Oozy Egg Ravioli

I made pasta for dinner.  No, literally.  It couldn't have been easier, and I couldn't be more proud. And I thought I picked the difficult one.  You'd think, looking at it.  So let me get this straight:  you want me to make my own pasta dough, roll it out (without a machine), cut it into little rectangles, fill them with ricotta cheese and then an egg yolk, and then fold them up and seal them, put them into boiling water, cook and then take them out, all without breaking the egg yolk?  Picking this recipe either makes me brave or in for a really big mess.

The dough itself (see last post) was actually rather easy.  So was the ricotta filling -- just cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg -- so I made that ahead of time.  Rolling out the pasta without a machine?  Not so easy, but doable.  It probably wasn't as thin as it needed to be, but there was only so long my puny little arms could keep that up.  I got out my trusty plastic ruler and cut my 3x6 inch rectangles.  My half-recipe of dough made way more than was called for -- I only rolled out half again for the ravioli, so I threw the rest in the freezer.  (I hope pasta dough keeps!)  The half-quantity of ricotta was exactly right, and filled the 7 ravioli I accidentally made (I was so busy rolling and cutting I didn't realize I made one too many, so I got a plain cheese one as well).  

Now what appeared to be the tricky part:  separating eggs without breaking the yolks and getting them to stay put.  It wasn't as hard as it seemed.  Take care in cracking the egg, and have a container underneath to catch the white for later use.  Transfer the yolk back and forth between the shell sides until all the white has fallen.  Take yolk, and gently nestle into cheese.  It's not as impossible as it sounds, I promise.

I was worried about sealing them up without squishing the yolk, but this wasn't that difficult either.  I don't have a fancy ravioli sealer, so I just used a pizza cutter.  Dab water on ravioli, fold dough gently over filling, press edges together.  It helped to pick up the ravioli once I had sealed two sides and let the filling slide over so I could get the last side without damaging the egg.  Then I cut the edges with the pizza cutter, to make them neat and help with the seal.

I then attempted to place them into boiling water, which was a little difficult because I forgot to flour the piece of waxed paper I had them sitting on, so they wanted to stick.  But I pried them off and put them into the water using a slotted spatula.  I wasn't sure how long to leave them, and I wanted to make sure my slightly-thicker dough got cooked.  This was probably too long, because they were rather firm by the time I took them out to toss them in the butter.  

As I cut one open and nothing oozed out as promised, this confirmed my suspicions of overcooking.  They still tasted great, though.  I am shocked at how little time this took to make.  And with a machine, I could have done it with much less effort in even less time.  It took longer to make those cakes, and I've made cake until it comes out my ears.  The only noodle experience I have is making noodles with my grandmother for soup when I was 9.  This was so easy to make I can't possibly imagine paying too much money for that fresh stuff at the store.  Mine was just as good, and the satisfaction you get from making your own pasta (!) is immense.  I can't wait to make more fresh pasta recipes.