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Goats cheese, pea & mint ravioli with lemon butter sauce

by Paul Phillips June-3-2014

Making pasta at home is much easier than you might think. These ravioli make a delicious vegetarian main course. They also freeze well, so it's worth making a batch. Serve with freshly made garlic bread and a glass of something cold and white.

Ingredients

For the pasta:
350g "00" flour
4 whole eggs
4 egg yolks
1/4 tsp sea salt
For the filling:
200g creamy goats cheese
100g soft cream cheese
2 tbsp double cream
100g frozen peas
6 tbsp chopped mint
salt and pepper
For the sauce:
80g unsalted butter
2 cloves garlic, crushed
4 tsp lemon juice
4 tbsp dill leaves, finely chopped
Freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

1. Start by making the pasta. Put the flour in a large bowl and add the eggs and salt. Mix with a wooden spoon until you have a shaggy dough, then knead for one minute to make sure there is no flour left in the bowl.2. Continue kneading the dough on a clean work surface until it is very smooth. Shape into a ball and cover in cling film. Leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.3. Make the filling by thoroughly mixing all of the ingredients, lightly crushing the peas, then cover and refrigerate.4. When the dough is ready, flour the work surface and a pasta machine so that nothing will stick. Cut off 1/4 of the dough and re-cover the rest to stop it drying out. Roll with a pin then feed through the widest setting of the pasta machine. Letter fold the right side into the middle and then the left side over the top. Turn 90 degrees and roll out again until thin enough to go back through the widest setting. Repeat this 10 times to really develop the gluten in the pasta, keeping everything well floured as you go.5. Now feed the pasta once through the second widest setting on the machine, turn down again and keep repeating until you have reached the 2nd thinnest setting. Cut the pasta into two equal pieces.6. To make the ravioli lay out the rolled pasta and put teaspoons of filling at regular intervals over one half of the dough. Brush water around each spoonful and place over the other half. Push down gently to remove any air and seal the ravioli. Cut out the individual pieces using a knife or a fluted pastry wheel. Repeat with the remaining dough.7. Put the finished ravioli on a baking sheet with plenty of semolina to prevent sticking. Leave to dry for 30 minutes. You can freeze the pasta at this point - just cook from frozen for six minutes rather than four.8. For the sauce, melt the butter and garlic over a medium heat until it stops sizzling and just starts to brown. Remove from the heat and stir through the lemon juice, dill and black pepper. 9. Meanwhile, add the pasta to boiling salted water and cook for 4 minutes, then drain.10. Toss the pasta in the lemon butter and serve immediately.

Details

Prep time: 1 hour 20 mins Cook time: 10 mins Total time: 1 hour 30 mins Yield: Serves 4 as a main course, 6 as a starter