Ravioli with spinach white wine creamy gravy

This dish comes from a combination of few recipes that I found on the web sometime ago and I forgot to write down the url addresses so I could not credit the owners of the recipes.  A thousand apologies.


When I was making this, my mum walked into the kitchen and she stayed and watch a bit. She asked me for the name for what I was making, I told her "Ravioli". This is her reply in Cantonese which I have translated into English.  "Why so hard to pronounce?, Haiyah, nevermind lah, I call it Quay Lo wantan." Isn't she a piece of work?

The good thing about ravioli is that you can make a big batch and freeze whatever the balance that are not used. You can use different kind of gravy to create a new taste each time.  I used spinach white wine creamy gravy for the first batch of ravioli. Then, few nights ago, Stitch suggested that I put the ravioli in minestrone soup and he said it was fantastic combintion and he loved it.  That is so easy, just heat up a can of minestrone soup and throw in the cooked ravioli.

For the benefit of those who are new to making ravioli like me, I have also made a short video on "how to".  I hope that makes it easier to understand the method better. Please bear with me for the poor production of the video for I am a beginner. I welcome advice for improvement. 

Make 30 - 35 Ravioli (2in x 2in square)

Ingredients:

3-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt 3 whole beaten large eggs 


2-1/2 tablespoons cooking oil 


1/2 cup of lukewarm water 



Sift flour in large bowl, make a well in center and add salt, oil, eggs and water. Mix liquid and flour gradually until absorbed. Place dough on floured board and knead dough thoroughly for 3 to 5 minutes until dry and smooth. (Add more flour if dough is still sticky). Cover and set aside 10 to 15 minutes.

For ease of mixing and kneading your dough, use an automatic bread maker or dough mixer.

Method to assemble the Ravioli:

Divide dough into 4 balls.   Refer to video on how to make the ravioli.

Method to cook the Ravioli:

Boil a big pot of water with salt and a tsp of olive oil.  When water is boiling, put in the ravioli.  When they float to the top, it should be cooked. Drain off the water and put them in the serving plates to be ready for the gravy.

Filling – Option 1

Spinach and ricotta cheese

1 lb (450 g) fresh spinach

1 lb (450 g) ricotta cheese, thoroughly drained

4 oz gouda cheese, freshly grated

salt and pepper

¼ tsp of nutmeg

Filling – Option 2

Capsicum, black olive, tomato and blue cheese

½ green capsicum finely diced

1/ 2 cup black olive, sliced into thin rings

1 medium tomato, remove seed and finely diced

¼ cup thinly sliced sundried tomatoes

¼ cup blue cheese

1 tbs olive oil

½ tsp paprika

salt and pepper to taste


Garnish:
brocolli, steamed
rocket

Method to make the filling Option 1:

Boil the spinach in lightly salted water. Place the boiled spinach in a cheese cloth and form a small sack. Squeeze the sack to expel as much water as possible. Chop the spinach finely. Place the spinach in a bowl. Combine the drained ricotta, gouda cheese, salt, pepper, and nutmeg.  Taste and adjust the salt, pepper, and nutmeg if necessary.

Method to make the filling Option 2:

Heat olive oil in pan and add capsicum and sauté for a minute. Add black olive, diced tomatoes, sliced sundried tomatoes, paprika, salt and pepper and mix well. Turn of heat and blend in blue cheese and set aside.

Ingredients for Spinach white wine cream gravy:

200 gm spinach

1/2 small onion, cut into small pieces

3 roasted garlic cloves

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp chopped thyme

1 tbs butter

¼ cup white wine

1/4 cup whipping cream

salt & pepper - to taste

Method:

Wash spinach and steam for 15 mins till soft. Add spinach, onion, garlic, to the blender and make puree.  Melt butter in pan and add puree and let it boil on medium-flame. Add the chopped thyme, salt and pepper, and let it simmer. Reduce flame to low and add white wine and whipping cream. Mix well and pour it over cooked ravioli. Garnished with steamed brocolli and fresh rocket and serve.

TIPS:

* Drain the filling ingredients very well to prevent the ravioli from breaking while boiling.

* If you would like the stuffing to be aromatic, add more freshly grated nutmeg.

* Sometimes the dough will dry too much while you are working, which prevents the pasta sheets from being “gluey” enough to stick to each other. If this happens, brush the surface of the bottom pasta sheet with egg whites. To prevent the pasta sheets from drying too much, cover them with plastic wrap.

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