Homemade Ravioli with Taleggio Cheese

This is my mamma's Ravioli recipe. She made these with taleggio cheese instead of the classic, typical (boring) ricotta. They were so delicious that I had to share them on my blog.

To be technical, ravioli are traditionally Italian stuffed pasta, sealed with two layers of egg based dough.

You can be creative and use whatever stuffing you like (some other cheese suggestions are below).

They are somewhat a lot of work, but totally worth it. It is so rewarding eating and serving homemade pasta. Once you make it, you will know what I mean.

A simple sauce is always best with Ravioli because they already have so much flavor themselves from the stuffing - you don't want to overdo it. In these pictures, we used fresh tomato sauce. You can find my recipe of this here: Salsa di Pomodoro Fresco

Ingredients:
Dough

• 4 Eggs, beaten   (one egg per person)                                                     
• 1/2 Glass of Water
• 4-5 Cups Flour
• Pinch of Salt

Filling

• Taleggio Cheese, cut into small pieces (or you can use ricotta, fontina, asiago)
• Some Italian Parsley, chopped
• Fresh Cracked Pepper
• Mix all together and set aside      

Directions:

On your counter top, form the flour into a volcano shape and add the beaten eggs, one at a time.  Slowly add the water and salt and mix into the flour, leaving some flour on the sides for later/if not needed... Kneed into a  soft dough.  Cover the dough with a dish towel and let rest for at least 30 minutes.

Next, cut the dough into about 3 inch pieces to process through your pasta machine. If you don't have one you can use a rolling pin. Make sure the dough isn't sticky - always dust flour before you roll the dough so it doesn't stick to the roller.  Make thin sheets of dough and lay them on the table or a cookie sheet, dusted with flour.

Now to make the ravioli's -  Place small amounts of filling on a sheet of dough (about 1/2 tbs), 1 inch apart. Dab water around around the cheese to help to seal the top layer. Cover with  another sheet of dough and press down around the filling. Make sure there are no air pockets.  Using a rolling cutter or a  ravioli cutter, cut the ravioli - into squares if you are using a rolling cutter like we did. Place on dry surface, dusted with flour and also add flour on top if you are not cooking right away. Semolina flour is good to use because it helps to not let the ravioli's stick together (displayed in below image).


They should look like this!

Cook in boiling, salted water until they float, let them float for about 3 minutes before removing. 

Gently remove and serve with a simple sauce... we ate these with fresh tomato sauce. -  again, you can find the recipe here.