These oversized ravioli, made with an egg-less dough, are a specialty of my home town of Verbicaro. It is a rustic ravioli with a
dough that has texture and a firmer bite than your typical ravioli made with thin egg dough. The dough is cut into 31/2 inch
circles and filled with fresh ricotta flavored with parsley, sopressata, egg and pecorino. They are served with a simple tomato or
meat flavored sauce. Sopressata is a dried, cured sausage made in Calabria. If you can't find it, you can replace it with
coppa, which is available at Italian delicatessens.
Dough:
3 cups of flour
3/4 cup of water
Filling:
2 cups (1 lb) of fresh ricotta, drained
2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced
3 tablespoons freshly grated pecorino cheese (approximately 1 ounce)
4 ounces of sopressata (diced in ¼ inch cubes)
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Tomato sauce
To make the dough:
Put the flour in a bowl. While kneading the flour with one hand, add enough water until the dough forms a shaggy mass.
Squeeze and push down on the dough to gather it together. Turn out onto a work surface and knead the dough until it is firm,
smooth and not sticky (about 10 minutes). You might need to add an additional tablespoon of water if the dough is too dry.
Cover the dough and let it rest for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling.
To make the filling:
In a large bowl, mix the ricotta with the parsley, pecorino cheese, sopressata, egg, salt and pepper. Mix well and set aside until
needed.
Rolling the dough:
Note: The dough is typically rolled out by hand as described below, but you can also use a pasta machine. These ravioloni
are made with a thicker dough than the typical ravioli. If you use an Atlas-Marcato pasta machine to roll out the dough, roll it
into sheets about 4-inch wide by 12 inches long, stopping at setting #4 (approximately 1/16 inch thick). Cut out the circles as
described in step 5.
To roll the dough by hand, a non-tapered, dowel type rolling pin works best. (A two-foot length of 1 ¼ inch round wooden
closet rod is ideal). Dust the work surface lightly with flour. Take the ball of dough and flatten it with your hands, forming it into
a circle. Place the rolling pin on top of the dough and start rolling the dough, working until it is approximately ¼ inch thick.
Rotate the dough one quarter turn after every roll to maintain the circular shape.
When the dough is of a manageable thickness (1/4 inch) you will change the rolling technique. Lightly dust the surface of the
dough with flour. Starting at the edge of the dough closest to you and roll it onto the rolling pin. Continue to roll the dough
around the rolling pin, stretching the dough out and away with your hands, along the length of the pin, as you roll. You do not
need to put weight on the dough as your roll. Rather than by the downward pressure of the rolling pin on the work surface, the
dough is thinned and increases in circumference by the stretching motion applied to the dough along the rolling pin, as you
roll. When you reach the end of the dough circle, unroll it from the pin, give the dough a one quarter turn, lightly dust the
surface of the dough with flour to keep it from sticking, and repeat the rolling process, stretching the dough out and away along
the rolling pin as you roll. Repeat this process until the dough is about 1/16 inch thick.
Once you have a large sheet of dough rolled out, cut as many circles as you can with a 3.5 inch circular cutter. Put half of the
cut-out circles on the side, either stacked on top of each other or covered with a kitchen towel so they will not dry out.
Assembling the ravioloni:
Place two tablespoons of ricotta filling in the center of the circles left on the table.
Place a reserved dough circle on top of each circle with the filling. Carefully press the edges together and using the prongs of
a fork, seal the dough all around the edges by pressing down. Be careful not to break the dough as the stuffing will fall out
during cooking. Continue until all the dough circles are used. Move the ravioloni to a floured surface in a single layer. The
ravioloni can be cooked as soon as they are all made or within an hour.
The ravioloni can also be frozen. Freeze them in a single layer, and when frozen, they can be stored loosely in a freezer-proof
bag. When ready to cook, take them directly from the freezer to a pot of boiling water. Do not defrost them.
Cooking the ravioloni:
To cook the ravioloni, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add enough salt to make the water taste like the
ocean and gently add the ravioloni. Stir from time to time with a wooden spoon. Cook until al dente.
Drain and gently remove the ravioloni one at a time and place on a large platter. Sprinkle with some pecorino cheese and
spoon some tomato sauce on top of each raviolono.
Makes 24 ravioloni
Copyright 2004, Rosetta Costantino. All rights reserved.
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