ricotta and spinach ravioli

The other night, I made ravioli from scratch. Dough, filling, and sauce. I was really proud of the finished product, but alas, it was date night and did not want to ruin the mood by pausing to snap a plethora of photos... so instead I snapped one via instagram. It will have to do :)

for the dough: i used this recipe. pretty standard, but i doubled it and it was the perfect amount for our ravioli. 

for the filling: 

6 cups of fresh baby spinach

1 glove garlic, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

8 oz of ricotta

heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat and add spinach and garlic. saute until spinach is entirely wilted and cooked through (about five minutes). allow to cool and then blend with ricotta cheese. add salt and pepper to taste. 

to assemble: roll out dough as instructed into thin sheets (about five inches wide). place small spoonfuls of filling onto dough about 2 inches apart. take a second sheet of dough, and lay over the first. use your fingers to smooth down the area around each spoonful of filling and seal two sheets of dough together. using a small circular cookie cutter {or ravioli cutter if you want to get fancy} cut out each ravioli, making sure not to get too close to the filling. lightly flour each ravioli so they don't stick together or to your working surface. set aside. 

to cook: boil a large pot of water and cook ravioli for about 4 minutes. 

for the sauce: 

4 large vine ripe tomatoes

10 basil leaves

1 clove garlic 

1/2 a small onion

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1/2 tsp italian seasoning

1/2 tsp parsley

1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

salt and pepper to taste

add first 4 ingredients to a blender/food processor and puree {leaving some chunks if you like a thicker sauce}. heat olive oil in pan over medium heat and added blended mixture. stir in tomato paste and spices and simmer for 20 minutes until sauce thickens. 

then, you are done! and if you'd like to, you can take some photos and blog about it - but for this meal, i recommend you just eat :)