Ravjul - Ravioli

Ravjul!  The word instantly draws me to my childhood memories, of mum spending the whole Friday morning, shaping these ricotta filled ravioli.  The Maltese are famous for this version and in the past, the shape resembled more of a donkey's ear than anything else. Serve plain, tossed in a little cooking water, and a knob of butter, or with garlic tomato sauce and a sprinkle of grated parmesan cheese.  Recently I fried them in a little olive oil and they turned out to be a winner.

For the Pastry
500g Strong Plain Flour
1/4 tsp Salt
5 eggs

Filling
800 g Ricotta Cheese
3 eggs
1 Tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsely
1/2 tsp Salt
2 tbsp Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 tsp Grated Nutmeg (or Grate 1/2 a nutmeg)

Garlic Tomato Sauce
1 kg Ripe tomatoes
3 clove garlic
1 small onion
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp honey
Few sprigs basil

Sift the flour and put in a food processor, add salt and eggs and pulse till mixture forms small balls.  Remove from processor and transfer to a floured working top.  Knead till dough is just elastic but firm.  Cover in cling film and chill for 1/2 an hour in the fridge.  

Meanwhile prepare the filling by putting ricotta, eggs, salt, parmesan and grated nutmeg and process till smooth and creamy.  Add the chopped parsely, give a few more pulses and then transfer mixture to a piping bag fitted with plain 1cm nozzle.  Leave in the fridge till needed.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces and using a pasta machine pass each piece several times till dough is smooth and elastic.  Roll into long rectangular strips, your final setting should be 3. Pipe ricotta nuggets, in a row in  the middle,  leaving enough space from one another  to cut the ravioli to your desired size.  Brush a little water around the ricotta then fold over.  Cup your hands and press around the filling carefully removing any air trapped inside.  Lift the strip of pastry with the filling to realease it from the work top, like so it will not stick, then cut with a round cutter and place over a floured baking sheet. (you can freeze them at this stage)

Bring a large pan of water with 1 tbsp salt to boil and boil ravioli for 8 minutes till al dente.  Serve with tomato sauce or plain tossed in butter.

Tomato Sauce

Wash  tomatoes, and cut in two, place in a casserole, with garlic, onion, basil, salt pepper and honey, bring to boil, covered on medium heat.  Continue to cook for twenty minutes till onions are cooked  stirring occasionally so that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan.  Remove from heat then using a hand blender blend the mixture to obtain a thick puree.  Pass through a sieve, then return to pan and cook on low heat for another 20 minutes adding 1 tsp sugar if necessary.

Tip:
Never trow away any remaining pasta dough as fried in a little olive oil, then sprinkled with coarse sea salt is a very good accompaniement to a chilled glass of beer!