This past weekend we spent the entire weekend ALONE...with our dog Bailey of course! It was marvelous. We went grocery shopping, watched a movie, drank wine, went to bed early, and made homemade ravioli. We got a pasta making attachment for our Kitchen Aid mixer and finally used it. Today I’m going to share our Dill and Goat Cheese Ravioli with you.
Pasta Dough
Ingredients:
2 Cups of all-purpose flour
1/4 TSP salt
3 Large eggs at room temperature
*Makes 2 servings of ravioli
Instructions:
Here’s the easy peazy pasta dough recipe I used. Be sure that you give yourself enough time to prep and let the dough set for at least 45 minutes. In the meantime, start your ravioli filling.
Dill and Goat Cheese Ravioli Filling
Ingredients:
½ Cup finely chopped sweet onion
1-2 Cloves of chopped garlic
2 TBS fresh finely chopped dill
1 LB ground turkey
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 TSP salt
¼ TSP Black pepper
2 Cups chopped spinach
2 OZ goat cheese at room temperature
1 egg
1 TBS Olive oil
*Makes 2-4 servings
Instructions:
In a pan, add olive oil and heat. Sauté the onion and garlic until the onion is translucent. Add ground turkey and brown. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice and only 1 TBS of chopped dill. Add 2 cups of chopped spinach at the very end of the meat cooking. Once your meat is cooked through, remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl to let cool for 15-20 minutes. Add one egg, 2oz of goat cheese, and another TBS of chopped dill to your cooled filling. Mix until all ingredients are combined. This recipe will actually make a double batch of filling so you can double your pasta dough recipe and make a meal for four. Brian and I stored the remaining filing in the fridge and made an egg scramble the next morning for breakfast. We just added a couple more eggs. It was fantastic!
Now back to the pasta making…
Get a large pot of water on the stove. Add a couple TSP of salt. Cover and bring to a boil.
Your ball of pasta dough should be ready to go. If you notice that your dough is a little dry, add just a little bit of water. If it is too wet, add some flour.
Break your dough into four smaller balls and flatten like a pancake. Using your Kitchen Aid pasta attachment, run your dough through 4-5 times on setting one (just turn your actual mixer on to the first setting). Make sure it’s smooth and all the air bubbles are out. Do this with each of your dough balls. If you don’t have a Kitchen Aid, don’t worry you can still do this the old school way! Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball out. You will probably have to spend a little more time rolling to get the bubbles out, but at least you will get a workout in.
Next you’re going to do the exact same thing, but this time you’re going to use setting five on your Kitchen Aid pasta attachment. This is when you will actually make the pasta sheets. Again, you should have four separate flat pieces of dough so in the end four long rectangular pasta sheets. You may have to run each pasta sheet through two times depending on consistency. If you are using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into thin rectangular sheets.
I just want to be clear that my husband, Brian was completely in charge of pasta making. I wasn’t even allowed to touch it unless I was taking pictures. This is not difficult to do I promise! Brian is a very intelligent guy, but navigating a kitchen is usually not his thing, so you can do this!
Using a pizza cutter, cut your pasta sheets in 2x2in squares. Add a small spoonful of filling to your square, cover with another pasta square. Use a fork to secure the edges. Do this until all your ravioli is made.
Now we are going to get that pasta sauce going..
Dill and Red Pepper Cream Sauce
Ingredients:
½ Cup dry white wine
1 TBS fresh chopped dill
1 TSP chopped garlic
1 Cup unsweetened almond milk
TSP salt
¼ TSP black pepper
¼ TSP red pepper flakes
2 basil leafs whole
2 OZ goat cheese
Juice of ½ a lemon
1 Bunch of small carrots
Instructions:
Your water should be boiling by now. Toss your cleaned and peeled carrots into the boiling water for 4-5 minutes. Remove from water with a pasta skimmer and set aside. Don’t dump your boiling water you are going to need it for the ravioli.
In a pan, bring your white wine and garlic to a quick simmer. Combine dill, black pepper, salt, red pepper flakes, lemon juice, almond milk and goat cheese stir until the ingredients are a smooth consistency and the goat cheese is broken down. Add two basil leafs to the sauce (remove before serving.) Reduce heat to low to simmer. Be sure to watch your sauce and stir occasionally to avoid burning. We used almond milk because I have a dairy allergy. If you use heavy cream (which I would suggest and I'm very jealous about), be sure to only use an oz. of goat cheese instead of two.
In your boiling water, add all your handmade ravioli. Cook for 3-5minutes or until the ravioli is tender and floats to the top. Use a pasta skimmer to add the ravioli to your pan of sauce. After all your ravioli is added to your sauce pan, gently distribute sauce over all your pasta and add your carrots.
Garnish your pasta with a little dill, parsley and shaved parmesan. Serve with a yummy Riesling white wine.
This dish is a perfect summer pasta. It’s not super heavy, but still gives you that pasta fix. I know what you’re thinking, “Holy shit that’s a lot of work just to make some freggin ravioli!”
Believe me this isn’t a dish we will be making every week. Making the pasta was more about spending time together and doing something fun as a couple. This is a super cheap date night. So crank some music up, act a little silly, and have fun with your significant other in the kitchen! If you’re single, screw a significant other get your girls together make some pasta and get drunk! Either way your pasta will be delicious!
Happy Pasta Making!