Egg Yolk Ravioli
My husband always tells me that I have seemingly infinite patience until the last five minutes of a project. Then I rush the final details and “ruin” what could have been a true masterpiece. In other words, I can spend five hours in the kitchen painstakingly creating a beautiful meal, only to rush the plating and end up with a messy dish.
What can I say? I get hungry!
Egg yolk ravioli, the culinary Everest for any Master Chef fans, put my patience to the ultimate test. There is no room for error with ravioli, particularly when there is no sauce to cover mistakes. So much can go wrong with an egg yolk ravioli. The egg can be overdone, the pasta too thick, the ravioli poorly constructed or ruptured…the list goes on. It’s an Italian-inspired dish made famous by Joe Bastianich, son of the chef behind Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen. The idea is to create a plate of sophisticated simplicity: inside paper-thin pasta is one beautiful, still-runny egg yolk perched on a nest of ricotta cheese.
That’s it.
My hands were visibly shaking as I attempted to conquer the notorious ravioli, but, thanks to every ounce of patience in my body, I think I nailed it. If you dare to put yourself to the test, here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:
Ravioli
1/2 pound pasta dough
4 egg yolks, separated (I used duck eggs)
8 oz ricotta
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 sage leaf, finely chopped
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Water
Brown Butter Sauce (optional - see photo)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 sage leaves
Directions:
Begin by making the cheese filling. In a small bowl, combine both cheeses, nutmeg, cracked pepper, chopped sage, and salt to taste. Set aside.
Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
On a floured surface, roll out the pasta dough. Using a pasta maker or rolling pin, roll until the dough is thin enough that you can see your hand through it. I rolled to #6 on my Atlas Marcato pasta maker.
Sprinkle some flour on both sides of the dough and fold in half into two even sheets. Slice at the seam with a knife.
Cut each sheet of the dough into 4 equal squares (8 total), ensuring that there is enough surface area to seal the filled ravioli. You can use one square as a template for the rest of them.*
Drop a spoonful of the filling onto the center of 4 squares of dough and press the back of the spoon into each dollop, making a small “nest.” There should not be any visible dough under the filling. The nest should be big enough to hold an egg yolk.
Carefully slide an egg yolk into the center of each dollop of filling.
Using your finger or a basting brush, coat the perimeter of the 4 filled dough squares with water. The water should surround the cheese filling.
Place one of the remaining 4 dough sheets on each of the prepared ravioli squares and match up the edges. Very gently seal the two sheets of dough, pressing around the filling to remove any excess air. If the top sheet is smaller than the bottom, press firmly to ensure any seams are hidden.
Once all 4 ravioli are made, feel free to use a knife to shape them or remove excess dough.
If making the brown butter sauce, heat butter in a skillet until it turns a nutty brown color. Add sage leaves and fry until crisp.
Drop the prepared ravioli into the pot of gently boiling water. They should be removed with a slotted spoon after about two minutes.
Place ravioli into a pan/skillet with desired sauce (removed from heat), then plate immediately. Garnish with sage leaves or herb of choice. Enjoy!
Wine pairing: medium-bodied dry or off-dry white wine.
*Get creative for this part! Squares are the easiest, but you can also cut the ravioli into circles or other shapes!