Heart-shaped Ravioli

Do something special for Valentine’s Day!  We tend to stay home vs. going out to a restaurant. Fresh pasta is relatively easy and each year I make these for our family Valentine’s Day dinner.

This Four Cheese Ravioli recipe is dated 2/10/2010 from Annie’s Eats, a food blog.  She has since changed her blog name to Everyday Annie and has expanded to a food, fashion, lifestyle and travel blog.

First, I make the cheese filling (you can also use any cheese combination you like). The basic egg pasta is made with eggs, water, olive oil, flour and salt.

After combining the ingredients in a stand mixer with a paddle, you then knead the dough for 1-2 minutes by hand.

After the dough rests for 20 minutes, you flatten it with a rolling pin so it will fit into a pasta sheet roller.  I have one from KitchenAid that attaches to the front of my mixer.   If you don’t have a pasta sheet roller, then you can do it the old fashioned way~~with a rolling pin.

The goal is to get the dough smooth and supple.  By passing it through the rollers (starting at #1, the widest setting), you continue folding and inserting into the roller until you reach the desired thickness (I went up to #4). See how the dough changes.

I have a variety of heart-shaped cookie cutters.  For this recipe I selected the red one, which is 3″ in diameter.  Annie’s recipe doesn’t specify a size so I guessed on this.

Next, I cut hearts out of the long length of pasta.

The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of filling, but I would guess that my hearts had 1 teaspoon of filling (therefore I wonder if a 5″ diameter heart would have been better?)

Dip a finger in water and lightly brush around the edges of the heart topped with filling.  Place one of the remaining pasta hearts on top and press edges together to seal.  Make sure to press out any excess air.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the ravioli until al dente, about 5 minutes.

Serve in warmed bowls with marinara sauce (or any sauce of your choice).

Also, if you live in Phoenix and don’t have the Pasta attachment for your KitchenAid, just let me know and I’m happy to lend it to you.

Bon appetit!

Pottery Barn Emma bowl, Wallace Napoleon Bee flatware, Ballard Design napkin

Here is the recipe for Heart-Shaped Four Cheese Ravioli.

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