Mushroom Ravioli

I've made this a few times now, and I love love love it. I hope you enjoy it too! It's a lot of work but it's worth it.

Filling:
About 1 lb mixed wild mushrooms, diced
About 1/2 lb fresh ricotta cheese
Chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
S&P



I used a combination of regular button mushrooms from the store and fresh wild morels and fresh shiitakes. It was delish! Cook the mushrooms in olive oil until they've sweated out their liquid. Set aside to cool. When they're cool, mix in the ricotta, chopped parsley, and salt and pepper to taste. Now you're ready to assemble the ravioli.

Set up a work station for yourself; make sure you have plenty of room. You'll need a small pastry brush and a small bowl of warm water, your ravioli filling, your pasta sheets, something to cut the ravioli with, and a baking sheet dusted with semlolina to put the ravioli on when they're assembled.



Lay out one sheet of pasta. With a teaspoon, put some filling on the sheet. If you're using a long sheet, you might want to put little mounds of filling at intervals. Now brush a little water around the filling, especially at the edges of the pasta sheet. Lay another sheet of pasta on top, pressing to seal. As you seal, make sure you push the air out. Cut the ravioli out with a little rolling crinkle cutter, or with a knife. I've even used a cookie cutter for this. Press the edges to make sure they're sealed and put your finished ravs on the cookie sheet. Repeat until you've used all your pasta or all your filling (preferably both). You'll have a lot of leftover scraps of pasta. Don't throw these away! They're great to throw in soups; they'll keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.








These ravioli need to be cooked very soon after they're assembled or the pasta will get wet and gummy. This isn't something you can make ahead of time, I'm afraid. Boil a big pot of salted water and cook the ravioli in batches. When it floats to the top let it cook about 2 minutes more, then skim out with a spider or slotted spoon. When you're ready to serve, dress with a little olive oil, fresh Parm, and freshly ground pepper. I like to serve this ravioli with cooked greens, partly because I am too lazy to make anything more elaborate once I'm finished with the ravioli.