Walnut & Sun-Dried Tomato Ravioli

I was putting my new ravioli press to the test earlier this week and it did a good job once I’d figured out some of its secrets. Press the filling in tightly, don’t overfill even a tiny bit. Allow the dough (rolled to indicator 5 on the Imperia) to dry slightly and/or flour it thoroughly so it doesn’t stick to the press. Roll firmly with the rolling pin, being especially careful to cut the edges and use a bench knife on any inside seams that don’t perforate sufficiently.

I cooked up three batches of ravioli that night: herbed cottage cheese; four mushroom; & today’s recipe, walnut with sun-dried tomato. I’m sorry there’s no photo of the ravioli made up but it was too quickly eaten for me to even think about the camera. It was gooooood. The walnut recipe is salty, bursting with umami and vegetarian (even vegan if you substitute for my egg-based dough). I didn’t measure anything as I cooked, so this is an approximation. Adjust as desired.

Walnut & Sun-Dried Tomato Ravioli
stuffs 48 ravioli with a bit left over

1.5 cups walnuts
8-10 sun dried tomatoes (not in oil)
olive oil
black pepper

Put the nuts in a food processor. Snip the tomatoes into slices with your kitchen shears and add to nuts. Sprinkle generously with fresh ground pepper. Drizzle with oil. Blend until you have a rough paste - the mixture should stick together but still have texture. You may need to add a bit more oil as you go.

The Perfect Pasta Dough works well with this filling - good tooth and flavor to balance the boldness of the filling. I used about 2/3 of the dough recipe to make 48 ravioli (2 pans’ worth). The leftover dough cooks up great as a side dish the next day or can be frozen. I topped the ravioli with an herbed tomato sauce, but a cream sauce would have been equally delicious.

Posted by kuri at May 03, 2007 10:49 AM