Fresh Ravioli with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms and Shallots

February 4, 2021

Ravioli is such a classic. Whether you you are an adult enjoying delicate handmade ravioli on a date night or a kid microwaving the canned stuff, ravioli hits the spot. It is most common filled with ricotta or ground beef and served in a red sauce, but that is definitely not the only way to enjoy these delicate pasta pockets.

From butternut squash to lobster, you can find some really fantastic recipes for ravioli filling out there. Today’s recipe will fill our fresh ravioli with Italian sausage, mushrooms and shallots. It is rich and flavorful, but first you need to master the art of making your own ravioli…

We will start by making the pasta. I am using my standard pasta recipe starting with 2 cups of all purpose flour, 6 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs, 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil and a 1/4 teaspoon of salt. This will make enough pasta for 4 servings or about 40 raviolis.

There is no difference between making this pasta to be used as fettuccini, farfalle or ravioli. It is all the same recipe, you just cut it differently, so once you become familiar and confident making this pasta, you can make any type of pasta you want!

Begin by sifting 2 cups of all purpose flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt onto your work surface. This helps to ensure they are mixed and that everything is smooth and fine. Use your fingers to create a well in the center of the mound of flour. Make this well wide enough to contain a good amount of liquid.

In a small bowl, whisk together 6 egg yolks, 2 whole eggs and 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil. Pour this carefully into the well in the flour. Using a fork, begin dragging a bit of the flour from the edges into the egg mixture until a thick paste forms. Continue working more of the flour into the paste until a dough forms. Knead the dough for 5-7 minutes. Add more flour if it is sticky. You want the dough to be smooth and elastic. It is ready to rest once it bounces back after being poked by a finger.

Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

While the pasta is resting, let’s make the filling.

Start by browning 8oz of Italian sausage in a medium skillet. Once the sausage is nicely browned, transfer it into a bowl and set it aside. Next, chop 8oz of mushrooms, 1 large shallot and 2 cloves of garlic.

Sweat the mushrooms and shallot in the same skillet that you browned the sausage in. Once they are soft, add the garlic and cook for about 60 seconds, stirring constantly.

Combine the browned sausage and cooked mushrooms, shallots and garlic into a food processor and pulse until everything is combined and very finely diced.

Transfer the filling into a small bowl and set it aside.

After the pasta has rested, unwrap it and divide it into 4 equal portions with a dough cutter or sharp knife.

Begin rolling the pasta out on a lightly floured surface. Turn the sheet of pasta every 4-5 rolls to ensure that you are rolling it out evenly in all directions. This will help to make the pastas thickness even and will help control the shape. To create a rectangle, fold in the sides of the round sheet of pasta, so you have two flat sides. Flip the sheet over (folds down) and begin rolling the pasta out into a long rectangle.

The pasta is ready when you can see your hand through it. If the pasta is too thick, continue rolling it out until it reaches this point.

If your rectangle isn’t very uniform, you can trim it a bit using a dough cutter or sharp knife, but it doesn’t need to be perfect.

Now that the pasta is ready, drop 1 teaspoon of filling every inch to inch and a half down one side of the rectangle. In the photo below, see that I left enough room between the filling to seal the pasta and that I also left enough room down the outside edge to seal it there as well.

Once the filling is portioned and in place, wet your finger or a pastry brush and dampen the pasta surrounding the filling. This will help to seal the top layer of pasta with the bottom layer. Fold the pasta over the filling and align the edges. Press down firmly around the filling, starting near the fold and working your way towards the open edges. This will help to work the air out of the pockets.

I usually don’t press my filling into the center of the ravioli. I press to seal and cut three sides, leaving the folded line as it is.

Using a pasta cutter, crimper, pizza cutter or sharp knife, cut down the center seams that have been sealed tightly. Once your ravioli has been cut off of the main section, run the cutter down the outside edges seam too. This helps to further seal that edge and create a crisp line that looks pretty and nicely finished.

Lay the cut raviolis out onto parchment paper and let them dry at room temperature for 1 hour.

Once the raviolis have dried out, boil them in salted water for about 3 minutes. Gently add them into the water using a spider strainer or large slotted spoon and once they begin to float to the top, transfer them directly into your sauce…

You can serve this ravioli in any sauce! I added 1 cup of chicken stock, 1 cup of heavy cream, 1 crushed clove of garlic, salt and pepper into the skillet that I made the filling in. I brought it to a simmer for about 5 minutes and then I added the left over filling into the thickened sauce.

I tossed my cooked ravioli into this sauce and kept it over medium low heat for several minutes to allow the flavors to become nicely developed before scooping some of those beautiful raviolis and a bit of the sauce into a pasta bowl.

Garnish your ravioli with parmesan and parsley and enjoy!!

Check out that beautiful ravioli tightly packed with a flavorful blend of browned Italian sausage, mushrooms, shallots and garlic. It is simply perfect and I know that you will absolutely love it!

I hope you enjoy this recipe and are inspired to make raviolis filled with a wide variety of fun fillings.

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