This easy 'how to make ravioli' guide makes fresh, filled pasta simple thanks to expert advice from celebrity chef Theo Randall.
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00:00 Hello my name is Theo Randall from Theo Randall at the Intercontinental. Today I'm going to
00:03 show you how to make ravioli.
00:05 So first of all we're going to start with the filling. So the filling we have some spinach.
00:13 Now you can do anything you want. You could use broccoli, you could use the classic cimaderape
00:19 which is the turnip tops, you could use Swiss chard. Anything kind of green and slightly
00:23 robust that you can cook, blanch and then finely chop and mix in some ricotta and some
00:28 parmesan cheese. So we've just got spinach here. So I've left the stalks on the spinach
00:33 so it's got a nice texture to it. And I'm just going to finely chop the blanched spinach
00:36 which I've squeezed out. Now it's important that you take out a lot of the water because
00:41 if it's too wet, the mixture will be too wet which will make the pasta soggy. So it's really
00:46 important to make sure that you've squeezed it out. Now I find if you blanch the spinach
00:52 and you then put it into a colander and let it cool down to room temperature it's much
00:57 better flavour than by putting it into ice cold water because when you put it in ice
01:00 cold water it dilutes the flavour. So it takes a little bit longer but you get a much nicer
01:05 result. So finely chop the spinach so it's really fine. You can leave a little bit of
01:10 texture in there but it's quite nice if it's nicely finely chopped. And then we're going
01:13 to add some ricotta cheese and we're going to add some parmesan and some salt and pepper.
01:19 So very, very simple filling. Okay, so we put the chopped spinach into a bowl. Then
01:24 we're going to add our ricotta cheese. So just lovely fresh ricotta. Mix that in together
01:31 with the spinach. And then we're going to add some parmesan. Nice amount of freshly
01:39 grated parmesan cheese. Some salt and pepper. Freshly ground black pepper and sea salt. Make
01:47 sure it's quite well seasoned because it's going to be blanched in the pasta so the filling
01:51 has to be really quite strong. Just mix the spinach and the ricotta and the parmesan.
01:57 Using a teaspoon we're going to put the filling. Now the temptation is to make really large
02:02 balls of filling. Make them very, very smallish because if they're too big when you push the
02:07 pasta together it's all going to come out the sides. It's very important. One, there's
02:10 a gap and two, it's very, very clean in between each ravioli. Otherwise what will happen is
02:14 the filling will get stuck in between the two sheets of pasta. So when it cooks it will
02:19 open up. Now if you're doing this on a larger scale or professional level you can use a
02:23 piping bag but I'm just using a teaspoon because we are cooking at home. Portions of filling
02:28 with a decent gap. Take at least two fingers in between each gap. Then what we're going
02:33 to do is get some water and we're going to run some cold water over each part of the
02:39 pasta dough. So basically it acts like a sealant, almost like a glue. So just some water, just
02:45 cold water, pastry brush, then rub that in between. Not too much, don't make it too wet
02:49 but just enough so it gives a bit of moisture. Then along the bottom of each bit of pasta
02:55 and then we just fold the pasta over. Just fold this over the top. The pasta is just
03:00 nice and slightly moist because I put that tea towel on top which kept it nice and juicy.
03:03 If you don't do that what will happen is when you fold it over the pasta will break and
03:07 crack and that is a disaster. So fold this over, push down, sort of pushing it almost
03:13 towards you but making sure that that bit of dough is not sticking to the other piece
03:18 of dough yet. Then using your two little fingers just push down and what we're trying to do
03:23 now is get rid of all of the air. There's no air in between the little pasta parcel
03:28 because if there's air and you pop it into the water what will happen is the air will
03:33 expand and explode. You'll end up with some horrible ravioli. That's all sealed and then
03:39 using the cup of your hand over the ravioli and push down and that will release all of
03:44 the air. So push down and then just keep pushing down so all that air comes out and you end
03:49 up with lovely sealed raviolis. Getting this as well and then we're going to get our cutter
03:54 and cut the ravioli. If you've got one the zigzag one even better but I've just got a
03:58 straight sided one here and then just cut along. Make sure that you've got those bits
04:02 of pasta sealed nicely. This side as well. Getting rid of the little trimmings of pasta
04:07 and then just cut the pasta and take off the surface and then once you've done that just
04:12 go through the ravioli and make sure that all the edges are sealed by literally picking
04:17 up each one and then just press so it's all sealed. It's definitely worth doing this because
04:22 if you don't then you might get a little hole in there. A little bit of semolina flour on
04:24 the bottom just to make sure it doesn't stick and then we're actually going to put this
04:28 onto a tray and pop it in the fridge. Now the temptation with anything that goes in
04:32 the fridge is to cover it with cling film. If you cover it with cling film what will
04:36 happen is the pasta will remain really soggy. You want the pasta to almost dry out and the
04:39 fridge is brilliant because it'll evaporate the moisture. Squeezing each edge and making
04:44 sure that filling is nice and tight inside and then once you've done that put it straight
04:50 in the fridge. Okay so the pasta's been in the fridge for about 20 minutes so it's got
04:57 a slight dryness to it so that when you cook it it'll have a lovely al dente bite. Now
05:01 if you have any leftover bits of pasta like here the best thing to do is just scrunch
05:05 them up and then put them through the pasta machine again and make some tagliatelle or
05:09 tagliarini. If they're a bit dry put them in the food processor with a little bit of
05:13 water and then just give it a quick blitz and then wrap it in cling film and use it
05:16 another time. But a good kitchen is a frugal kitchen so use up every scrap of pasta you
05:21 have left over. I'm going to now cook the ravioli. So just put the ravioli in one by
05:28 one in simmering water, not fast boil, just simmering water for three to four minutes
05:35 and then take the pasta out and put them into a pan with some butter and some sage and a
05:38 ladle of the pasta water. Move the pasta and the pan together so it emulsifies. So the
05:44 ravioli's really nice and emulsified, it's got the lovely kind of juice from the pasta
05:49 water and the butter and the sage. So we're just going to plate up, nice generous large
05:54 ravioli. So the sage is just soft, it's not fried, it's just kind of soft and it has a
05:59 nice lovely sort of flavour to it. It's really made the buttery sauce that goes with it.
06:05 Let's serve with some parmesan cheese and some black pepper. Very simple, very delicious
06:09 ravioli.
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