Do something special for Valentine’s Day! We tend to stay home vs. going out to a restaurant. Fresh pasta is relatively easy and each year I make these for our family Valentine’s Day dinner.
This Four Cheese Ravioli recipe is dated 2/10/2010 from Annie’s Eats, a food blog. She has since changed her blog name to Everyday Annie and has expanded to a food, fashion, lifestyle and travel blog.
First, I make the cheese filling (you can also use any cheese combination you like). The basic egg pasta is made with eggs, water, olive oil, flour and salt.
After combining the ingredients in a stand mixer with a paddle, you then knead the dough for 1-2 minutes by hand.
After the dough rests for 20 minutes, you flatten it with a rolling pin so it will fit into a pasta sheet roller. I have one from KitchenAid that attaches to the front of my mixer. If you don’t have a pasta sheet roller, then you can do it the old fashioned way~~with a rolling pin.
The goal is to get the dough smooth and supple. By passing it through the rollers (starting at #1, the widest setting), you continue folding and inserting into the roller until you reach the desired thickness (I went up to #4). See how the dough changes.
I have a variety of heart-shaped cookie cutters. For this recipe I selected the red one, which is 3″ in diameter. Annie’s recipe doesn’t specify a size so I guessed on this.
Next, I cut hearts out of the long length of pasta.
The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of filling, but I would guess that my hearts had 1 teaspoon of filling (therefore I wonder if a 5″ diameter heart would have been better?)
Dip a finger in water and lightly brush around the edges of the heart topped with filling. Place one of the remaining pasta hearts on top and press edges together to seal. Make sure to press out any excess air.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the ravioli until al dente, about 5 minutes.
Serve in warmed bowls with marinara sauce (or any sauce of your choice).
Also, if you live in Phoenix and don’t have the Pasta attachment for your KitchenAid, just let me know and I’m happy to lend it to you.
Bon appetit!
Pottery Barn Emma bowl, Wallace Napoleon Bee flatware, Ballard Design napkin
Here is the recipe for Heart-Shaped Four Cheese Ravioli.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- 1/2 cup shredded fontina
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan
- 1 clove garlic, finely minced
- 1/4 tsp. dried oregano
- 1/4 tsp. dried basil
- 1/4 tsp. dried parsley
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 batch fresh homemade pasta
- Marinara sauce, for serving
- 4 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp. water, plus more as needed
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- 3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp. salt
Instructions
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine ricotta, mozzarella, fontina, parmesan, garlic and spices.
- Mix well to blend.
- Roll out homemade pasta into long, thin sheets.
- To make heart-shaped ravioli, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out pasta shapes.
- Place about 2 teaspoons of filling in the middle of half of the heart shapes, leaving a clear edge around the perimeter.
- Dip a finger in water and lightly brush around the edges of a heart topped with filling.
- Place one of the remaining pasta hearts on top and press the edges together to seal around filling.
- Be careful to press out any excess air.
- Repeat with the remaining dough shapes.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
- Cook the ravioli until al dente, about 5 minutes.
- Serve in warmed bowls with marinara sauce.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine eggs, 1 T water, olive oil and flour.
- If the mixture is not coming together, add more water, 1 T at a time just until the dough is formed.
- Remove the dough from the mixer and transfer it to a work surface.
- Knead 1-2 minutes by hand.
- Cover with a clean towel and let it rest for 20 minutes before proceeding.
- Divide the dough into four equal pieces.
- Flatten each piece with a rolling pin until it is flat enough to go through the pasta sheet roller at its widest setting.
- Remove the sheet from the roller and lay it on the work surface lengthwise.
- Bring both outside edges into the middle, folding the sheet into thirds.
- Flatten with the rolling pin until flat enough to go through the sheet roller on widest setting again.
- Remove the sheet from the roller and lay it on the work surface lengthwise once again.
- Fold the sheet into thirds as before, flatten with the rolling pin and pass through the roller once again.
- Continue this pattern until the dough is smooth and supple, approximately 6 times.
- Pass the dough through the pasta sheet roller at narrowing widths (folding is no longer necessary), narrowing it one setting at a time until the dough has reached the thinness you desire.
- If the sheet becomes too unwieldy, simply cut it in half and work each half individually.
- Set the sheet aside, cover with a towel and repeat the entire process with the three remaining segments of dough.
Gabie - Tea End Blog says
My husband and I don’t celebrate Valentines Day but my favorite shape is the heart…so when the holiday rolls around I keep on the look-out for heart shaped items that are otherwise hard to come by! I love this Recipe because I love anything hearts!!!
I have an older friend who recently had surgery on her second hip. When I went to visit her during her recovery we would always talk about me buying the attachment to my Kitchen Aid so that we can make fresh home-made pasta at her place and make it like a “girls thing”! You have reminded me to hit her up again to re-propose the ‘pasta party’ lol…and now I know what shape of pasta we will make!!
Thank you very much for sharing! The Recipe looks absolutely delicious!