Ravioli
The name ravioli is sufficiently unusual to imply some specially prepared dish. It is not, however, a complicated affair, and as it is capable of great variations and utilizes many left overs, it is worth a trial. Beat slightly the yolks of 3 eggs with 2 tablespoonfuls of cold water and a pinch of salt, add sufficient bread flour to make a stiff dough, and knead for five minutes. Cut in two pieces, and roll each out in a very thin sheet. At bo regular intervals-about two inches apart-place on one sheet I small teaspoonful of filling.
Round the base of each little heap wet the paste with a brush or the fingers dipped in cold water.
Cover with the other sheet, and press down where the paste has been wet, then cut out with a round cutter. Be sure that the edges are well pressed together. Over the fire have a shallow saucepan half filled with boiling salted water. Into this drop the ravioli, bring the water quickly to the boil, then draw to one side and simmer for twenty minutes.
Drain thoroughly, place in a baking dish, pour over a sauce and bake in a quick oven for about fifteen minutes. Fillings for the ravioli may be any scraps of meat or vegetables chopped fine, seasoned and moistened with a thick sauce; the same diluted may be used for the baking. With a beef or mutton filling use tomato sauce and a little grated cheese. With mushrooms, oysters or fish use a white sauce.
A plain egg-yolk pasta with a leftovers filling, finished baked under sauce rather than simply sauced in the bowl. Two things need adjusting: the boiling time and the oven.
- Twenty minutes is far too longFresh filled pasta this thin cooks in three to five minutes once the water returns to the boil, and the twenty-minute simmer will burst the seams and leave the sheets slack. Simmer until they float and the edges are tender, then drain — remembering they get a further fifteen minutes in the oven.
- "Quick oven"Roughly 400-425F, though the term was never exact. Fifteen minutes at that heat is enough to bubble the sauce and brown the cheese; the pasta is already cooked.
- The hinge: sealingPress out any air around each mound before you cut, and press the wetted paste firmly from the filling outward. Trapped air expands in the water and pops the seal, which is the usual cause of ravioli that empty themselves into the pot.
- Flour and dough"Bread flour" here means a strong white flour, and the quantity is left open: the recipe only says "sufficient... to make a stiff dough." Expect roughly a cup, perhaps a little more; the dough should be stiff enough to feel dry, and resting it under a cloth before rolling will make it less likely to fight the pin.
- "Very thin sheet"Aim for about 1/16 inch — thin enough to see the shape of your hand through it. A pasta roller on its second-thinnest setting is easier than a rolling pin for dough this firm.
- The filling must be dry-ishChopped cooked meat or vegetables bound with a thick béchamel or gravy, well seasoned and cooled before use. A wet filling soaks the paste from inside and makes sealing impossible.
- "At bo regular intervals"Evidently a typesetting slip for "at regular intervals." With mounds two inches apart, use a cutter somewhat under two inches so there is paste left to seal.
- YieldThree yolks make a small batch; expect something on the order of two dozen two-inch ravioli once trimmings are allowed for, enough for two or three as a main dish.
Ravioli reached English-language cookbooks slowly, and this entry catches the moment when the word still needed explaining: the author opens by reassuring readers that the unfamiliar name does not mean an elaborate dish. The point here is not Italian tradition but the economical trick of stretching yesterday's roast, and stuffed pastas have long been used exactly that way in Italian home kitchens, where fillings followed whatever the kitchen had. The final baking under sauce with grated cheese, rather than a simple toss in butter or broth, reflects the American habit of finishing pasta as a gratin.