Meatless Mushroom Ravioli

This is an awesome dish packed with flavor that will explode with each bite.  You won’t even notice you ate the whole plate until its gone, I promise.

Ok, so I totally am a meatatarian, but I decided to change it up this time.  Remember that umami stuff I was talking about, if not then click here to learn a little bit about it.  It’s really not made up, I did think it was when I was in school.  But anyway, mushrooms are loaded with umami and often serve as a great replacer, and/or augmenter to meats.  In this case we will use them as a replacer, FYI spell check thinks that is not a real word.

I do want to talk a little about mushrooms here, as you may know I am a wild mushroom hunter/lover/connoisseur/I eat them a lot and love them and would have them all day kind of person.  I mean I even have a post and YouTube about it.  I have other wild mushroom recipes, like chanterelle hollandaise sauce, and some others I will be adding soon, real soon I promise.   Wild mushrooms just have such a unique flavor that is so hard to define and there is just something about harvesting these guys up high in the Rockies that makes them even more wonderful, I only hunt for them above 8000 ft.

 

But not every one is fortunate enough to have fresh porcinis (cepes, penny buns, steinpilz), dehydrated ones will work.  You can usually find dehydrated porcinis at a higher end grocery store near you.  I think Kroger Brands have them sometimes, Harmon’s  does, Harris Teeter & Trader Joes I’d imagine would and I would be devastated if the great Wegman’s didn’t, if you’ve never been to a Wegman’s you should go when you are in the north east they are pretty neat grocery stores.   If your store doesn’t carry them you can click on the pic below to order them directly from Amazon, skip the hassle of searching.

Tip: The porcini is pretty cool because it re-hydrates well.  The simplest method is to soak in water until rehydrated, about 30 min or so, use warm water but it doesn’t need to be hot.  Once the mushrooms are reconstituted remove from liquid and rinse (if desired).  The “broth” from rehdration can be strained through a cloth to remove grit and dirt (these are wild and grow from the ground) and used as a flavoring agent, but it is very strong so be careful with it.

So enough about mushrooms what about the dough, well if you’ve never made homemade pasta you are in for a real treat.  You get to mix the dough directly with your hands so no special Kitchen Aid is needed, although one could be used.  One tool I think is almost essential to making good past is a pasta roller.  This little device helps roll nice thin sheets for making awesome and even cooking pasta, the last thing you was is uncooked gooey pasta, yuk.  Plus they are really helpful when you want to roll your own cannoli shells (I’ll cover that later).  Ravioli holy cannoli.

When the amazing flavors of the porcini mushroom are combined with the wonderful taste and texture of homemade pasta magic happens.  This dish is a fantastic meatless option and still satisfies even the most staunch of meatatarians.

 

Recipe

Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 25 min ;  Cook Time: 15 min

Ingredients

• Pasta
  • 1 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 eggs
  • Dried Basil
• Stuffing
  • 1 lb porcini (3 oz dehydrated)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp basil
  • 1 tsp thyme
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1 tbsp olive olie
  • Parmesan
• Sauce
  • Remaining stuffing
  • 1 cup cream
  • Parmesan
  • Salt and Pepper to taste

Pasta

Mix the flour and basil well.  Crack the eggs in to the flour mixture and mix with your hands. Once the dough sticks together knead it on a floured surface until it is smooth and tacky but not sticky.
Divide it in half.

Stuffing

Melt the butter in to the olive oil.  Dice the porcinis in to small cubes.  Saute the porcinis in the olive oil and butter.  Add the garlic, salt, pepper, basil, thyme, and rosemary.  Cook all this until it is soft.

Roll out both of the halves of the pasta in to 1/4″ thin sheets.  If you have a pasta roller use it, if not work at it with a rolling pin.  Spoon some of the porcini mixture on to the bottom sheet of pasta, be sure and leave about an inch between each spoonful.  Cover each lump of porcini with a pile of grated Parmesan.

Cover the bottom sheet and porcini piles with the top sheet.  If you have a ravioli cutter, I don’t, use it to cut the raviolis.  If you don’t have a ravioli cutter use your fingers or a fork to seal in between each ravioli.

Boil these ravioli in a water with just a touch of salt.  Should be boiled about 5-7 minutes.

Sauce

Return the extra stuffing to the stove and add the cream and Parmesan, cook until it thickens.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve this over the ravioli.  Enjoy.