Ricotta Ravioli

Sift the flour and salt together and make a mound on a clean working surface. Make a well in the middle of the flour mixture large enough to hold all of the cracked eggs.

Add the eggs and the egg yoke into the well of the flour mixture. With a fork, carefully break the eggs apart and begin to incorporate the flour slowly with the eggs.

Once it starts to come together, knead the dough by hand for 8-10 minutes, pressing the dough down with the heel of your hand and turning it together.

After 8 minutes, if the dough seems too dry, wet your fingers with water and continue kneading. If it seems too wet or sticky, add a small amount of flour. The consistency should be similar to play-dough by the time you are done kneading it.

Roll the dough into a tight ball and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rest for at least 30 minutes before working with it!

While the ravioli dough is resting, mix the ricotta cheese with the grated parmesan, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Taste it and adjust seasonings to your liking.

After the dough has rested, divide it into 4 equal parts. Only work with one part at a time and make sure the other parts are covered so they don’t dry out.

If you don’t have a pasta roller, take a rolling pin and work the dough out from the center to the edges. You will want to make a rectangle about 16”x6”. It will be thin enough to see light filtering through the pasta sheet, but it should not have holes or fall apart. If it is too thick, you will end up with gummy, chewy pasta.

Make a mental line through the length of your pasta sheet. Take 6 heaping tablespoons of the ricotta filling and place them on one half of the pasta, making sure to leave a small amount of space between them to seal it.

Dip your finger in water and wet the edges of the pasta sheet and in between each of the mounds of ricotta filling.

Fold the empty half of the pasta sheet over the side with the ricotta filling and carefully press down between the heaps of ricotta, working the air bubbles outward and sealing the ravioli together. As soon as all of the edges are well sealed, take a fluted pasta cutter or just a pizza cutter and carefully cut between the ravioli and along the sealed edges of the raviolis.

Do steps 8-10 with the other sheets of pasta.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a gentle boil. Carefully add the stuffed and prepared raviolis. Simmer them for about 5 minutes. Remove one of them and test it for doneness before removing the others. Enjoy!