Making pasta from scratch doesn’t need to be difficult – and it’s a great way to turn a routine family meal into something fun and out of the ordinary! This is my favorite homemade ravioli dough stuffed with flavors of the Chesapeake!
The more I cook, the more I realize that once you’ve found the right flavor combinations, they become really versatile. And you find you can serve them up in a lot of ways. Combined in salads, on top of pizza, stuffed in tacos, and – what’s rapidly becoming my favorite lately – in ravioli.
I love pasta made from scratch – and you’ll understand that if you’ve had it yourself – but it’s often a pain to make. Because I used to make mine the old fashioned way. Mixed, kneaded, and then rolled out over and over and over again on my grandmother’s old crank pasta press.
But my husband splurged on our last anniversary and bought me the pasta attachment for my stand mixer, and I have to tell you, that was a total game changer!
One day, I will install a tile backsplash. I swear.
But let’s talk pasta attachment. Is it worth it? Well, how much do you like pasta? And how much do you think about the ingredients that go in your pasta? In my case, I’m either trying out gluten-free recipes inspired by my sister-in-law or I’m trying to make something for my family that doesn’t have a ton of cheese and dairy since my husband can’t have that, so I care a lot.
And let’s add on top of that just how easy it makes it to roll out these ravioli sheets. I made this dough and worked it a bit before I let it rest. Then I cut it into quarters and rolled those out on my cutting board until they were thin enough to work with. Then I ran them right through the roller. And oh man, being able to just run them through the roller and not having to crank or have my husband crank while I fed the dough through? Whole new experience.
It didn’t take me long to go from a bowl of pasta dough to these little happy dough-covered mounds of crabcake deliciousness…
Which I then cut out with my favorite ravioli cutter…
And turned into a whole ton of these…
These were a little thicker than I normally want them – I normally like my ravioli dough from 1/8 to 1/16-inch thick – but the filling was a a little juicy. I didn’t want it breaking through the dough or causing them to break when I cooked them. But they turned out just fine!
Add a little brown butter sauce and sprinkle some fresh parsley, and you’ve got an absolutely delicious dinner that our whole family enjoyed!
Here are some of our favorite other ravioli filling ideas that I hope to be sharing soon:
- Fresh corn, basil, and ricotta
- Mixed mushrooms and herbs
- Four cheese – ricotta, fontina, mozzarella, and parmesan
- Autumn spice sweet potato
- Beef Wellington
- Brown butter lobster with tomato cream sauce
- Sausage caprese
Oh, and I already shared this butternut squash version with sun dried tomatoes!
Just a word of caution – if you, like me, have a heavy hand with the Old Bay, make sure your family likes spice. It has a little bit of a bite to it. My son goes headfirst into spice and will turn his nose up at bland, so I added plenty of extra Old Bay to the filling and a dash to the brown butter as well!
Here are some tips to remember when you’re making your ravioli dough:
- Make a well in the middle of the flour for your egg. You can use your stand mixer with a dough hook or do this with a bowl, but start mixing the egg and olive oil in the middle of the well, letting it pick up flour from the sides as you mix.
- Know when you’ve got enough flour. The dough will let you know. It will become smooth and stretchy and will stop picking up the flour. And when you’ve mixed it and kneaded it enough, you’ll know because if you poke the dough, your finger dent should bounce back.
- Keep the dough covered so it doesn’t dry out. Pasta loses its moisture quickly, so when you’ve got it uncovered, roll it out quickly so it doesn’t dry out. Cover it with a damp kitchen towel to help rehydrate it if it cracks or starts coming apart.
Okay! With that, let’s make some ravioli!
Homemade Crab Ravioli
Equipment
- 1 pasta roller
- 1 ravioli cutter
Ingredients
For the Ravioli Dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 ea eggs large
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 1 tsp salt kosher
For the Crab Filling:
- 1/3 cup red pepper chopped
- 1/2 cup onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- 6 oz lump crab meat drained, flaked, and picked
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- 1/4 tsp black pepper freshly cracked
For the Brown Butter Sauce:
- 6 tbsp butter
- 1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
- parsley fresh and chopped for garnish
Instructions
- Set a skillet over medium heat. Melt the 2 tbsp butter and saute the chopped red pepper, onion, and garlic over medium heat for about 4 minutes or until tender.
- In a small bowl, combine the crab, lemon juice, black pepper, and Old Bay seasoning, and mix in the pepper and onion mixture until well combined. Set aside (refrigerating makes it easier to scoop into mounds for the filling).
- Place the 2 cups flour in a large bowl. Make a large well in the center.
- Beat the eggs and oil together, and pour into the well in the flour. Stir the mixture until it won’t pick up any more flour and forms a ball. Turn the ball out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Add additional flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking. If it’s dry, try kneading in just a little bit of olive oil.
- Cover dough and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Divide pasta dough into quarters. Roll 1 portion to 1/16-inch thickness. Place rounded teaspoons of filling 1-inch apart over half of the pasta sheet. Fold the sheet over and press down to seal. Cut squares with a knife or pastry cutter. Repeat with the other quarters until you have used all your dough and filling.
- Bring a large pot of water, lightly salted, to a boil. Carefully add the ravioli and reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook until the ravioli float to the top and are tender, about 3-5 minutes. Drain the ravioli.
- For the brown butter sauce, cook the 6 tbsp of butter in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the butter begins to turn a golden brown (3 minutes), turn off the heat, and let cool for about 1 minute.
- Serve the ravioli with a couple spoonfuls of brown butter and some fresh chopped parsley for garnish.
Notes
Pairing suggestion: A buttery chardonnay! We like Eden Road or Stag’s Leap for this, but you can pick your own as long as it’s buttery. What makes a chardonnay buttery? Malolactic fermentation. It’s a type of fermentation that triggers a chemical conversion in the acids that gives the wine a creamy feel and a popcorn smell! You also can get this in a Viognier and a Sauvignon Blanc.
What filling recipe should we make and share next? What is your favorite ravioli filling?
Here’s wishing everyone a great week!