If you missed the previous Battles of the Pasta, you can read a blow-by-blow account of epic kitchen warfare here and here.

When I first encountered magical morel mushrooms, the deep earthy flavors filled my mind with fantasies of ravioli pillows filled with mushrooms and sage cased in a brown butter sauce. To find this fantasy in a restaurant would mean traveling for days, and the thought of making my own ravioli quickly turned any fantasy into a sweat-inducing nightmare. So I firmly pushed the notion out of my head and returned to enjoying my morel risotto.

However this year when the magic morels sprung through the earth once more, the fantasy returned with a vengeance. This time it wasn’t nice- it nagged. “You have a new pasta maker just sitting there” it said. “But I’m still recovering from the last pasta battle!” I protested. “Think of the flavors”, it pleaded. “This risotto is quite nice” I replied. Finally my fantasy pulled out the big guns, “You could use bacon.” I was a goner.

I gathered my weapons, and called in Mr. B for reinforcements. We rolled up our sleeves and steeled ourselves for another long floury battle (i.e. we had a beer). Then, hoping to draw on the lessons of The Paupered Chef who fought his own battles with ravioli, we dove in.

Making the Ravioli Dough and Fillings

The dough came together easily. With the wisdom gained from experience, I made sure that the mix was not too dry. As I rolled out the long sheets of dough, it went surprisingly well. Making sure to mist the dough with water if it looked dry, or sprinkle it with a little flour if it looked wet, the dough happily ran back and forth between the pasta rollers. Excitedly I looked over at Mr. B and exclaimed, “It’s working!” Soon I had a two foot long very thin sheet of pasta ready for ravioli filling. I thought, “This is too good to be true!”. It was.

When we layered the second sheet on top of the ravioli filling, and patted out any air bubbles I noticed that I could see the filling through the pasta sheet quite easily. “Well it will probably be really tender ravioli” I thought. We used a small biscuit cutter to cut out the ravioli circles, and then gently transferred them to a plate. Remembering my potsticker disaster, I avoided stacking the ravioli on top of each other and soon filled several plates with the little circles. Once all of the ravioli were formed, I put a large pot of salted water on to boil. When the water was boiling rapidly I picked up a plate of ravioli and walked over to the pot. I reached down to pick up a ravioli and it wouldn’t’ budge. Slightly concerned, I tried to pick up another one. It didn’t move either. Nudging all the ravioli on the plate confirmed my worst fears. They were stuck to the plate.

Assembling the Ravioli and Making the Sauce

Mr. B looked crestfallen, fully aware that this annihilated any hope of eating dinner before 9 PM. I set the plate down and began to gently tug, pull, and use all my skills to free the ravioli. It was a lost cause. I could not get them off of the plate without tearing a big hole in the bottom of each one. Watching our dinner fall apart before my eyes, I frantically looked around the kitchen. Making more dough was out of the question, as we wanted to eat before midnight. Then I spotted leftover scraps of dough crumpled on the counter. Ah ha! Maybe, just maybe, I could gather the discarded dough and win this battle. I re-rolled the scraps and cut out additional circles. Then I took each circle and used it to cover up the holes, basically creating a double-layer ravioli. We managed to patch together enough ravioli for a meal, and proceeded to throw those in the boiling water.

Once the ravioli were cooked, I tossed them with a sauce of butter, bacon, spring onions, and asparagus. Then they were nestled onto plates, with one plate of ravioli containing a morel filling and the second an Italian pork filling. A quick grating of cheese on top, and dinner was finally ready at 10pm on a Sunday night. Exhausted and covered in flour, we picked up our forks and took a bite. Despite being thoroughly abused, the ravioli had somehow managed to survive. I wouldn’t call them tender, but they were still delicious. Flavors of earthy morels, sage, brown butter, and bacon danced across my tongue. Getting there was a nightmare, but my fantasy of morel ravioli was finally a happy reality.

Dinner at Last

Ravioli Two Ways (Printable Recipe)
Dough Recipe adapted from The Paupered Chef
Serves 4

Ingredients:

Dough
3 1/2 cups flour (all purpose flour works very well here)
1 teaspoon salt
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons water

Morel Mushroom and Sage Filling
1/2 cup minced onion
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 cup minced morel mushrooms (about 6-8 mushrooms)
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons sage
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Italian Pork Filling
1 pound ground pork
1/2 cup minced onion
1/3 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tablespoon minced garlic
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
2 teaspoons basil
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Sauce
4 strips of thick bacon, cut into 1″ lengths
4 Tablespoons butter
4 Tablespoons olive oil
2 cups asparagus, cut into 1/2″ lengths
2 cups spring onions, cut into 1/2″ lengths
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pasta water (reserved from draining the pasta)

Grated Parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper

Directions:

Make the Dough
In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Add eggs, oil, and water. Whisk until ingredients are combined, and then dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until you notice a change in texture. The surface of the dough should have a smooth and stretchy feel. If the dough feels too dry, spritz it with water and continue kneading it in. If it feels too sticky then add in a little flour. Wrap finished dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minutes.

Make the Fillings
While the dough rests, assemble the ravioli fillings. For the morel filling, in a medium bowl combine onion, garlic, mushrooms, Parmesan cheese, salt, sage, and ground pepper. Stir ingredients gently until well combined. Set aside. For the pork filling, in a medium bowl combine pork, onion, Parmesan cheese, garlic, balsamic vinegar, thyme, oregano, basil, salt, and ground pepper. Stir filling until ingredients are well combined. Set aside.

Roll out the Dough
Take the ball of dough and cut it into four equally sized pieces. Press each piece into a rough rectangle shape to fit through your pasta machine rollers. Place a damp kitchen towel over the dough that you are not rolling, to keep it from drying out. Carefully run a rectangle of dough through your pasta rollers, beginning on the largest setting. Work the dough through the rollers, reducing the setting after every two or three passes of the dough, until you are finally have a dough that is about 1/16th of an inch thick. If the dough is translucent, it is too thin. If your dough is sticking to the rollers, dust it with flour. If the dough is crumbling then it is likely too dry, mist it with water and try again. Once the dough is about 12″ x 5″ long and the right thickness, set it on a lightly floured counter top. Repeat the process until all the dough is rolled out, covering the finished sheets with a damp towel to keep them from drying out. (Do NOT stack the sheets of dough!)

Make the Ravioli
Place 1 teaspoon of the filling of your choice on one sheet of dough, leaving a 1/2″ space between the filling and the edge of the dough and a 1″ gap between piles of filling. Lay a second sheet of dough over the top of the filling. Using your fingers, gently press around each mound of filling, pressing out any air between the sheets of dough. Using a small round biscuit cutter or a small wine glass, cut out the ravioli. Use your fingers to press gently around the edges of each ravioli, making sure the seams are closed. Set the finished ravioli on a surface or plate that is lightly dusted with flour. (Do NOT stack the ravioli!) Repeat this process with the remaining two sheets of dough.

Prepare the Sauce and Cook the Ravioli
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. While water is coming to a boil, make the sauce.

Place a heavy medium-sized skillet over medium heat. Add bacon to the skillet, and cook until almost crispy, about 6 minutes. Remove bacon from skillet with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add butter and olive oil to the skillet. Once butter is beginning to foam, add asparagus and onions to the pan. Saute until asparagus is al dente and onions are tender, about 4 minutes. Turn off heat, and move pan off of the burner.

Once the water is boiling, add the ravioli to the pot. Turn down the heat to keep the water at a gentle boil – too strong and you risk damaging the ravioli. Cook the ravioli for 3 minutes, and then taste one for doneness. If the texture is to your liking, turn off the heat. If not then cook for 1 more minute and taste again. Immediately take 1/2 cup of the pasta water out of the pot, and set aside. Then quickly move the ravioli with a slotted spoon into the pan with the sauce. Add the reserved pasta water into the pan along with the salt and bacon. Gently stir to coat the ravioli with the sauce. Once ravioli is well coated, dish it into individual plates and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper.