Spinach Mushroom Ravioli - From Scratch

I have to tell you, in my youth and into my college years I have opened, heated up, and eaten many cans of Chef Boyardee Ravioli.  It was a quick and satisfying meal for a young man on the go.  Those canned ravioli (along with the blue box of Kraft Mac 'n cheese kept me fueled.  I'm not saying it was the most healthy diet, but back then, I wasn't exactly focusing on health.  Regarding ravioli, it wasn't until I was into my adulthood years that I discovered that there is no magic in making your own.  In fact, ravioli made fresh with good ingredients and no processed stuff or preservatives is healthy fare.  It's also delicious.  It is also a good family bonding activity that everyone has a part in putting together.

Tricia, as she always does, figured out how to do it.  Here she is rolling out her own dough to make the pasta with which we'll make our own ravioli.  Tonight we're making mushroom/spinach ravioli.  We captured some of the steps.

Here is the mushroom & spinach filling for the ravioli.  We found that a tool that you normally use to remove 'balls' of watermelon or cantaloupe from the melon makes a perfect scooper for the filling.

The sheets of ravioli dough or pasta is laid out on the countertop and we spoon the filling on half of it, spaced out uniformly.  We then make an egg wash and paint between each dollop of filling in order to seal each ravioli.

The top is carefully folded over and pressed down, using your fingers to push out any air and leaving tight little raviolis that are then cut to form individual pasta.

We lay all these out on a dishtowel for further processing while we make the rest of them.

Each of the raviolis are boiled with salty water and then pulled out when done and set aside.

Meanwhile, a simple sauce is put together with onion, pepper, garlic, a little cream and some freshly picked tomatoes from the garden.  Green onions are thrown in as well.

The sauce is poured over the ravioli and topped with some fresh basil from the garden.

Now, it's time to say grace and eat!  I'll have to say, these are far better than what Chef Boyardee put in those cans.

Here's to You, Chef Boyardee

Who can forget growing up and opening a can of Chef Boyardee Raviolios?  I remember them being a kid-favorite.  For me, at least.  Those tasty "pillows" of pasta stuffed with meat in a red sauce.  I could wipe out a can in no time flat.  From time to time we'll make homemade ravioli.  It is a fun family project.  Since our kids have mostly moved out, Tricia and I tackled the project this time.  Although the boys came in to help us eat them!

I starts with some pasta dough.  It was made with Kamut flour.  Tricia rolled it out into little tortilla-shaped rounds.

We have a little Hamilton Beach Pasta-maker machine that we use to do things like this.  It has settings on it to reduce the thickness of the pasta.  You hand-crank it through the rollers and then adjust the settings and then feed it through again.

Repeated iterations through the machine makes the dough thinner.  And longer...

And even longer!  The raviolis are ready to be assembled...

Tricia, earlier in the day, put together the filling.  It is made with ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, mushrooms and salt and pepper.  We begin putting little dollops of filling on the long 'tongues' of pasta dough.

The end closest to the edge of the counter is painted with water to moisten the dough, and then it is folded over to cover the ravioli filling.

We use our fingers to seal the individual raviolis, pushing out any air.

Then we begin cutting the raviolis free from the long strip and the result is a bunch of individual raviolis.  You can see how this is coming together.

Ain't that nice?!  Little pillows of deliciousness almost ready for eating.

Rinse.  Wash.  Repeat.  Finally, we're done.  They are ready to be cooked.

We pick them up one by one off the counter top that was dusted with flour so they don't stick.  They are dropped into a pot of boiling water and allowed to cook for 3 or 4 minutes.  You can accompany these raviolis with any sauce you want.  We've done them with a tomato-based sauce before, but tonight Tricia made up a sauce with butter, garlic and heavy cream.  That is simmering on the back burner.

The cooked raviolis are pulled out of the water and drained.  They are put into a dish and the sauce is poured over them and Parmesan cheese is grated over.

The supper bell didn't need to be rung twice.  We lined up, loaded up our bowls and feasted!  Chef Boyardee or Franco-American Raviolios don't hold a candle to this!

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!"