Pork & ricotta ravioli with pesto

If I may make a confession...

I will admit that I did not intend to make the ravioli from scratch. I was actually looking for ravioli wrappers that I could use at the grocery store, but then I realized that this was preposterous, as dehydrated pasta is impossible to shape into ravioli shells and once they are cooked you can't actually fill them in. So alas, I was forced to roll pasta dough until the cows came home.

But let me back up and start from the beginning. 

Image 1. Finished ravioli and pesto

First, you gotta have the ricotta. If you're me and are a fan of doing things from scratch (regardless of whether you are capable), you gotta make the ricotta.

Originally, ricotta cheese was invented as a way of processing the whey after producing mass quantities of cheese. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) for me, I don't work at a cheese factory so I don't have copious amounts of whey just lying around in the house. I resorted to an alternate method. I used:

• 1 qt skim milk (pasteurized, not ultrapasteurized)
• 1/4 c half & half (pasteurized, not ultrapasteurized). Alternatively, you can use 2 tbsp heavy cream. 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp distilled white vinegar 

It is important to not use ultrapasteurized dairy products because they have been heated to an unusually high temperature, which denatures the proteins and will make your cheese runny/lumpy. It is also important to not use skim milk on its own, because let's face it - no one likes fat-free cheese. NO ONE.

Heat the milk, half & half, and salt until it simmers. If you have a thermometer, heat it to approximately 180 degrees, but I didn't measure and it turned out just fine.

Image 2. Simmering milk

Remove from heat and drizzle in the vinegar, stirring gently. Stop stirring once all the vinegar is incorporated and set it aside. You should see the milk begin to curdle.

After about 20 minutes, you can scoop out the curds with a ladle into a mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. 

Image 3. Ricotta straining

 Let's make the ravioli dough while we wait for the whey to drain. I used the following ingredients:

• 2 c all purpose unbleached flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp salt
• an unidentified amount of water to adjust the consistency.

First, sift the flour. You don't want any flour pockets in your dough, that's gross.

Image 4. TSUNAMI OF FLOUR

Once that's done, crack the eggs and drizzle some olive oil into the flour. 

Image 5. This image is here for no other reason than that it looks pretty.

Mix gently. Add water if needed. My dough looked like this:

Image 6. Gotta make dough.

In retrospect, my dough was way too dry and thick. I am not the strongest person, but should not have been as difficult to spread as it was. I recommend adding more eggs/oil/water until you can roll out the dough without much difficulty.

Now let's check on the ricotta.

Image 7. Freshly made ricotta

Perfect!

I actually ended up using the remaining whey from the first batch as well as half of my original recipe to make more, as the amount of cheese was less than I thought it would be.

Time to make the filling!

Image 8. Ravioli innards

This is honestly the easiest part, because you can do your own thing. Take any ground meat of your choice - I chose pork - stir in the ricotta and some grated Parmesan, crack some sea salt and black peppercorns over the top, and add your own blend of spices as you see fit; I chopped up two garlic cloves and also added some garlic powder, dried oregano, fresh basil, and a pinch of cayenne. Have fun with it! You don't even need to measure.

Once the mixture is complete, you can cut circles into the dough using the top rim of a glass and spoon the filling into the center of each circle. Take another dough circle and place it over the first one, sealing the edges with a fork.

Image 9. I borrowed this picture from my previous post.

That's pretty much it! Did you see how easy (albeit time-consuming) that was?

The last part of this recipe is the pesto, which is super easy and super quick. I used this recipe, only substituting the Pecorino for more Parmesan.

Image 10. Mmm. Fresh basil.

Place all the ingredients into the blender and blend away!

Image 11. I'm always amazed by how green it is...

Done!

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the finished product because I only realized that the photos looked like dog poo after I had finished eating. Sorry! Presentation has never been my strong suit.

Honestly, the ravioli was a lot of work, so next time I have a hankering for it, I may just buy the frozen kind from the store (given that it's not for a special occasion). However, I don't think anyone should ever buy pesto! Especially when you can make it so easily with ingredients you can find at your local grocery store.

Try this out for your next big day. Good luck! :)