheese so just lovely fresh ricotta
01:30mix that in together with the spinach and then we're going to add some parmesan, a nice amount of
01:39freshly grated parmesan cheese, some salt and pepper, freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.
01:47Make sure it's quite well seasoned because it's going to be blanched in the pasta so the filling
01:52has to be really quite strong. Just mix the spinach and the ricotta and the parmesan using a teaspoon
01:58we're going to put the filling. Now the temptation is to make a really large balls of filling make them
02:04very very quite smallish because if they're too big when you push the pasta together it's all going to
02:08come out the side so it's very important one there's a gap and two it's very very clean in between
02:12each ravioli otherwise what will happen is the filling will get stuck in between the two sheets
02:17of pasta so when it cooks it will open up. Now if you're doing this on a larger scale or professional
02:22level you can use a piping bag but I'm just using a teaspoon because we are cooking at home. Portions of
02:28filling with a decent gap and take at least two fingers in between each each gap. Then what we're going
02:33do we're just going to get some water and we're going to run some cold water over each part of the
02:39pasta dough so basically acts like a sealant so like almost like a glue. So just some water just
02:45cold water pastry brush then rub that in between not too much don't make it too wet but just enough so
02:50it gives a bit of moisture and then along the bottom of each bit of pasta and then we just fold the
02:56pasta over just fold this over the top pasta's just nice slightly moist because I put that tea towel on top
03:02which kept it nice and juicy if you don't do that what will happen is when you fold it over the pasta
03:06will break and crack and that is a disaster. So fold this over push down sort of pushing it almost
03:13towards you but making sure that that bit of dough is not sticking to the other piece of dough yet and
03:19then using your two little fingers just push down and what we're trying to do now is get rid of all of
03:24the air there's no air in between the little pasta parcel because if there's air and you pop it into the
03:32water what will happen is the air will expand and explode you'll end up with some horrible ravioli
03:38that's all sealed and then using the cup of your hand over the ravioli and push down and that will
03:43release all of the air so push down and then just keep pushing down so all that air comes out
03:49and you end up with lovely sealed raviolis. Again this as well and then we're going to get our cutter
03:54and cut the ravioli. Now if you've got on the zigzag one even better but I've just got a straight
03:59sided one here and then just cut along make sure that you've got those bits of pasta sealed nicely
04:04this side as well getting rid of the little trimmings of pasta and then just cut the pasta
04:09and take off the surface and then once you've done that just go through the ravioli and make sure
04:14that all the edges are sealed by literally picking up each one and then just press so it's all sealed
04:20it's definitely worth doing this because if you don't then you might get a little hole in there.
04:23A little bit of semiline flour on the bottom just to make sure it doesn't stick and then we're actually going to
04:27put this onto a tray and pop it in the fridge. Now the temptation with anything goes in the fridge
04:32is to cover it with cling film. If you cover it with cling film what will happen is the pasta will
04:37remain really soggy you want the pasta almost dry out and the fridge is brilliant because it'll
04:41evaporate the moisture. Squeezing each edge and making sure that filling is nice and tight inside
04:47and then once you've done that put it straight in the fridge.
04:51Okay so the pasta has been in the fridge for about 20 minutes so it's got a slight dryness to it so
04:59that when you cook it will have a lovely al dente bite. Now if you have any leftover bits of pasta
05:03like here the best thing to do is just scrunch them up and then put them through the pasta machine again
05:08and make some tagliatelle or tagliarini. If they're a bit dry put them in the food processor with a little
05:13bit of water and then just give it a quick blitz and then wrap it in cling film and use it another time.
05:17But a good kitchen is a frugal kitchen so use up every scrap of pasta you have left over.
05:22I'm going to now cook the ravioli.
05:27So just put the ravioli in one by one in simmering water not fast boil just simmering water for three
05:33to four minutes and then take the pasta out and put them into a pan with some butter and some sage
05:38and a ladle of the pasta water. Move the pasta and the pan together so it emulsifies. So the ravioli is
05:44really nice and emulsified it's got the lovely kind of juice from the pasta water and the butter
05:50and the sage so we're just going to plate up nice generous large ravioli so that sage just the sage
05:57is just soft it's not fried it's just kind of soft and it has a nice lovely sort of flavor to it it's
06:01really made the buttery sauce it goes with it and then serve with some parmesan cheese and some black pepper.
06:08Very simple, very delicious ravioli.