Homemade Italian Sausage and Fresh Sage Ravioli

I bought myself a pasta maker today and boy oh boy am I glad I did. I cracked open the box immediately after I got home, admired the shiny silver beauty and then summoned our two International students to the kitchen. Enticing them with the idea of fresh, steamy, cheesy sausage stuffed pasta for dinner, we all rolled up our sleeves then enjoyed our first floured hand experience of making ravioli!

The whole process was incredibly easy, easier than I had imagined it would be, and the end result was beyond my expectations. Gorgeous.

Italian Sausage and Fresh Sage Ravioli

Prep Time: 20 minutes/Total time: 40 minutes. Serves 4.
Pasta recipe adapted from How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

Pasta Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 whole eggs
3 egg yolks

Filling Ingredients:
1 pound (454 grams) Italian sausage, with casings removed
2 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano
1 beaten egg

Sauce Ingredients:
2 ounces pancetta, sliced thin
6 tablespoons butter
leftover filling

Directions:
First make the pasta dough: combine the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the eggs and yolks and process until it begins to come together into a ball. Now look at the dough: if it’s grainy, add some water a few drops at a time.

Remove dough from the food processor and knead by hand 3 or 4 times.

Cover the dough and let it rest at room temperature 30 minutes.

To make the filling,  crumble and cook the Italian sausage over medium high heat.

When cooked, drain off any excess grease. Ad the sage and the parmigiano.

Remove from heat. Let it cool just a bit and stir in the beaten egg.  Set aside.

Use the lasagna sheet option of your pasta maker. Divide your dough into three pieces.  Shape each piece into a rectangle about the width of the pasta maker.  Sprinkle a little flour the pasta maker then roll the dough through on the widest setting three times. Reroll on a thinner setting, then again on an even thiner setting, then once more on the thiner setting than the previous.

Flour the rolled pasta and cover it with plastic. Repeat with the other two thirds of pasta dough.

Working with one sheet a time, drop teaspoons of the filling onto the dough, about an inch apart, making a row along one side of the pasta sheet. Wet the dough a bit with a finger and then fold it over and seal it.  Use a handy dandy ravioli cutter and cut the dough into rectangles or cirlces, depending on whatever type of ravioli cutter you have.  The ravioli can then be refrigerated in a single layer on a floured cookie sheet for up to a day, or can be frozen.

To prepare the sauce, brown the chopped pancetta until barely crispy. Set aside. 

Put on a pot of salted water to boil. When it’s close to boiling, add butter to your pancetta pan. Allow butter to melt then keep the sauce barely warm.

Add the ravioli to the boiling water. When the ravioli are done, after about three minues, drain then gently toss with the pancetta and butter sauce.