Handmade ravioli with roast zucchini, toasted pine nuts and goat cheese

Freshly made from scratch!

So... I haven't blogged for a while, but that's not because I haven't been cooking. I've cooked a few repeat dishes like the salted triple caramel cupcakes, chocolate cupcakes and tonnes of fettucini. 

Homemade pasta is just so good. I have been practicing a lot with my pasta rolling machine, and still have a long way to go before I can roll out one of those perfect looking pieces that are about 10 foot long.

Flour and egg, that's it. I use Italian "00" flour.

Ravioli is a bit tricker. I actually have an attachment for my pasta machine that punches out (ostensibly) perfect pockets of pasta. But in order to achieve this, you must have a rather long and perfectly symmetrical piece of pasta. Enough said. 

I've actually found it easier to make the ravioli by hand. This is much more forgiving because you can use your imperfect piece of pasta, cut it with a pasta roller (or even a pizza cutter), then use these smaller but perfect pieces to create your ravioli. 

There are lots of ways that you can do it; these ones were made from rectangles of pasta filled, and then folded in half. Google will reveal endless possibilities - and also a rather perplexing video of a corpulent American man demonstrating his technique whilst wearing sandals with socks. 

I digress. 

As far as fillings go, the possibilities are endless. And, because we live in Australia, there is no need to be traditional whatsoever! So far I've made a feta, kalamata olive and cauliflower filling and a simple roast pumpkin one.

The filling for these ravioli was roasted zucchinis, toasted pine nuts and my favourite French goat cheese.

Roast zucchini with red onion and garlic.

I roasted the zucchini with garlic and onion, then used a stick mixer to partially pulverise it. The pine nuts were pan fried, drained on a paper towel then crushed with a mortal and pestle. I crumbled the cheese by hand and added it last. 

The filling should be as dry as possible and not come directly out of the fridge or be too hot. Excess moisture will leave your ravioli soggy. 

Once you have your chosen filling, use a teaspoon to spoon it into whatever ravioli design you chose. I found that a small amount of water helped to seal the edges. Don't use too much though. 

I decorated the edges of each piece with a crinkled edged vegetable cutter that I bought for unknown reasons. It's pretty lame. But it did make the edges of the ravioli look pretty. 

Once each piece is finished, place it on a floured tray. A bit of extra flour sprinkled on top helps to keep it dry. I'm still figuring out the exact timing on the drying process but I know it can be left out overnight and can also be frozen.

Pasta after drying overnight.

Cook in the usual fashion... and then serve with some nice olive oil, salt, pepper and grated parmesan. It really doesn't need a lot to taste great.

Eat, and eat well.