This is a sponsored post for HemisFares™ brand that is available exclusively at Kroger family of stores. All opinions are honest and 100% my own
I love making my own pasta – it’s seriously so much easier than you think and tastes amazing! This ravioli uses a basic pasta recipe but you can also add herbs and seasonings or other flavors (spinach and pumpkin are favorites of mine) into your pasta to personalize it further. Ravioli is fun because there are so many great fillings you can try and create! This italian sausage and cheese is a classic ravioli but I love experimenting with other fillings (not all work out – but it’s still fun).
And of course it’s about matching the right pasta sauce too! Because this is a simply Italian filling I wanted something classic and simple to match it. You don’t want competing flavors. I love the HemisFares brand from my local Smith’s store – it has a great fresh and authentic flavor I really love! I went with the HemisFares Classic Italian Tomato Pasta sauce – it’s made with tomatoes, sweet onions with rosemary and basil – Mmmmmwwaaaahhh perfection.
This is where I admit that this has been my kids favorite recipe I’ve done recipe testing for recently – they’ve gotten to have ravioli like 5 times in the last few weeks and they have been in heaven! There is something about pasta filled with meat and cheese covered in a tomato sauce that everyone finds so comforting, and I’m ALL about warm and filling comfort food.
The mistake I made the first time I made ravioli was not putting enough filling inside – I didn’t want to stretch or overfill the pasta so I used like 2 tsp … it was pathetic, it shrinks a little as it cooks and they barely had any filling at all!!! I DEF suggest using the full 1 1/2 Tbsp or even more! It will look like a lot but after it’s cooked you’ll be glad you did. You only have to make sure you can still seal the edges and your good!
Homemade Italian Sausage and Cheese ravioli - video tutorial
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 lbs italian sausage
- 1 lrg yellow onion diced
- 1 Tbsp garlic optional crushed
- 15 oz ricotta
- 1/4 C parmesan
- 1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 tsp italian seasoning
- 1/4 tsp sage
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
Pasta
- 2 1/2 C all-purpose flour
- 5 lrg eggs
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 C all-purpose flour extra
Assembly
- 1 lrg egg
- jar HemisFares Classic Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce find 69
Instructions
Filling
- in a skillet fry the Italian sausage, onion and if desired garlic
- once cooked pour the sausage mixture into the food processor and puree
- in a bowl mix the ricotta, Parmesan, parsley, spices and the pureed sausage mixture
Pasta
- pour the flour on the counter and create a well in the flour
- add the eggs, salt and olive oil in to the well
- using a fork beat the eggs adding flour in while your mixing
- keep going until it's turned into a thick paste and knead in the rest of the flour
- keep kneading for about 10 mins until it's smooth but not sticky - add more flour as needed
- divide the dough into 4 pieces and wrap in plastic - let it rest for 30 mins
Assembly
- set the pasta machine at the widest level and run through once
- fold the dough into thirds and run through the machine again and repeat one more time
- keep passing through the machine getting thinner every other time
- after a few passes I overlap the ends together and create a tube that just repeats making it easier to run the machine solo
- run through the machine until it's between 1/32 and 1/64 inches thin (remember it's going to be doubled up so thinner than normal)
- cut the long strip into two pieces of close to equal length, using a medium cookie scoop, about 1 1/2 Tbsp, add scoops of the filling in two rows down the strip - I got 16 scoops for each 1/4 of the dough I rolled out
- beat the extra egg and brush it onto the dough between the filling
- place the second strip of dough on top of the first and press the dough together around the filling - trying your best to press out as much air as you can.
- using a cutter or pastry wheel cut the pasta apart
- let the pasta dry for an hour or freeze (I prefer freezing on parchment paper - so the pasta doesn't stick to anything)
- heat up the sauce
- bring a pot of water to a boil and boil the pasta for 3-4 mins (3 mins for dry pasta 4 mins for frozen pasta)
- serve with sauce and add Parmesan and parsley and enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
So what flavor combinations of filling and sauce would you like to see? I want to next try a mushroom ravioli with the Hemisfares sausage and fennel ragu pasta sauce I think… For more information on HemisFares you can check out the website HemisFaresFinds.com or Facebook.com/HemisFares.
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