Making Homemade Mushroom filled Ravioli

When I was a kid and also when I was in college, I'd open up a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli.  With magician-like skill, I could make the contents of that red can disappear.  I've always liked ravioli or tortellini.  Utilitarian in design, they are manufactured to efficiently transport little packages of deliciousness to your mouth. Only the canned ravioli also contains artificial ingredients, colors, flavorings and are highly processed and thus, not good for you.  It would be neat to make our own ravioli, only our ravioli would be healthy, wholesome and nutritious and so we set out to do just that.

Image Credit

I always want to give credit when we do things.  We searched and found This Helpful and Informative Site that explained in detail and with photos how to make the pasta and a mushroom filling for our Mushroom Filled Ravioli.  First, for the pasta, you'll need:

• 2 Cups Flour (we used kamut flour that we had just ground)
• 2 large Whole Eggs
• 4 Egg Yolks
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt

We mounded the flour and made a well in the center, pouring the eggs and salt into the well, beating the eggs with a fork and then gradually mixed the flour and egg mixture together into a sticky dough. Tricia slowly added flour while kneading until the dough was the right consistency.  Once done, she wrapped the ball of dough in plastic wrap and allowed it to sit at room temperature 1 hour.

She quartered the dough ball and after flouring the counter-top, rolled out the quarter with a rolling pin.  Then she ran the dough through the pasta roller 3 times, each time reducing the setting for thickness until the pasta is the thickness you desire.  While working out the remaining 3 quarters, you'll want to cover the pasta with plastic wrap or damp dishtowels to keep it from drying out.

Rolling out the Dough

Now Tricia shifted to making the mushroom filling for the ravioli.  We used Serious Eats recipe that we found HERE.  It requires:

• 15 ounces mushrooms
• 2 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup green onions, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• kosher salt
• 1/2 cup dry red wine
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 ounces (1/2 cup) grated Parmesan cheese

Put the mushrooms in a food processor and pulse for 8 - 10 pulses, chopping them so that they are broken into 1/4 inch pieces.  Put the butter in a skillet and melt, adding mushrooms and cooking for 3-5 minutes.  Then add the green onions, garlic and salt, reducing heat and cook while stirring, until the contents are dry and browning.

Add the wine and Worcestershire sauce, turning heat back up to high and cook while stirring until no liquid remains.  Take the skillet off the fire and add in the Parmesan cheese.  Move the entire mixture to the food processor and process until it is smooth.  Allow it to fully cool and now you are ready to put the ravioli together.

Mushroom filling all prepared and ready to stuff

Now if you are a serious ravioli-maker, they make some ravioli makers that look sort of like an ice cube tray, only with smaller dome-shaped compartments.  Never fear, you can make these just fine without a ravioli maker.  Simply spoon half teaspoon sized amounts of filling to the ravioli, leaving adequate space between.

Filling being placed on the ravioli dough

Once complete, we're ready for the next step...

Fold the other side of the dough over the side that you just filled with mushroom filling.  Use your fingers to seal the dough together and around the little pockets of filling.

Sealing the edges

Now, serious ravioli makers have nifty perforated cutters to cut the ravioli, but a simple knife performs the same task admirably.  Cut out the ravioli into individual pieces.

Cutting the ravioli

Place the ravioli on a floured surface.  This is your 'staging area' while you wait for your water to boil.

Ready & Waiting

Once your water comes to a low boil, dump the ravioli into the pot and allow to cook for about 3 minutes.  Then remove to a colander and allow them to drain off excess water.

They are ready to eat now!  You can make a sauce for them or you can just drizzle some olive oil and herbs on top.  Tricia made a cream sauce using some of the remnants of the mushroom filling in the skillet coupled with some of Rosie's fresh heavy cream.  Tricia (aka Chef Boyardee) spooned the sauce on top of the homemade, hot ravioli.

Then she grated a bit of Parmesan cheese over the bowl of ravioli and there's only one thing left to do...

Homemade Mushroom stuffed ravioli

Eat!  Here is a fork view of Homemade Mushroom stuffed ravioli with Mushroom Cream sauce.  The photo is lousy as my lighting is far too bright, and I seriously considered taking another photo, but it was time to eat!!

Fork-view

Review: While it is unquestionably easier to grab a can opener and open a can of Chef Boyardee Ravioli, making your own is fun, rewarding, and I've got to be honest, homemade ravioli is delicious. There is simply no comparison to the canned stuff.  Not to mention the fact that while canned ravioli is not healthy and contains stuff that you don't want to put into your body.  This Article actually delves into what is contained in canned ravioli.  Our homemade ravioli was better than the canned stuff, by a wide margin.  We all "cleaned our plates!"