Home-made pasta is one of the most delicious and versatile things in the world: every year when spring comes around I start making fresh pasta 2 to 3 times a week, ravioli is my absolute favourite because you can literally fill them with any seasonal vegetable and/or cheese you have on hands. These ravioli are colourful and healthy: they are filled with a simple potato-based goat cheese filling and topped with brown butter and kale. The recipe looks very long but it’s actually very easy, the only tricky part is the home-made pasta, which it’s fun to make with friends or kids. I really advise to use a pasta machine to roll out the dough, however if you don’t have one you can also try using a rolling pin, but I should warn you, it’s hard work. Of course, you can experiment with different vegetables and cheeses if you wish to, I will go go asparagus as soon as they come around.
Kale & goat cheese ravioli (serves 3 to 4)
For the filling
Ingredients
- 2 medium potatoes
- 8-10 medium leaves kale
- 6 oz. goat cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Boil the potatoes and kale until soft (you can cook them together and remove the kale when it’s done)
- Meanwhile cut the goat cheese into small cubes
- Peel the skin off the cooked potatoes and smash them with a fork in a medium bowl.
- Add the goat cheese and keep smashing with a fork until almost smooth (you should still be able to see some chunks of goat cheese)
- Chop the cooked kale into small strips and add ¾ of it to the filling (set the rest aside for the topping)
- Stir everything together, salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool completely
For the pasta
Ingredients
- 9 oz. all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs +1 egg yolk (reserve the egg white)
- 1 pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place the flour and salt on a floured surface and make a well in the centre, whisk the eggs in a smaller bowl
- Pour the eggs over the flour, start incorporating the eggs into the flour with a fork then work the dough with floured hands until smooth. (You can add a few drops of water if the dough looks dry or some flour if it feels too soft, you are looking for an elastic smooth dough)
- Make a bowl with the dough and cover with cling film. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes.
- Set your pasta machine to the narrowest setting (if you notice that your dough starts to break apart you might need to start from a wider setting and work it down from there). Cut the dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece out with the pasta machine and place each strip of pasta on a floured surface.
- Place 1 teaspoons of filling on half (3) on the pasta strips (leave 1 inch between every teaspoon and half and inch from the edge)
- Brush the edges with the reserved egg white
- Cover with another strip of pasta, pressing down the edges and onto each side of the filling
- Using a sharp knife, trim the edges of the pasta and cut out the ravioli
- Alternatively, cut out rounds of pasta using a cookie cutter and place a teaspoon of filling onto half of the rounds, brush the edges with egg white and cover with another round. Press down the edges around the filling
- Place the finished ravioli on a plate (or surface) covered with parchment paper (cover in film and refrigerate if you are not cooking them right away)
- Boil a large volume of salted water
- Cook the ravioli for 2-3 minutes before draining them.
Toppings
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter
- Chopped kale (the ¼ you kept from the filling)
- Grated parmesan
- Chopped walnuts or pistachios
Instructions
- Cook the butter over medium heat until it looks brown (ish) and smells heavenly like hazelnut
- Add in the kale and stir
- Pour over the cooked ravioli
- Top with grated parmesan and nuts
Enjoy!
What do you think?