MEAT RAVIOLI WITH ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE

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101. The Elegant Art of Trailer Park White Trash Mobile Home Cooking—copyright 2012 www.white-trash-cooking.com, all rights reserved.

RAVIOLI WITH ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE

Serves 8 to 10.By Dennis W. Viau; from recipes found on the Internet.

I wanted an excuse to experiment with a sauce made from oven-roasted tomatoes. I’ve made ravioli plenty of times, but never such a sauce. I tasted a similar sauce in a chefs’ demonstration and I wanted to duplicate that sauce for my own recipe collection. This recipe worked very well.

Ingredients:For the Pasta:2 large eggs½ teaspoon salt¾ cup (128g) pasta flour (durum wheat semolina)¾ cup (110g) all-purpose flour (or 1½ cups (220g) all purpose flour if pasta flour is unavailable)For the Meat Filling:2 tablespoons olive oil¼ large onion; chopped and caramelized4 ounces (113g) ground beef4 ounces (113g) ground pork1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley¼ teaspoon ground black pepper½ teaspoon dried thyme½ teaspoon dried oregano flakes1 clove garlic; mincedGenerous grating (1/8 teaspoon) fresh nutmeg¾ teaspoon salt2 eggs (one for egg wash)¼ cup (¾ ounce / 21g) bread crumbsFor the Sauce:4 pounds (1.8kg) ripe Roma tomatoes4 garlic cloves; whole, not peeled2 tablespoons olive oil¾ large onion; chopped1 cup beef broth2 anchovy filletsGenerous grating (1/8 teaspoon) fresh nutmeg8 to 9 Italian parsley (flat leaf) stalks, leaves only; finely chopped6 to 8 basil leaves; finely chopped or cut into chiffonade (see Step 23 below)Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions:The pasta dough will need to rest for at least an hour; so start it first by breaking the eggs into a mixing bowl and adding most of the two types of flour with the salt. Combine until you have a dough dry enough to knead. Transfer to a clean surface and knead, working in additional flour, until you have a stiff dough. Wrap in plastic and let rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

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While the dough is resting, prepare the tomatoes for roasting by cutting an “X” in the bottom of each tomato. Heat water to boiling in a large pot. Submerge the tomatoes, a few at a time, in the boiling water and cook less than a minute. Remove from the water and set aside to cool until safe to handle. Peel and discard the skin. Cut each tomato in half across the middle. Remove and discard the seeds.

Heat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Line one or two roasting pans with parchment paper and place the tomatoes in the pan. Fold the garlic cloves in a piece of parchment paper and place in the pan with the tomatoes. Roast for about 1 hour, until the tomatoes are well browned on the bottom. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

While tomatoes are roasting, heat oil in a skillet and sauté the onion until caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes, reducing the heat periodically as the onions cook and gain color. Remove from the pan and divide the onions into ¼ and ¾ portions to be used in the meat filling and the sauce, respectively.

Heat oil in the skillet and sauté the ground meat until cooked thoroughly, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the parsley, black pepper, thyme, oregano, garlic, and nutmeg. Cook an additional minute. Adjust for salt. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. Place the meat with the ¼ caramelized onion prepared earlier in a food processor and process briefly to reduce the size of the meat chunks. Transfer to a bowl and mix with the bread crumbs and the egg. Cover and set aside until needed.

Heat the beef broth in a large skillet to boiling. Add the anchovy fillets. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer to reduce the liquid to less than half.

Place roasted tomatoes in a food processor. Open the garlic packet and cut open each of the garlic cloves. Squeeze the roasted garlic from each clove into the tomatoes. Process the tomatoes until smooth. Add to the reduced beef broth and combine. The sauce can be thickened, if needed, by simmering over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching. Season with salt and pepper. Add chopped fresh parsley and basil. Remove from the heat and set aside. It can be heated when needed.

Using a pasta machine, roll the pasta dough into thin sheets, dusting with flour as needed to prevent sticking to the machine rollers. Roll the dough thinner than is typical for noodles because the ravioli will be made with two sheets of pasta dough and therefore the thickness will be doubled. Spoon small amounts of meat filling onto one sheet of pasta, leaving space in between. Brush the sheet between the filling with an egg wash made from an egg white and a teaspoon of water. Press a second sheet of pasta dough onto the first, carefully pressing the dough around the filling to eliminate as much air as possible and sealing the two sheets together where brushed with egg wash. Cut the ravioli with a knife or fluted cutting wheel (or other ravioli gadget).

Heat water to boiling in a large pot. Boil the ravioli until the pasta dough is cooked, about 1 minute, and then drain.

Arrange ravioli on serving plates and spoon sauce on top. Garnish with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese, if desired, and additional basil cut in chiffonade. Serve warm.

The Step By Step guide begins on the following page.

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STEP-BY-STEP1

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Here is the mise en place I always use for making fresh pasta. Some cooks prefer to work with all durum wheat semolina pasta flour for a more al dente pasta. I think using half all-purpose flour and half pasta flour gives me the best texture. Some cooks also like to add a little water to the dough. I don’t because it makes the pasta less al dente. I do add a little olive oil because it helps make the pasta dough smooth.

At one time, durum wheat semolina pasta flour was difficult to find. I used to drive into the city to the Italian market to buy it. Now I see it in most grocery stores, one within walking distance of my home.

Break the two eggs into a mixing bowl. Add the salt and most of the two kinds of flour. Mix until you have a dough that is dry enough to knead. It will still be crumbly at this stage.

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Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and start kneading, pressing the dough together. It will eventually come together into a single mass. If it fails to gather into a ball, try adding a little egg white. If too sticky, add flour at little at a time.

When you have a single ball of dough, knead it a little until smooth and then wrap it in plastic. Let it rest in the refrigerator at least an hour. The resting time will improve the texture of the dough, making it easier to work with as you shape it.

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While the dough is resting, assemble your ingredients for the sauce. Beef broth might seem a little odd, but it works well with the flavor of oven-roasted tomatoes.

Prepare the tomatoes for boiling and peeling by cutting an “X” in the bottom of each one. This will make it easy to remove the skin later.

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Heat water to boiling and add the tomatoes, a few at a time, and cook less than a minute. This will cook the pulp beneath the skin, allowing it to peel away easily.

Remove the tomatoes from the boiling water and set aside to cool. They can be cooled quickly in a bowl of cold water. When all are boiled and cooled, start peeling off and discard the skin.

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Cut each tomato in half by cutting across through the middle. To remove the seeds, you can squeeze the tomato to force out the seeds. I use the tip of my knife to cut along the white-ish part in the center, where the seeds attach, and then simply help them out with the point of the knife. I thus don’t risk damaging the pulp by squeezing (not that it would matter in this recipe).

Line a baking pan (or two) with parchment paper and place the tomatoes, cut side up, in the pan. Heat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

I am going to roast the garlic with the tomatoes. Place the garlic cloves, still in their skin, in the center of a piece of parchment paper. Roll up the paper to enclose the cloves.

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Fold up the rolled paper from each end to meet in the middle and staple or clip with a pin or paper clip.

Place the garlic packet in the baking pan with the tomatoes. These are now ready to bake for about 1 hour. These four pounds of tomatoes required two baking pans.

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Assemble your ingredients for making the meat filling. Although I am showing raw onion here, I cooked all the onion in one step, thus saving a little time.

While the tomatoes are roasting, chop a large onion. Heat oil in a skillet and add the onion. Sauté over medium-heat until the onion becomes tender and translucent. Reduce the heat and continue cooking until the onions are caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. As the moisture cooks away you will need to keep reducing the heat a little. Toward the end of the cooking time the heat will be at its lowest setting.

Divide the cooked onions, setting aside ¼ for the meat filling and ¾ for the sauce.

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To break up the meat fine enough to prevent lumpy ravioli, I find it best to chop it in a food processor along with the ¼ of the caramelized onion that was set aside in an earlier step.

Heat a skillet and add the oil. Sauté the ground meat until it is thoroughly cooked, 4 to 5 minutes, and then add the thyme, oregano, pepper, chopped garlic, and chopped parsley. Cook an additional minute. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.

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Add the bread crumbs and taste for salt. The meat mixture will be crumbly. After adjusting for salt, add the egg and mix well. For a smoother meat mixture that will hold together better (making it a little easier to work with), you can add additional egg white. I don’t mind it a little crumbly.

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Heat the beef broth in a skillet until boiling and add the anchovy fillets. The fillets will quickly break up into the liquid. Lower the heat to medium-low and reduce the liquid until less than half its original volume.

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Place the roasted tomatoes, garlic, and the remaining ¾ of caramelized onion in a food processor and process until smooth.

After an hour the tomatoes should be browned, even a little blackened, on the bottom and top. Allow to cool until comfortable to handle. Open the garlic packet and cut off the bottom tip of each garlic clove. Squeeze out the roasted garlic and place with the roasted tomatoes.

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Add the tomato purée to the reduced beef broth and mix well. The sauce can be thickened further, if necessary, by cooking over medium-low heat, stirring often to prevent scorching.

Adjust for salt and add the chopped parsley and some of the basil, reserving the remaining basil for garnish before serving. This sauce is done. Remove from the heat and set aside.

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When working with fresh basil, I like to roll the leaves into a little bundle and then slice the leaves very thinly. This is a chiffonade. Julienne is like little strings. Chiffonade is like little threads.

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To begin shaping the ravioli, set up your pasta machine. You can use a fluted cutting wheel to separate the individual ravioli. Many cookware stores sell additional ravioli gadgets, such as a molding tray or an attachment for pasta machines. I also have two round cutters, one large and one small, for making ravioli. Or you can simply use a knife to divide the ravioli. The flour duster is for dusting the dough.

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Roll a thin sheet of pasta dough, dusting it with flour to prevent it from sticking to the rollers. The dough for ravioli is typically rolled thinner than for noodles because the pasta will be doubled when shaping the ravioli. Mix an egg white with a teaspoon of water for an egg wash. Place a little of the meat filling on the dough, leaving space between, and brush the dough with egg wash.

Fold the dough over, or place a second sheet on top, and press the dough sheets together well to seal, being careful to eliminate as much air as possible around the meat filling.

Using your cutting tool, cut the individual ravioli shapes. Here you see four shapes, three cut with a large round cutter, two smaller rounds, two squares cut with a fluted cutting wheel, and two ravioli cut with a knife.

Heat water to boiling in a large pot. Cook the ravioli about 1 minute and then drain.

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ConclusionHomemade ravioli are a labor of love. This is a meal that will keep you in the kitchen most of the day. For those very special occasions when you want to present your guests or loved-ones with a delicious and beautiful plate of food, homemade ravioli has a lot of presentation value.

Plate the ravioli and spoon on some roasted tomato sauce. Garnish lightly with some of the basil chiffonade. The ravioli can be garnished with grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.

Shown above are all of the ravioli shapes I cut for this demonstration.

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MEAT RAVIOLI WITH ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE