Black Garlic and Ricotta Ravioli

Garlic is a common staple in cooking but when Matthew brought home these bulbs of garlic from FarmersWeb to try, they certainly caught my eye. Black Garlic, is a type of caramelized garlic, prepared over weeks of low heat. It has a distinct and unique taste, slightly sweet, but still with that familiar garlic flavor.

Another new comer to my kitchen is the pasta roller attachment for my KitchenAid mixer and I knew that I wanted to test it out on some ravioli. With the Black Garlic guest star ingredient it took some experimenting to find a way to highlight the unique flavors these cloves bring with them. In the end, I was happiest with the way the Ricotta and Parmesan played with the black garlic. Combined with basil and a spicy red sauce, this dish was a hit!

Ingredients: (yields 24 ravioli)

Egg Pasta Dough:

2 and 1/4 cup of all- purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/4 cup of semolina flour, plus more for dusting
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons of olive oil
1 pinch of salt

Using a liquid measuring cup add the 4 eggs and 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Set aside.

In a medium bowl add 1 and 3/4 cups of all purpose flour, 1/4 cup of semolina flour and salt. Mix to combine. Save the bowl as you will use it to cover the dough while it rests

To the work bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment add the flour mixture. Add the egg and oil mixture to the flour and process for 10-15 seconds and the mixture is crumbly and moist.

If the dough is sticky add 1 tablespoon at a time of the remaining flour, processing until just incorporated. Continue processing until the dough comes together and a ball just forms.

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and gently knead a few times working the dough so it is even in color and shaping into a moist ball. Cover the dough with a bowl and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.

While the dough rests you can get set up and make the filling.

Filling:

2 cloves of black garlic, peeled
2 ounces (roughly 1/2 cup) of Parmesan cheese, grated
1 cup of ricotta cheese
black pepper to taste

In the bowl of the food processor place the cloves of garlic and pulse a few times, this garlic is sticky so some chunks will remain. Add 2 ounces of Parmesan cheese and pulse until the garlic and cheese is combined and resembles dry bread crumbs.

Transfer the garlic and cheese mixture to a small bowl. By hand stir in the ricotta cheese and season with black pepper to taste. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Directions:

Line two rimmed baking sheets with a clean, generously floured cotton kitchen towel. Set aside.

Once the dough is ready, divide it into quarters and shape one section of dough into a flat rectangle. Leave the remaining sections of the dough covered under the bowl.

Flour both sides of the pasta dough. Start with the largest setting on the pasta roller. Mine was #1 at a speed of two, make sure to reference your instruction manual before you begin. Carefully run the pasta through the machine. Fold the dough in half, re-flour the dough and run it through again. I do this several times on this setting. I then change the setting to #2 pass it through twice. I work my way up to #5 passing it through the machine twice on each setting. Make sure to use flour often and after each pass through the sheet roller.

Place the finished sheet of pasta onto the floured kitchen towel, dust the top of the pasta with flour and cover with another kitchen towel. Repeat the the same process for rolling and covering the pasta dough until all the dough has been rolled.

Well coat a ravioli board with flour and lay one sheet of pasta across it making sure to work the dough into the filling groves. Place 1 teaspoon of filling into each grove and seal around each ravioli with a bit of water. Cover with another sheet of pasta and use a rolling pin to go over the board a few passes until the overhanging dough can easily be removed.

Gently turn out the ravioli onto the second prepared baking sheet and carefully separate the ravioli from one another. Repeat the same filling, rolling and separating process for the remaining ravioli.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and place a few prepared ravioli at a time into the boiling water for 6 minutes and remove them with a slotted spoon. Serve with your favorite red sauce and enjoy!