Pretend you’re a two-year-old for a sec who has no idea that making ravioli is for gourmands only. Seriously, if my toddler can do it so can you! And if you’ve never tried to make ravioli or pasta dough before, then know that it is much easier than most people realize and way more delicious and nutritious (I use egg yolks) than anything you can buy in the store.
It has been eye opening to see what a toddler can do in the kitchen without preconceived notions as to what may or may not be challenging. It has definitely been a wake up call for me as a parent to not pre-judge my child’s intellectual capabilities or interests.
For example, Layla takes pâte brisée and rolls it out and flips it about like a pro and for this pasta recipe, I thought for sure it would be too difficult, but she got right up on her chair and helped make the dough by hand and then guide our finished product out from the pasta roller . And she had no problem helping me stuff our little half moons – or “pockets” as she calls them – pressing gently around the filling to release air bubbles. She punched the pasta out and then dusted it with a little flour to prevent sticking and neatly placed her pockets with no overlap on a plate. Honestly, I don’t know where she channeled this from. I’ve never made homemade pasta for her.
The only caveat to making great ravioli is that you do need a pasta roller of some sort. Thanks to my dear foodie friends Ivan and Nadine, I have a professional KitchenAid with every attachment known to mankind (best house warming gift ever!). I also have an old-school counter mounted hand crank type pasta roller, and this one is not easy to use because it doesn’t stay attached to the counter. My only warning to parents making this recipe with kids is: young children should not be allowed to work an electric pasta roller on their own because their little fingers could potentially get caught and crushed – ‘yes’ on catching the pasta from the bottom and ‘no’ on feeding it into the roller.
This recipe came about because I’m working on how to get orange foods past Layla’s pursed lips. Orange foods (sweet potato, carrots, pumpkin, squash, etc) are disgusting in her mind and they get shoved far across the plate and sometimes just thrown to our pup – who doesn’t like them either.
I am a true believer that it becomes easier to eat things you hate if you spend time cooking and preparing them in the kitchen. For me, my time cooking on the Meat Station at Guy Savoy in Paris helped me to get over my disdain for thymus glands, liver, and brains. I still won’t go out of my way to eat those things, but I’m not as grossed out as I used to be by offal. For Layla, that’s just orange veggies.
In order to face her orange fears, we roasted a whole butternut and then puréed it in the VitaPrep. We made nutty smelling brown butter and added it to our butternut purée base. She did try it. Twice. It didn’t totally pass muster but at least she tried it. We added half of our purée to a cupcake recipe topped with a salted caramel whipped cream frosting and she decided that maybe – just maybe – butternut was okay.
To the other half of the purée we added parmesan and ricotta and she tasted it and her response was: “Layla doesn’t like it” (she refers to herself in the third person still). But then she tried it again and there was no response so I could tell she was thinking about it. I was hopeful that her silence meant: “hmmm, maybe I like this”.
But no, the finished product was a no-go. Even with the seriously yummy maple Parmesan cream. She did eat the pasta around the ravioli. My husband and I wolfed the ravioli down and we ate her portion up too! This is a delicious recipe perfect for the cold weather and if you’re making it for some one special on Valentine’s Day, then they are going to love you forever (unless it’s for a two-year-old named Layla).
What’s the moral of the story you might ask? Well, here’s my Mommy take away: if you want your toddler to just eat something they aren’t sure about, sugar coat it in a cupcake. But if you want your Little One to gain appreciation and understanding of something they dislike, show them up close that their fears are unfounded by introducing them personally to the source – they will eventually come around. Oh, and making ravioli is easy, even a two year old can do it.
Ingredients
- For Pasta Dough:
- 2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 8 egg yolks
- For Filling:
- 2 cups roasted butternut squash purée
- 1 stick butter, browned in a small saucepot over low heat
- 1 cup ricotta, strained if liquid-y
- 1/4-1/2 cup ground Parmesan (depending on your taste)
- 3-4 tablespoons fine bread crumbs
- Salt to taste
- 2 pinches of nutmeg
- Parmesan Maple Cream
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup Parmesan
- Salt to taste
- Maple Syrup to taste (or just to drizzle over it)
- Garnish:
- 5 strips of bacon
- 1 small radicchio, chopped
- Thyme, chopped
Whisk together the flour and salt with a fork in a mixing bowl. On a clean smooth surface turn out the flour in a mountain and make a deep well in the center. Add the egg yolks and using a fork, whisk to combine: using the tines of the fork pull in the flour from the edges and continue all the way around the mound. A soft dough will begin to form as you mix it into the egg yolks.
Form a ball with the dough and knead it by flattening it and folding it over using the palm of your hand to press down and flat again. It will get stretchy and slightly glossy looking after five minutes. Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap with Saran Wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. The dough needs to rest.
When ready to roll: work with a quarter of the dough at a time, keeping the rest under plastic wrap or a kitchen towel. Roll it out in your pasta roller to 1/16th of an inch but start on the widest setting notching it down every time you feed the pasta through the machine. By the end, the dough should be almost the full width of the pasta roller, about five inches across.
Gently lay the sheets out on the counter dusted with flour. Fold over in half lengthwise so you can see where the middle line is going to be. Using a 1/2 teaspoon measurement (or depending on your pasta punch you can use more) dot just above the middle line with the browned butternut filling. Gently moisten the dough lightly with water all around the filling and fold over the other half of the dough. Using your pointer fingers press the two halves together and all around the filling, squeezing out any air bubbles. Punch out pasta and place on a plate dusted with flour. Cover with Plastic wrap and freeze or refrigerate until ready to serve.
Browned butter butternut filling: Take a whole butternut and section it into two (the long neck from the bulbous base) using a heavy chef's knife or a big serrated bread knife. Then cut those two sections in half. Scoop out the seeds and throw away or toast and eat separately. Place the butternut sections flesh-side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roast for about 30-40 minutes at 425˚F. The flesh will be soft and the skin easily piereced with a fork or knife when done. Scoop out flesh and purée in a vitaprep. With 2 cups of butternut add browned butter and salt to taste. When cooled add parmesan, ricotta and nutmeg. Taste and adjust seasoning.
To cook ravioli: bring a pot of salted water to boil. Gently add the ravioli. Cook for about 4 minutes or until they float to the top. Drain and serve with Maple Parm Cream and sautéed bacon and radicchio.
Maple Parmesan Cream: in a small sauce pot reduce 1 pint of heavy cream by one fourth over low heat. Add one cup of grated parmesan and whisk to incorporate. Let simmer for another 3-5 minutes until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add more Parmesan sea salt to taste. Sauce can be refrigerated and reheated or kept warm until ready to serve. Do not boil sauce as the oils in the cheese will cause it to split.
Radicchio and Bacon: in a medium sauté pan fry bacon over medium heat until it is lightly crispy. Remove bacon, chop and reserve. Preserving 2 tablespoons of bacon fat in the pan, sauté the shredded radicchio over medium high heat until wilted. Add the chopped bacon back in and little thyme. Taste and adjust seasoning. Spoon over pasta.
