Mushroom Ravioli with Browned Butter, Garlic and Fresh Herbs

If you’re looking for a vegetarian ravioli recipe, this mushroom-filled ravioli deliciously fits that bill.

This is a little decadent with the lightly-browned butter sauce but it’s worth the indulgence in my book. You can use a mix of whatever mushrooms you like but I’ve found that shitake and portobello mushrooms lend a very flavorful, earthy touch to these. You can also mix up the herbs, which I often do, depending on your tastes and what you have on hand.

Mushroom-Filled Ravioli with Browned Butter, Garlic, and Herbs Recipe

Note: Photos have been updated since my original post

Shiitake mushroom ravioli filling recipe:

• 1 egg yolk (save the white for sealing the ravioli, if you’d like)
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese (be sure and drain it through a fine-mesh colander if it’s very wet)
• Pinch of salt and black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 -2 cloves garlic, minced well (I love mine on the garlicky side, but remember there’ll be garlic in the butter sauce, also)
• 5 ounces of shiitake and/or portobello mushrooms, finely chopped

Directions

• In a medium-size bowl, beat egg.
• Stir in parsley, ricotta, salt, and pepper and stir well.
• Set aside.
• In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat.
• Add garlic and cook about 2 minutes, stirring often.
• Add mushrooms and stir well. After a minute or two, the mushrooms will begin to release their liquid.
• Cook about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Remove from heat and let cool for about 10 minutes
• Add mushrooms to the ricotta mixture and stir well.

Brown butter with garlic and fresh herbs sauce recipe

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
• 1-2 cloves garlic, thickly sliced or roughly chopped into chunks
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs (I’ve used various combinations of chives, basil, sage, oregano, and parsley, but feel free to play with your herbs here)
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan, Asiago or Romano cheese

Directions

• In a small saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook for about 7-8 minutes, until the butter is lightly browned – the fat will rise to the top and then start to sink down back into the pan and you’ll smell it getting toasty. Be careful not to burn it. If you’re adding sage, you’ll want to add it after about 5 minutes, so it starts to toast a bit and become fragrant.
• Add garlic and cook for a minute more.
• Remove from heat and stir in fresh herbs and black pepper.
• Spoon sparingly over ravioli and sprinkle with freshly-grated Parmesan cheese.

Homemade ravioli dough recipe:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 large eggs
• 1 large egg or egg white, mixed with a tablespoon of cold water, for egg wash “glue”
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 additional large egg yolk and/or 1/2 teaspoon olive oil (only if the dough is very dry after mixing)
• A clean counter or a baking sheet, lightly dusted with flour, for the finished pasta

Directions

• In a stand mixer bowl, using the dough hook attachment, add the flour and salt and mix, on low, to combine.
• Keeping your mixer on low and, letting each one incorporate one at a time before adding the next one, add your 3 eggs.
• Drizzle in the olive oil while continuing to mix.
• Let your mixer run on low or 2nd to lowest speed for a few minutes, occasionally shutting it off to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl, if needed.
• Mix until a ball forms around the dough hook.

Ideally, this should be enough, but the frustratingly beautiful thing about pasta is this: depending on your home temperature and your humidity level, you may need to add just a  bit more olive oil or an egg yolk. You don’t want a bunch of dough sticking to the sides but you don’t want it falling-apart-dry, either.

• Once your dough ball has reached this level, let the mixer knead it on the 2nd to lowest speed for up to 10 minutes. That’s TEN MINUTES. I know, it seems like forever and it may not actually take this long, but it’s a mixer, for goodness sake. Take the dog for a walk or something and then come back. 🙂
• This is what you want: a nice, firm ball that still isn’t sticking to the side of your mixing bowl but also isn’t so dry it’s cracking or breaking apart. It should be smooth and supple.
• When done,  wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 30 minutes.

If you haven’t already prepared your mushroom filling, now’s a good time.

• When the dough is done resting, divide into 6 small sections and flatten each one.
• With your pasta attachment or a pasta maker, using the widest setting, run a section through 2-3 times.
• If your section isn’t rectangular, fold the sides of them over, to make a rectangle, and run through again.
• Then, thin your dough by working it through each roller setting until about the 6 or 7 mark. You want the dough nice and thin, so you can see your hand through it, but not so thin that it’s falling apart and hard to work with.
• Lay the finished strip of dough on a lightly floured surface and repeat with remaining sections of dough.
• If your dough is going to sit for more than 10 minutes, I recommend placing plastic wrap over the finished strips – this will keep them from drying out.

Assemble ravioli

• On your prepared strips of pasta, place a teaspoon or two of mushroom filling on your strip, about 1 inch apart. You can make a lot of tiny ravioli or make fewer, larger ravioli, whichever you prefer, just leave enough room in-between filling, to seal each ravioli well.
• Using a pastry brush (or your fingers, if you don’t have a brush), lightly brush the egg wash in a grid fashion, around the filling.
• Place another strip of pasta on top (or if your strips are very long, fold one non-filled half over a filled half) and, starting at one end, cover and lightly press dough between filling rows, until you’ve reached the end of the strip.
• Then press around each filling firmly, trying to press out any air around the filling, as you go (this will keep your ravioli from bursting open when you cook them).
• Using a sharp knife or the rim of a glass, cut out your ravioli and then press the edges of each one quickly, making sure they’re sealed well.
• Return to lightly floured surface until ready to cook.
• Place ravioli in boiling salted water, return to a boil and cook for about 3 minutes.
• Remove from water with a slotted spoon or skimmer, arrange on individual plates or serving plate, drizzle with butter sauce, sprinkle with freshly grated cheese, and serve.

This is a delicious way to spend a cold, snowy evening. If you’ve never made homemade pasta, the silkiness and flavor of it are outstanding and totally worth the extra work involved. I know I covered a lot here, so if you catch any errors or missed-steps, please let me know…hopefully I covered it all!

Like any type of dough, I find the more that I make this the better I become at it. Don’t be discouraged if your first results aren’t perfect;  even if they look less than perfect, they’ll likely still be delicious.

I hope everyone is staying warm…and full.

Enjoy!