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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00:00Hello my name is Theo Randall from Theo Randall at the Intercontinental. Today
00:03I'm going to show you how to make ravioli.
00:10So first of all we're going to start with the filling. So the filling we have
00:12some spinach, now you can do anything you want, you
00:15could use broccoli, you could use the classic chimo de
00:19rapé which is the turnip tops, you could use swiss chard,
00:22anything kind of green and slightly robust that you can cook
00:26and then finely chop and mix in some ricotta and some parmesan cheese.
00:30So we've just got spinach here, so I've left the stalks on the spinach so it's
00:33got a nice texture to it, then I'm just going to finely chop the
00:36blanched spinach which I've squeezed out. Now it's important that you take out a
00:39lot of the water because if it's too wet the mixture
00:43will be too wet which will make the pasta soggy.
00:45So it's really important to make sure that you squeezed it out.
00:50Now I find if you blanch the spinach and you then put it into a colander let it
00:54cool down to room temperature it's much better
00:57flavour than by putting it into ice-cold water because when you put in
01:00ice-cold water it dilutes the flavour so it takes a
01:03little bit longer but you get a much nicer result.
01:06So finely chop the spinach so it's really fine,
01:09you can leave a little bit of texture in there but it's quite nice if it's nicely
01:12finely chopped and then we're going to add some
01:14ricotta cheese and we're going to add some parmesan and some salt and pepper.
01:19So very very simple filling. Okay so we put the
01:22chopped spinach into a bowl then we're going to add
01:26our ricotta cheese so just lovely fresh ricotta.
01:30Mix that in together with the spinach and then we're going to add some
01:37parmesan, a nice amount of freshly grated parmesan cheese,
01:41some salt and pepper, freshly ground black pepper
01:45and sea salt. Make sure it's quite well seasoned because
01:49it's going to be blanched in the pasta so the filling has to be really quite
01:53strong. Just mix the spinach and the ricotta
01:56and the parmesan. Using a teaspoon we're going to put the
02:00filling. Now the temptation is to make really large
02:02balls of filling, make them very very quite smallish because if they're too
02:06big when you push the pasta together it's all going to come out the sides.
02:09It's very important, one there's a gap and two it's very very clean in between
02:12each ravioli otherwise what will happen is the filling
02:15will get stuck in between the two sheets of pasta so when it cooks
02:19it will open up. Now if you're doing this on a larger scale or professional level
02:23you can use a piping bag but I'm just using a teaspoon because we
02:26are cooking at home. Portions of filling with a decent gap
02:29and take at least two fingers in between each
02:32each gap. Then what we're going to do we're just going to get some water and we're
02:35going to run some cold water over each part of the
02:39pasta dough so basically acts like a sealant so like almost like a glue.
02:44So just some water, just cold water, pastry brush,
02:47then rub that in between, not too much, don't make it too wet but just enough so
02:50it gives a bit of moisture and then along the
02:53bottom of each bit of pasta and then we just fold the pasta over.
02:57Just fold this over the top, pasta's just nice,
03:00slightly moist because I put that tea towel on top which kept it nice and
03:03juicy. If you don't do that what'll happen is when you fold it over the
03:06pasta will break and crack and that is a disaster. So fold this over,
03:12push down, sort of pushing it almost towards you but making sure that that
03:16bit of dough is not sticking to the other piece of dough yet and
03:19then using your two little fingers just push down and what we're trying
03:23to do now is get rid of all of the air. There's no air in between the little
03:27pasta parcel because if there's air and you pop it into the
03:32water what'll happen is the air will expand and explode.
03:35You'll end up with some horrible ravioli. That's all sealed and then using the cup
03:40of your hand, over the ravioli and push down and that
03:43will release all of the air. So push down and then just keep pushing
03:47down so all that air comes out and you end up with lovely sealed
03:51raviolis. Getting this as well and then we're going to get our cutter
03:54and cut the ravioli. If you've got one the zigzag one even better but I've just
03:58got a straight sided one here and then just cut along,
04:00make sure that you've got those bits of pasta sealed nicely. This side as well,
04:05getting rid of the little trimmings of pasta and then just cut the pasta
04:09and take off the surface and then once you've done that
04:12just go through the ravioli and make sure that all the edges
04:16are sealed by literally picking up each one and then just press
04:19so it's all sealed. It's definitely worth doing this because if you don't then you
04:22might get a little hole in there. A little bit of semolina flour on the
04:25bottom just to make sure it doesn't stick and then
04:27we're actually going to put this onto a tray and pop it in the fridge. Now
04:30the temptation with anything goes in the fridge is to cover it with cling film.
04:34If you cover it with cling film what will happen is the pasta will remain
04:37really soggy. You want the pasta to almost dry out and the fridge is
04:40brilliant because it'll evaporate the moisture. Squeezing
04:43each edge and making sure that filling is nice and
04:46tight inside and then once you've done that put it
04:50straight in the fridge.
04:54Okay so the pasta's been in the fridge for about 20 minutes so it's got a
04:57slight dryness to it so when you cook it'll have a lovely
05:00al dente bite. Now if you have any leftover bits of pasta like here
05:04the best thing to do is just scrunch them up and then put them through
05:07the pasta machine again and make some tagliatelle or tagliarini. If they're a
05:10bit dry put them in the food processor with a little bit of water
05:14and then just give it a quick blitz and then wrap it in cling film and use it
05:16another time. But a good kitchen is a frugal kitchen
05:19so use up every scrap of pasta you have left over.
05:22I'm going to now cook the ravioli.
05:27So just put the ravioli in one by one in simmering water, not fast boil, just
05:32simmering water for three to four minutes and then take the pasta out and
05:36put them into a pan with some butter and some sage and a ladle of the pasta
05:40water. Move the pasta in the pan together so
05:42it emulsifies. So the ravioli is really nice and
05:45emulsified, it's got the lovely kind of juice from the pasta water and the
05:49butter and the sage. So we're just going to plate up, nice
05:52generous large ravioli. So that sage, just the sage
05:57is just soft, it's not fried it's just kind of soft and it has a nice
06:00lovely sort of flavour to it, it's really made the buttery
06:04sauce that goes with it. Let's serve with some parmesan cheese and some black
06:07pepper. Very simple, very delicious ravioli.