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When I think of a ricotta filling for a stuffed pasta, I usually think of it as a binding to go with sausage, mushrooms or something else. On it's own ricotta is not a show stopper.
That is till now. In comes Ricotta Impastata. This is simply a ricotta cheese that is converted to a paste by drying in cheese cloth with a strainer.
Using a newly found technique of drying the ricotta, brings a firmer texture, a silky feel after cooking, along with a sweeter flavor.
The result is a rich, sikly filling with a slightly sweet flavor that can stand up to a simple brown butter sauce as well as a red sauce.
Note - This is still a recipe in development
Ingredients:
Dough:
1/2 cup 00 flour
3 tbs semolina
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tbs water
1/2 tbs olive oil
Filling:
10oz Ricotta (6oz after drying)
1 oz parmesean, grated
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt
Pepper
Directions:
On a sheet pan, layer 3 sheets of paper towels, spread the ricotta, top with 3 sheets of paper towels. Top with another sheet pan. Change the paper towels every 30-45 min. Repeat for 3 hours.
30 min before the ricotta will be ready, make the pasta dough, wrap in plastic wrap and let sit. Add additional flour a 1/2 tbs at a time as needed.
When the cheese is ready, you should have 6-7 oz now that it's dry, then mix the remaining ingredients, salt & pepper to taste.
Rollout the ravioli to #5 on pasta machine. This is thin but not see-thru thin.
Fill ravioli with a 1.5 tbs of filling.
Cook for 2 min.
Notes:
Time = 3.5 hours (3 hours to dry the ricotta)
Servings = 14-16 ravioli, 1-2 servings
Recipe Notes:
2/8/23 - Drying the ricotta was clutch. The texture was just the right firmness and the lemon juice added a brightness. Used a brown butter sauce. Excellent.
2/13/23 - Dried for 8 hours in cheese cloth and a strainer in fridge, then 2 hours on paper towels. There was an extra sweetness that was not expected. Will use just the strainer process next time to see what that does.
2/15/23 - Drained only with cheese cloth and strainer for 8 hours. Not enough moisture removed. Will go back to sheet pan method only.
2/20/23 - The weight of the ricotta was reduced in 1/2 after drying for 2.5 hours. Needed a bit more lemon juice. Recipe modified. Should be good to go.
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