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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Mushroom Ravioli


Having gotten the hang of our new pasta machine, I was excited to try homemade ravioli.  We had some friends over this weekend and I thought mushroom ravioli would be an inexpensive way to serve a special dinner to friends.  This recipe isn't especially difficult but it is a little time consuming.  The results are well worth it, though.  The mushroom filling is delicious with homemade and would work equally well with fresh lasagna noodles.  I served this with a Marsala cream sauce (recipe follows). 

You'll Need:

3 tablespoons butter
1 cup diced Spanish onion
Pinch fresh thyme
3 medium cloves garlic
1 1/2 pounds button mushrooms
1/3 cup plus 1 heaping tablespoon Marsala wine
1/3 cup whipping cream
Salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces aged Asiago cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese to top ravioli


Getting Started:

Make pasta dough (if preparing yourself) and make cream sauce. Set aside.

Dice onion.

Grate cheese.

Mince garlic.

Slice mushrooms.  If you have an egg slicer this is the perfect tool for the job.

Now You're Cookin':

In large, heavy-bottomed skillet or pot, melt butter.  I used a dutch oven since the mushrooms take up a lot of space and I didn't want any going overboard.

Add onion and saute over medium  heat until golden brown.

Add thyme and garlic and saute without browning.

Add mushrooms, wine, cream, salt and pepper.

Reduce until almost dry, stirring regularly.

Turn off heat and add cheese, mixing well.


Correct seasonings with salt and pepper.

Puree into pulp using food processor.


Let filling cool.

Meanwhile, cut pasta to desired shape and size.  I used a 2.5" round biscuit cutter to excellent results.

Brush beaten egg around edges of both top and bottom pasta pieces.

Fill each ravioli with a portion of mushroom mixture.   Don't be skimpy with the filling.  The pasta dough will stretch to cover the filling.  I used 1 tablespoon of mushroom filling per ravioli.


Press with a fork to seal.  You should have about 30 ravioli.


Bring large pot of salted water to full boil.

With wide, slotted spoon, drop ravioli into water and cook 2 minutes after water returns to boil and ravioli float to top.

When done, remove from pot and drain.

Put drained ravioli in a slightly overlapping single layer in a glass or ceramic casserole dish and pour cream sauce over the ravioli.  Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the tops of the ravioli.


Broil until the Parmesan cheese begins to brown, or, if you're me, until the top of the whole darn thing is browned and slightly crisp.  I like my baked cheese well done.


Marsala Cream Sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/8 cup diced Spanish onions (cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Pinch of fresh thyme
1 small bay leaf
1/4 cup Marsala wine
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups whipping cream

In heavy-bottomed pan, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Add onion, garlic, thyme and bay leaf and saute until onions are translucent.  Do not let them brown.

Add wine, salt and pepper.   Reduce wine until almost dry.

Add cream, bring to low simmer and reduce until slightly thickened, stirring regularly, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Strain through fine mesh strainer and keep warm until ready to use.

3 comments:

  1. Those are not my manly hands. I put the man of the house to work and snapped the picture.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yum! When we made ravioli a few months back we made ours much bigger! not nearly as pretty, but faster! :)

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  3. Aron:

    The filling of the ravioli took FOREVER. Thankfully there were many hands on deck and we took turns rolling fresh sheets of pasta and filling the rounds. Larger ravioli, or ravioli that didn't need to be cut into circles would take much less time.

    ReplyDelete