Candied Walnut Ravioli

These delectable pockets of pasta are filled with a salty-sweet cheese and nut filling which marries well with a variety of pasta sauces. If you’re in a rush, wrap the filling in wonton wrappers instead of making fresh pasta. This recipe comes to us from Michelle of It’s a Dog’s Life.

Serves 4

For the filling:

• 1/2 cup candied walnuts
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 cup low fat ricotta cheese
• 1 egg

For the pasta:

• 2 cups flour
  3 eggs

To prepare the filling:

In a food processor, pulse the walnuts until they are lightly ground.

Add the grated parmesan cheese, ricotta and the egg to the food processor and blend until it is a stiff paste. Set aside.

To prepare the pasta:

Pour the flour into a large bowl in a large mound. Make a well in the center of the flour mound. Crack eggs into the well.

Using a fork or your hands, kneed dough until it gets smooth, adding a little water if dough is too dry. Let dough rest on a floured surface at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.

Cut dough into quarters. Using a pasta maker or a rolling pin, roll out the 4 pieces of dough into long strips. The strips of dough should be about 12 inches long and 2-3 inches wide.

Spread out the strips of dough. Scoop filling about 1 tablespoon at a time onto 2 of the strips of dough, spacing them out a little more than an inch at each side. You should be able to fit about 10 tablespoons of filling on each piece of dough, spaced out.

Cover the 2 strips of dough with walnut filling with the other 2 strips of dough. Squeeze the dough around the mounds of filling to get the air out.

Using a pizza cutter or knife cut the dough and filling into raviolis. Using a fork, crimp the ravioli’s edges.

Set ravioli aside while you bring a large pot of water to a simmer. Do not drop raviolis in rapidly boiling water or they will fall apart. When water is heated and simmering, drop 4-5 raviolis in the pot at a time, being careful not to crowd. Cook raviolis in simmering water for about 5 minutes, or until raviolis float to the top. Repeat cooking process for the remaining 3 or 4 batches, until all 20 raviolis are cooked. Drizzle a touch of olive oil onto any ravioli you are not eating immediately, so leftovers don’t stick together.

Serve the ravioli with your favorite pasta sauce, or with olive oil, fresh basil and parmesan cheese.