Lobster Ravioli 

Friday, February 4, 2011 -
The ice/sleet/snow storm that Indy experienced this week lead me to have two days away from work and happily in the kitchen.  I had been meaning to make some lobster ravioli ever since we purchased the lobster from Festival Foods in Wisconsin, but just hadn't.  A snowy, icy day?  Perfect time to make some ravioli for dinner!

I began by making the filling.  I boiled the lobster tail in some water and seasoning, a pretty basic mix.  While that cooked, I prepped the other ingredients by chopping a shallot and some mushrooms I had on hand.  I sauteed both of these with some garlic in butter until soft.  I seasoned it up with some red pepper flakes, pepper and smidge of salt.  I then added the lobster to get all the flavors to really marry together.  I set this aside, let it cool, and added some Mascarpone cheese, chives and parsley for good measure.  I set it aside and started to work on my pasta.

For the pasta dough, I mixed flour, eggs, olive oil and bit of salt together in my mixer with the dough hook attachment.  I ended up adding a little water to get the texture that I wanted and let it sit for a bit before rolling it out.


I love our pasta maker attachment for the KitchenAid.  We use it way more than I ever thought we would.  I took this pasta class at Williams Sonoma a while back and from that moment, I had to have the pasta maker.  A great investment for our household, but that is because we like to make our pasta rather than buying it.  So after 20 minutes, I got to work with the dough by cutting it into four sections.  I hand pressed it a little and began feeding it through the roller.  If you have a roller, begin on the first setting and run it through a few items to get the elastic feeling in the dough.  Between passes, fold in the ends of the dough to make a tri-fold each time to get it mixed well.  Then, move on to setting 2 with one pass, setting 3, 4 and then 5 to achieve the length you desire. 
Once I had all the pasta rolled, I set them all by each other and dropped a hefty tablespoon of filling onto the sheets, leaving 1 to 1 1/2 inches between fillings.  Then, brush the edges around the filling with an egg wash mixture - this helps adhere the other dough that will be put on top.  When you drape the dough on top, really form the pockets of filling and ensure there isn't much air in the pockets.  Then, use a knife or pastry cutter to cut them out.  It sounds like a lot of steps, but in reality, it is just entertaining to do!


These boiled in salted water for a few minutes.  They cook up pretty quickly - when they float, they are ready for the brown butter and sage sauce that your hubby has made for the noodles.  The tasty sauce was simply brown butter on the stove with additions of balsamic vinegar, pepper, sage and other seasonings.  Do whatever you want in the sauce, it is where you can be creative!

It was a delicious dish and a great way to spend about one hour of my afternoon.  And the leftovers the next day were great! The noodles soaked up the butter and were just as delicious.

Did you recently have a snow day, and if so, cook anything delicious?

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