Mushroom Ravioli

(That icing bag needs to be replaced..  it has seen better days!)

My goal is to make something with this pasta attachment every week...  for now, Thursday nights are pasta nights on our menu.  Last week I made Mushroom Ravioli - and it was REALLY good!  Easy too!  

This is the recipe I used for "inspiration".  http://www.marthastewart.com/317919/mushroom-ravioli  I only used portabella mushrooms, and for the seasoning I used an Italian mix, garlic, salt and pepper.  That recipe gave me an idea of how much cheese to use, which is what I really needed to know.  I did use both ricotta and parmesan.

For the pasta I used a basic egg dough.  I want to start using more whole wheat flour, and maybe other types, but I wanted to start with something I knew we would like, for now.

4 eggs

3.5 cups of flour

1Tbsp water

1 tsp salt

You can see pics of the process for making the pasta here:

http://fieldsofhether.blogspot.com/2013/01/making-pasta.html

I ran the pasta at a 4.  5 was just a little too thin for me. I used the width it came out at (see top strip on the photo above) and it made HUGE raviolli.  It was fine that way, but next time I will cut the strip in half longwise.

On the second strip from the top (pic above) you can see the filling on the dough.  I used an icing bag from a cake decorating class I took two years ago.

The 3rd strip down shows the pasta folded over the filling.  First I used a pastry brush and some water around all the edges, and between the dollops of filling.  Then I folded the dough over, and used the sides of my hands to flatten it between the filling.  around the edges I used a fork to seal it together.  Then I cut between the dollops of filling, and "finished" the side edges with the fork, to end up with the pieces you see in the bottom row of the photo.

It did not take long to cook - fresh pasta cooks fast!