Recipe: Spinach and Basil Ravioli

When Kaleigh was asked what she wanted to have for dinner on the night we were going to do shrinky dinks, she said she wanted ravioli.  A couple years back, Ashley made me ravioli for dinner.  It was really good.  I realized then that as a kid we rarely had ravioli, which seems to be a fairly common food for most American families.

When Kaleigh put in her request, I knew I would need to try my hand at making some myself.  It was actually quite easy and a lot of fun.  Ashley joined Kaleigh and I for dinner and all seemed to enjoy the ravioli.

Spinach and Basil Ravioli

Ravioli Dough

3 cups of flour
3/4 cup of vegetable broth
1 tablespoon of oil
2 teaspoons of salt

Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add the oil and broth to the flour mixture and use your hands to combine.  The dough should be moist but not wet, nor should it be dried out.  If it is too dry, add more broth, if it is too wet, add more flour.  Form the dough into a ball, place back in the bowl, cover, and let sit for 1 hour.  After an hour, roll out the dough until it is about 1/8 of an inch thick.  Use a pint glass to "cut" into the dough to form circular ravioli.

Ravioli Filling

5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 large portobello mushroom cap (finely chopped)
5 oz of spinach leaves (finely chopped)
2/3 cup of basil leaves (finely chopped)
1 tablespoon of oil
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper

While the dough is resting, heat all the ingredients on low heat until the mushrooms release their liquid.  Feel free to taste test and alter the recipe.

Bring a pot of water to a boil.

Once the filling is complete and the ravioli dough has been cut out take a spoonful of the filling and place it on one of the ravioli circles.  Try to center the filling and make sure there is not much liquid.  Take another ravioli circle, place it on the top and with a fork, press the edges together.  Boil the raviolis for about 8-10 minutes or until tender.  Do not put to many in the pot at once, they should not be touching or they will stick together.

Pre-heat the oven at 375 degrees.

Once all the ravioli has been boiled, place in a baking dish with whatever sauce you might want and bake for 45 minutes.  I baked mine with a marinara sauce with a few leftover basil leaves on top.