Please tell me how to stuff it.

February 21, 2008 8:59 AM

What are your favorite ravioli fillings and sauces?

Homemade ravioli are one of my favorite foods to make. I seem to be stuck in a rut though, always making the same ricotta and spinach filling, served with a butter/garlic/sage sauce. I recently branched out and made a roasted butternut squash filling served with the same sauce. It was pretty damn awesome.

I’m looking for good suggestions / recipes for both fillings and sauces. The pasta part of it I can handle, though tips in that area are certainly welcome. For the most part I use AB’s method (but without the ironing board) and it seems to work pretty well.

Anything raviloi related is welcome, actually. Sides/mains to serve with it, wines, derivatives, etc. Have at it, people.

If this thread doesn’t reach 1000 comments by 5:00PM EST, I’ll be very disappointed. Also, I can’t believe I’m the first use the ravioli tag.

posted by bondcliff to food & drink (19 comments total)

Pumpkin. There's lots of recipes out there for it, and they're all good. It would work well with the butter/garlic/sage sauce you mention, or with another lightish sauce like that - it doesn't work so well with heavy cream sauces, at least for me.
posted by pdb at 9:24 AM on February 21

One of my favorite ravioli fillings is portabella mushroom. Mmmmm. The garlic/butter/sage filling is perfect with it.

I wonder if a tomato basil filling would be good for ravioli? I might have to try that some time.
posted by Verdandi at 9:27 AM on February 21

Roasted garlic and a mixture of (Grana Padano or) Parmagiano Reggiano, black pepper, and parsley.

Wild Mushrooms and shallots sauteed in a mixture of butter and olive oil until fairly crisp, mixed with Pecorino Romano and Thyme (or just plain with Thyme).

Sauteed ground Lamb, chilis, and mint. (Toss the ravioli in olive oil, salt, red pepper flakes (or fresh chopped chilis) and mint).

Poached cod, chopped herbs and (you could go a couple of ways here) and Ricotta. Serve with maybe stewed tomatoes and olives.

Bacala and mashed potatoes. Maybe toss in lemon butter and black pepper.

Ground or chopped duck, figs and kalamata olives. Serve with a port reduction.

Uncase some italian sausage, mix with oregano, chopped sauteed brocolli rabe, and red pepper flakes. Serve tossed in olive oil, salt and pepper, or with marinara sauce.
posted by kosem at 9:33 AM on February 21

(of course, you want to keep the fillings at least somewhat dry, so you will want to cook the vegetables fairly well to avoid extremely soupy fillings)
posted by kosem at 9:35 AM on February 21

Lobster or crab, with a simple garlic butter sauce.

Stinging nettles (hear me out on this one) sauteed with nutmeg, mixed with a little ricotta. Be careful handling the nettles, but once they are cooked the sting disappears completely and the flavor is so wonderful you'll begin to resent your spinach. Why can't you be nettles, you flavorless old spinach?! Serve with a light red sauce or a light cream sauce. I made a huge batch of these once and froze them in single serving packs; I almost cried when they ran out.

Mashed peas with a tiny bit of cheese (anything mild) to help hold it together, served with butter and mint.

Blue cheese and mashed apples, served with butter and sage.

Simple filled with ricotta, served with butter a TINY bit of truffle oil, pinenuts and some orange/lemon zest.
posted by ohio at 9:35 AM on February 21

These people make some really tasty combinations that could give you some ideas. My favorite is the basil, asiago and pine nut pesto. Per Verdandi's comment, I just bought some basil, mozzarella and tomato ravioli, but don't have a report yet on the taste because it's tonight's dinner.

You could also check out some recipe sites for ideas. Cookinglight.com, recipezaar.com, bigoven.com, etc etc.
posted by ml98tu at 9:36 AM on February 21

Dessert ravioli. Apple and Cheese filling, in an apple glaze, garnished with cooked apple slices and walnuts. Dusted with cinnamon. Serve either hot or chilled.
posted by fings at 9:39 AM on February 21

This recipe has you piping the ricotta onto the pasta in a cylinder and then putting an egg yolk in the well.

I still have a pasta making fear, but I love runny egg yolks and it looked delicious when I watched the segment.
posted by spec80 at 9:39 AM on February 21

Ravioli of choice in a sauce of lightly browned butter + balsamic vinegar, topped with shreds of Parmesan cheese.
posted by Science! at 9:42 AM on February 21

You mentioned butternut squash. For a very different taste you could adapt a curried butternut squash soup recipe, either bringing the curry flavors into the sauce or into the ravioli filling.
posted by jedicus at 9:44 AM on February 21

Dessert ravioli!!

Chocolate Ravioli with Bittersweet Sauce
Fried Banana Ravioli with Vanilla Custard Sauce
Fried Plum Ravioli with Mint Cream
Peach Ravioli
Ricotta, Orange, and Cocoa Ravioli
Croatian Dessert Ravioli with Almond, Chocolate, and Brandy
Fried Sweet Cheese Ravioli with Honey
posted by youarenothere at 9:55 AM on February 21

Also, this site sells ravioli, but there's no reason why you can't put together your own recipes based on their flavours:

Désirée potato & roasted garlic (in egg pasta)
Fetta cheese, black olives & fresh thyme (in egg pasta)
Four cheeses–ricotta, sheep's milk cheddar, pecorino & parmesan (in spinach pasta)
Spinach ricotta and pinenuts ( in egg pasta )
Spinach, ricotta & gorgonzola (in egg pasta)
Kumara with provolone & nutmeg (in parsley & shallot pasta)
Roasted beetroot, ricotta & marjoram (in parsley & shallot pasta)
Eggplant, tomato & garlic (in saffron pasta)
Leek, pancetta & parmesan (in parsley & shallot pasta)
Beef, caramelised onions & red wine (in cracked black pepper pasta)
Artichoke & roasted red pepper (in egg pasta)
Fresh asparagus, orange zest & shallots (in parsley & shallot pasta) (seasonal)
Three mushrooms (porcini, field & roman browns) (in parsley & shallot pasta)
Leg lamb, tomato, garlic with fresh oregano & rosemary (in egg pasta)
Sicilian Chicken (with Red Wine, Capers & Olives) (in cracked black pepper pasta.)
Chicken, leek & tarragon (in leek & herb pasta)
Veal, mushrooms & white wine (in saffron pasta)
Smoked salmon, ricotta, chive and chervil (in parsley and shallot pasta)
Roast Duck with ginger and star anise (in egg pasta)
Prawns with chilli, lime and lemongrass (in chilli pasta)
Caramelised Root Vegetables with Rosemary and Garlic (in Saffron pasta)
Butternut Pumpkin with Shallot and Ginger (in egg pasta)
Field Mushrooms with Ricotta & Tarragon
Butternut Pumpkin with Goats' Cheese & Fresh Sage

ohhh the pastabilities indeed
posted by youarenothere at 10:06 AM on February 21

it's a slow day at the bookstore, so I grabbed a couple Italian cookbooks:

• ricotta, basil, and olives
  
• pecorino, potato and mint
  
• potato and arugula
  
• ricotta and whole egg yolk
  
• chicken and gorgonzola
  
• celeriac and thyme
  
• apples, walnuts, gorgonzola
  
• spinach and goat's cheese
  
• squash, sage, and amaretti
  
• potatoes, bacon, anchovies, sage
  
• peas and bacon
  
• peas and mint
  
• peas and parmesan
  

posted by heeeraldo at 10:45 AM on February 21

pumpkin with ground toasted walnuts, sage, pepper, and parmesan.
posted by thinkingwoman at 10:58 AM on February 21

Gorgonzola and walnuts, covered with a red pepper sauce.
posted by malocchio at 11:15 AM on February 21

I've done really nice roasted squash + walnut + apple ravioli before (in a browned butter sauce).

Something I love as a ragu (served with Ohio City Pasta's wild mushroom pasta, quite possibly the tastiest pasta on earth. If they won't ship you a few sheets of it to try, you could probably try to make your own by adding mushroom powder, available at my local Italian grocery, to your own dough recipe) is:

(wow, that was a long digression, sorry about that)

nicely cooked and shredded duck with caramelized onions or shallots and wild mushrooms.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 1:00 PM on February 21

Every time we pressure-cook beets, we salvage the scarlet liquid left under the trivet and make a butt-kicking sauce for cheese or squash ravioli. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and then reduce the liquor down to about half its original amount, melt in a fwap of butter (somewhere between a pat and a 1/4 stick), and drizzle this over the fat ravioli. Gorgeous.
posted by eve harrington at 1:22 PM on February 21

Holy wow, eve harrington, that sounds awesome (and colorful. and staining!)! I bet, if you wanted to get all crazy, there are plenty of other veg juices you could reduce the heck out of and mix into ricotta/mascarpone/etc for a whole new flavor.
posted by bitter-girl.com at 2:13 PM on February 21

Lobster - bit of a faff and a bit spendy, but really, really, good. If you want to keep spending, for wine get a good Mersault to go with it, or maybe a good Californian chardonnay.
posted by dowcrag at 2:54 AM on February 22