I’ve always wanted to make my own ravioli, since it’s something I frequently purchase at the store for a quick-to-fix meal, so when Amazon was running its Black Friday deals, I broke down and bought myself a ravioli plaque. Making homemade pasta is not something I’d done before – my son Cody was always the one to make homemade noodles – but I figured it was time to give it a whirl.

There are hundreds of different pasta dough recipes out there, and some seem to be better suited for hand-rolled pasta and some for running the dough through a sheeter. I didn’t have my sheeter yet, so I used a recipe geared towards hand rolling the dough.

For the filling, I wanted a simple cheese filling so that I could use whatever sauce fit my mood when I wanted to prepare the ravioli. I used 4 different cheeses – ricotta, mozzarella, fresh Parmesan, and fresh Asiago, but feel free to use whatever cheeses you want to suit your taste.

I used a ravioli plaque to make mine, but you can easily make ravioli without one. I’ve listed the instructions using a plaque, but you can easily Google to find instructions on how to make ravioli without a plaque. My plaque makes 2-1/2-inch ravioli squares, which yielded 16 individual ravioli from this dough recipe. Smaller plaques will yield more ravioli.

When you are ready to cook your ravioli, make sure whatever sauce you use is ready to serve before you cook the ravioli. It only takes a few minutes for ravioli to cook. I used a spaghetti sauce with meat that I canned this summer, but I’m looking forward to using my canned vodka sauce with these ravioli as well.

Four-Cheese Ravioli

For the Filling:

8 ounce carton of full-fat ricotta cheese

8 ounces of fresh mozzarella (I used pearls)

2.5 ounces of freshly grated Parmesan cheese

2.5 ounces of freshly grated Asiago cheese

Mix together all ingredients and chill while you make the pasta dough.

For the Pasta Dough:

1/2 pound (about 1-1/3 cups) all-purpose flour

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 egg yolk, at room temperature

1 to 2 tablespoons room-temperature water

Extra flour for rolling

Yield: About 3/4 pound of pasta (enough for 3 to 4 people)

Mound the flour in the center of a large wooden board or in a large mixing bowl to form a crater in the middle. Pour the eggs and water in the crater. Using a table fork, begin to incorporate the flour, starting with the inner rim.

As more flour gets incorporated, push the flour up to maintain the crater shape so the egg doesn’t run out. If using the bowl, once about half the flour has been incorporated and the mixture has formed a shaggy mass, transfer the dough to a floured work surface.

Dust the surface lightly with flour and begin to knead the dough. Keep incorporating flour, turning the dough mass over several times while kneading so that the moist side of the dough is exposed to the flour, encouraging the flour to be absorbed. Scrape up and discard any leftover hard bits of dough.

Continue kneading the dough about 5 minutes, or until the dough is cohesive and moderately smooth. If making stuffed pasta (like ravioli), the dough should stick to your fingers. For pasta that is to be cut in sheets or strips, add enough extra flour to make a firmer dough that releases easily from your fingers.

Small bubbles that appear on the surface are a sign that the gluten has developed completely, and the dough has been sufficiently kneaded.

Form the dough into a smooth, round ball. Cover the dough with a bowl or damp cloth, or wrap it in plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before rolling.

To Make Ravioli:

Divide the dough in half. Half will be used for the base of the ravioli, and the other half will be used to cover filled ravioli,

Using a rolling pin, roll the dough until you reach a thickness of about 1/4 inch, turning the dough to stretch it as you roll.

Cut the dough into lengths about 1 inch longer than the ravioli plaque. Place a length of dough on a lightly floured ravioli plaque. Use the metal tray to press down so that the dough adheres to the plaque while forming cup-shaped indentations in each square.

Pipe or spoon filling into each depression, making sure to keep the filling away from the borders and filling each depression as much as possible. Filling the depressions will prevent air pockets that tend to puff up and split open when boiling the ravioli.

Cover the filled ravioli with a second sheet of pasta dough.

Using a rolling pin, roll back and forth and side to side to joint the two layers of dough and seal the ravioli edges.

Remove excess dough from the edges, wrapping and saving excess for another use, if desired.

Turn the ravioli plaque upside down so that the ravioli release from the plaque. Gently separate any ravioli that are still joined using a sharp knife or ravioli cutter. Continue making ravioli until all the filling and dough has been used (I had extra filling with this recipe).

If using ravioli the same day, let ravioli sit for about 30 minutes before cooking. Cook the ravioli within 2 hours of making, or refrigerate/freeze them until ready to use.

To Serve:

Warm up whatever sauce you’re using, and keep it warm over low heat while you prepare the ravioli. Drop ravioli into boiling water and keep water at a gentle boil as the ravioli cook. Cook until ravioli float, typically 3-4 minutes. Drain and add ravioli to waiting sauce. Serve.

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