6 Cheese Baked Ravioli

Woo Hoo the Riddles placed another order, this time Baked Cheese Ravioli. I love when its a vegetarian item because I have the opportunity to taste it before I send it out, hee hee. I feel nervous when I don't know how something tastes that I am selling to them. I don't have an opportunity to know how it could be tweeked, or how to duplicate it. But that's not the case this time so moving on.

I first start on the easy tomato sauce, which I stole and modified a little from Giada, which is a staple in my repertoire now. I take a few cloves of chopped garlic, usually six to eight depending on size, and a chopped onion  with a hefty amount of olive oil, like a half of a cup or so, and saute that in a pot and cook until they begin to become opaque. I then take one chopped celery stalk and two chopped carrots and ass them to the onions, garlic, and oil. I add a generous amount of salt and pepper and cook that all together until the vegetables are soft. 

Then I add 2 cans of crushed tomatoes, fresh basil, about 10-12 leaves, and 6 bay leaves. I always use 6 bay leaves so I remember how many I need to pull out of the pot later. I put this on the lowest heat and let it simmer for a few hours stirring it occasionally. I add about 4 tablespoons of butter and remove the bay leaves. I put the mixture into the food processor in two batches and puree the mixture. Voila, tomato sauce made easy and delicious. 

While the sauce is simmering I like to make my pasta dough. I put 6 eggs and 4 cups of flour in my Kitchen Aid  mixer and blend it together. I take out the dough once it is mixed together and knead it for 3-4 minutes, form it into a ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. I let it sit at room temperature for a couple of hours while the sauce is simmering. 

In a bowl I mix together ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, asagio cheese, white cheddar cheese, and provolone cheese. I add a dash of nutmeg, freshly chopped basil, fresh italian parsley, salt, pepper, and an egg. I mix it all together and taste to adjust seasonings. 

Next, I'm ready to roll out my raviolis. I do not own a pasta roller and have to do this by hand so I hone in on my inner Italian grandmother inside of me( I'm not Italian but we all have a little Sophia Petrillo inside of us). I roll out my dough as thin as I can and then I cut out square that are about 1 inch by 1 inch. 

 I then take those squares and roll them out so they are paper thin. This is a lot of work, but it is where you can put the most amount of love into them. I find it kind of therapeutic and actually enjoy doing them, as long as I don't have a time constraint, lol. I then take a dab of the filling and place it on a paper thin square that I rolled out, place another paper thin square on top of it and press around the sides. 

I take a fork and press around the sides as well to help make a stronger seal. I take the Ravioli and drop them in boiling water with a little bit of salt and cook them for about 4 minutes or so. They float to the top and look more white, I use a slotted spoon to remove them from the water (yes I copied and pasted this from my earlier blog).

I take a 9X13 pan and place a layer of sauce on the bottom. I place the raviolis on top of the sauce and cover with more sauce. I then take a generous amount of all of the cheeses used before minus the ricotta and sprinkle over the top. I place in a preheated 500F and bake it until the cheese is melted to a beautiful golden brown. 

They also ordered garlic bread which I do on a fresh french baguette with a secret garlic spread. Trust me its delicious, but I'm not ready to share that recipe yet.