If you ask me, you can’t go wrong with anything served with a homemade pesto sauce. Pesto sauce is one of the most simple sauces to make, yet one of the most flavorful as well. Fragrant basil leaves, buttery pine nuts, peeled garlic, salty Parmesan cheese, and quality olive oil and there you have it—a fresh sauce that you can use on everything from this cheese ravioli recipe, to sautéed vegetables, and even a nice mix-in with mayonnaise for a quick sandwich spread. (The recipe for incredible homemeade ravioli is included in this post, but feel free to also use your favorite store bought, fresh cheese ravioli as well!)
There is a secret ingredient in this recipe, courtesy of Chef Biagio Longo at Mami Camilla Cooking School—drumroll please…peanuts…ta da! That’s right, in addition to pine nuts Chef Biagio mixes in roasted, salted peanuts as well. It’s hard to pinpoint what the secret ingredient is when you taste this thick, lovely pesto sauce, but it makes sense; the peanuts add a certain richness to the texture of the pesto sauce that is truly unforgettable.
(To view the recipe click on the blue title of the blog post above*)
Cheese Ravioli with Pesto Sauce
Ingredients:
- Recipes courtesy of Mami Camilla Cooking School*
- FOR THE PESTO SAUCE
- In a food processor combine 2 bunches fresh basil leaves, 2 tablespoons pine nuts, 2 tablespoons salted peanuts, 1 garlic clove, peeled, 1 cup of parmesan cheese, a pinch of salt. Mix until well chopped. With the food processor running, pour in 1 cup of extra virgin olive oil until the sauce is blended well.
- FOR THE RAVIOLI (feel free to use your favorite store bought, fresh cheese ravioli as well)
- 800 grams all-purpose fl our
- Boiling water
- Dash of salt
- 2 egg whites, lightly whisked for egg wash
- On a flat work surface form well with flour. Gradually add just enough boiling water to make a medium
- hard dough. Continue to work dough until it’s well blended and compact. Cut dough in 4 pieces; form squares about the width of pasta machine; dust well with extra flour.
- Feed dough through pasta machine set on n.10; fold in half; repeat. Dust with flour; feed dough through machine set on number 7. Dough ough will begin to thin and lengthen. Dust with flour; arrange dough in ribbon folds; feed into the machine on number 5. Repeat process until all dough has been used.
- Fold each piece of pasta in half to mark mid-point; open and lay flat. Using 2.5-centimeter ravioli cutter, lightly mark circles in double rows along one half of dough. Leave about 1-centimeter between circles to allow for cutting. Using pastry bag, pipe 1 tablespoon of filling in center of each circle.
- Spread egg white wash along edges of dough. Fold other half of dough over filling. Use slightly smaller round form to lightly stretch dough over filling. Press edges with fingers to seal.
- Cut each ravioli with cutter. Place on floured surface to dry. Cook in salted boiling water until ravioli floats to the top; remove with large slotted spoon.
- Add cooked ravioli to pesto sauce. Heat over low heat for about 2 minutes or until pasta is well coated. Garish with Parmesan cheese and fresh basil. Serve immediately.
- RAVIOLI FILLING
- 750 grams ricotta cheese
- 750 grams fresh mozzarella cheese, chopped
- 200 grams Parmesan cheese, grated
- 10 egg yolks
- ½ teaspoon finely ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- Combine all filling ingredients until well blended.
Directions:
Tagged: basil, cheese ravioli, culinary school, externship, Italy, Mami Camilla cooking school, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, peanuts, pesto sauce, pine nuts, ravioli, Sorrento
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