You would never know these ravioli are gluten free! The taste and texture is exactly like any regular, delicious homemade pasta!
This is the recipe that I tested as part of my review of Manuela Zangara's new cookbook 'Homemade Pasta Made Simple'.
It took me a bit of practice to get the feel of dough when it was right for rolling and then to have enough of a flour dusting for the pasta machine to be able to grab it in the rollers. But my perseverance paid off. This gluten free pasta is delicious with no foreign tastes or textures. I have had a few absolutely disastrous commercial gluten-free pastas - dry and tough. This is nothing like that. It is soft and pliable. I would challenge anyone to guess it is gluten-free if you didn't tell them.
I was so pleased with Manuela's recipes an instructions because they helped me get past the barrier I had for making homemade pasta.
My pasta dough was drier than it should have been. I think rice flour and the various starches absorb a lot of liquid. Manuela's recipe called for 3 eggs and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. I am suggesting you may want to try 4 eggs and 2 Tbsps of oil based on whether the dough is smooth or cracked. Mine was too dry and I had to troubleshoot adding liquid at the rolling stage.
I used a pasta machine. Manuela's recipe suggests rolling to # 8 or 9 but my dough tore at about 6. It turned out fine though so I wouldn't sweat that part. In the 2" cut rounds I couldn't fit a full teaspoon of filling so I went with about ½ tsp. If you go with the 2 ½ inch strips or a larger round you can fit a teaspoon of filling.
I let my ravioli dry on a wire rack and floured sheet while I finished shaping the dough. Then I froze them individually in a single layer before transferring to a sealed freezer bag. From frozen it took about 8-9 minutes after the water returned to a boil. Cooking from fresh took 2-3 minutes from the time the water returned to a boil.
Manuela has lots of recipes and tutorials including videos on her site so if you are going to attempt this homemade recipe I encourage to hop on over there and take a few tips from the pro!
Gluten Free Ricotta, Spinach Ravioli with Butter and Sage Sauce
Print Pin FacebookIngredients
Gluten Free Dough
- 5 oz rice flour plus more for rolling
- 2 oz potato starch
- 1 tablespoon corn starch
- 2 Tbsps xanthan gum
- 1-2 tablespoon olive oil you may need more if dough is dry
- 3-4 large eggs 2 oz each at least
Ricotta Spinach Filling
- ½ pound spinach or greens of your choice
- 3 Tbsps water
- ¾ cup ricotta cheese drained in colander
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano grated
Sauce
- ⅓ cup unsalted butter
- 8 sage leaves sliced thinly
- sea salt to taste
- 4 tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- fresh black ground pepper
Instructions
Pasta
- Mix the dry dough ingredients in a bowl. Mix wet dough ingredients together in a separate bowl.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the wet ingredients. Use your fingers to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until everything is combined. (You may need to add a bit more olive oil or water if all they dry ingredients cannot be absorbed.)
- Knead dough on counter for 5 - 10 minutes. Dough should be smooth and not cracking.
- Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Divide into 4-6 equal portions and roll out with rolling pin or pasta machine. Add water or flour as necessary to facilitate the rolling.
- Roll out to # 6 if using a pasta machine, or as thinly as possible if rolling by hand.
Filling
- Trim and wash your greens. Add wet greens and water to a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on high 2-3 minutes until greens are wilted. Drain greens and squeeze out all the moisture.
- Add all filling ingredients to a food processor and mix well.
Assembly
- Roll pasta into long strips about 2 ½ inches wide. Use a glass or cookie cutter to cut out 2 " rounds.
- Add ½-1 teaspoon of filling to the center of the round cut outs. With your finger wet the edges of the rounds. Press a top round over the bottom and use a fork to crimp and seal the edges. Do not let the filling spill out beyond edges of the pasta.
- Transfer to a wire rack or floured sheet pan while you make the rest of the rounds. You can either cook or freeze them at this point.
- To cook pasta bring a large pot of water to a boil with 1 tablespoon salt. Add ravioli and cook 2-3 minutes for fresh pasta or about 9 minutes for frozen.
- While pasta water is coming to a boil, melt the butter in a separate sauce pan. Add the sage leaves. Season with sea salt to taste.
- Drain pasta in a colander and return to the pasta pot. Pour Butter sauce over it and mix will. Add grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and stir.
- Serve with more grated cheese, sea salt and fresh ground black pepper.
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