Kale and Ricotta Ravioli Recipe

I tried making a stuffed pasta last year. It tasted okay but really wasn’t much of a success. The filling was too wet and the pasta pockets opened up and leaked. Messy – though tasty enough for me to give it another go.

As my kale is going to seed I figured it was time to use up a batch and ravioli seemed a good option. As long as I put a bit of effort into making the filling drier than last time, I was confident I’d have a tasty and not-so-messy meal.

This time I used kale from the garden in the filling, sage from the garden in the topping and eggs from my chickens in the pasta so it’s a good all-round back yard meal. Spinach or silverbeet would work for the filling and basil would no doubt be tasty for the topping as well. It’s a very flexible dish.

Here’s my Kale and Ricotta Ravioli recipe:
1) Drain 200 g of ricotta cheese (I hung it in a cheese cloth for a few hours).

2) Steam, chop and squeeze dry 200 g of kale (you get a lot less than 200 g of chopped kale at the end of this process) or substitute about 100 g of frozen spinach.

3) Roast and chop a handful of pine nuts.

4) Mix above adding salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

5) Make 2 pasta sheets (1 egg mixed with 100 g of flour rolled into sheets) and lay 1 sheet on floured bench top.

6) Spoon ricotta and kale mixture onto pasta sheet as ravioli filling.

7) Cover pasta and filling with second sheet of pasta.

8) Press down around each spoon of filling and cut into ravioli squares.

9) Place ravioli into boiling water and boil for 3-5 minutes, until done, then drain.

10) For the topping melt 1 tablespoon of butter, add a half-dozen sage leaves and some pine nuts.

11) Add ravioli to topping pan and gently mix until ravioli is covered with butter.

12) Serve and top with 25 g grated parmesan cheese.

Honestly this recipe isn’t the quickest but it’s really yummy and a good use of eggs and garden greens. It would also be good (better?) with a tomato based sauce but the butter, sage and cheese was nicely subtle and didn’t overpower the ravioli.

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