Not Chef Boyardee

When we were younger my brother, sister and I really liked Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli.  We'd open the can opener and take the top off and pour the contents in a pan and heat it up.  What a snack that was!  It was fine Italian cuisine as far as we were concerned.  To tell you the truth, I think it's been since the college days that I have enjoyed ravioli from a can.

We decided we could do a little better.  With fresh spinach coming in, it gave us an idea.  We had been eating fresh spinach sautéed with Parmesan cheese, cooked just right, but it was time to step up the game. 

Fresh Spinach and ricotta cheese stuffed ravioli.  It's always a fun job to make pasta, so we made up some pasta dough.  We flattened it out and ran it through the pasta machine, starting out at setting 7 and lowering it each run until we got to #2.

When it finishes its last run through the machine, it yields long sheets of pasta.

We flattened it out and laid it out on dish towels.  We had two down and six more to go.

The fresh spinach was cooked and drained to remove all the liquid and then ricotta cheese and seasonings and parmesan cheese was added and mixed together.

The mixture is put into a piping bag and we squeeze out a teaspoon-sized amount onto the sheet of pasta, about 2 inches apart.

Then we folded the pasta over, carefully pressing all the air pockets out.  Before doing that, we wet the pasta along the edges to form a good seal.  Here's what it looks like:

My wife bought a nifty little Betty Crocker tool that made fancy wavy edges.  

Here is the finished, but uncooked ravioli.

When we finished making them, we counted them up.  We made 51 raviolis.  It didn't take long at all with our little assembly line going.  It would have made Henry Ford proud.

The ravioli were boiled and then pulled out into a colander.  They were seasoned and Tricia made a tomato basil sauce.  Fresh parsley was put on top for garnish.

It was game on.  We each fixed a bowl of spinach ricotta ravioli.  Here's the money shot:

Look out Chef Boyardee!  You've got some competition...