Chicken and Mushroom Ravioli (Wednesday, February 2, 2011)

Snowmaggeddon had us shacked up for a second day.  So in addition to a French silk pie I decided today would be the day to make homemade ravioli.  I've been making fresh pasta somewhat often in the past weeks and its really easy and cheap and results in delicious pasta.  All you need is eggs and flour (and maybe a few splashes of water).  Another benefit of fresh pasta, you get a workout, especially if you roll it out by hand as I have been.
I mixed 6 large eggs into a well made from 4 cups of flour.  Then I started whisking, slowly incorporating flour until I had a tacky mess.  My tacky mess was a little dry so I wet my hands a few times and began kneading.  Most recipes say to knead anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes.  I've sometimes ended up with pasta that is rubbery and my best guess is that it was from over-kneading.  I stop once the dough ball is smooth.  Protocol then asks to let the dough rest wrapped in plastic or under a bowl for 30 minutes.  Longer is fine.  Before rolling I separated the dough into 6 pieces and dusted my surface with flour.  Then I popped on some dance music and started my workout.
For the filling I followed a recipe from Joy of Cooking.  I melted some butter in a pan and lightly browned 10 ozs. of chopped Baby Bella mushrooms and a minced red onion.  I then threw in about a 1/2 lb of rinsed and chopped baby spinach and some minced chicken that I boiled earlier (mince after boiling of course).  I seasoned with nutmeg, salt and pepper and let the mixture cool. I then added a 24 oz container of ricotta and a handful of shredded parmesan and mixed it all in.
I now had 6 sheets of pasta rolled out and ready to go.  A pasta roller would help a lot, especially for ravioli.  One, I wouldn't have to spend so much time and effort rolling it out and two, the pasta sheet would be symmetrical making it easier to fold over the filling.  I spooned huge dollops of filling onto one half of the sheet of pasta, ran wet fingers between each one to serve as a glue, folded the sheet over, pressed down around each mound of filling trying to push out any air that may want a free ride and then cut around each ravioli with a pizza cutter.  A third "advantage" of using a pasta machine would be that all my ravioli would be the same shape.  Although I kind of like the rustic look of each ravioli being a little different.  I ended up with about 40 huge raviolis and ran out of filling just before I ran out of pasta.  I boiled them and tossed them in some butter and garlic on the stovetop and topped with a little more parmesan.  These were amazing and I have about 2 dozen in the freezer.  My fingers are crossed that they are good after freezing.  I've read that they can be frozen and should keep for a while.
Also, along the way I made a basil pesto.  I'll share that recipe at a later date, but essentially its just basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and olive oil in a food processor.  Sometimes I actually hand chop it until it can be formed into a cube on the cutting board.  This results in a chunkier pesto and one less dish to clean.

The finished product.  3 ravioli, pesto and a glass of wine. Bella!