Entrée – Pasta
Fried Ravioli with Fresh Tomato Sauce

This recipe was featured on "You're the Chef" episode #202. Buy this episode from WVIA.

Yield: 24 each, large ravioli; one quart sauce

Ingredients:

Filling
2 c.	Italian sausage, bulk or removed from the link casing
1/4 c.	olive oil
1 Tbsp.	fresh garlic, chopped
1/4 c.	pine nuts
1/4 c.	sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in hot water for 1/2 hour, chopped
1/4 c.	golden raisins, soaked in hot water for 10 minutes
1 each	bag fresh spinach, cleaned, washed, rough chopped
1 c.	Ricotta cheese
1/2 c.	grated Parmesan cheese
to taste	salt and ground black pepper
Ravioli
6 each	sheets of fresh pasta dough, for lasagna
1 1/2 c.	salad oil, for frying the ravioli
Tomatoe Sauce
1/4 c.	olive oil
1 Tbsp.	fresh garlic, chopped
4 c.	fresh tomatoes, blanched, skin removed, seeded and chopped
1/4 c.	fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
to taste	salt and fresh ground pepper

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Filling procedure:
Sauté in a large frying pan over high heat, brown the Italian sausage in the olive oil. Add the garlic and the pine nuts, cooking them until they begin to lightly brown. Add the sun-dried tomatoes, raisins and spinach, and stir the mixture until the spinach has wilted. Remove from the heat, pour the mixture into a large bowl and cool.

When cool, add the Ricotta and Parmesan cheeses, taste the mixture and season with salt and pepper as you like.


Ravioli procedure:
Lay a sheet of pasta dough on a clean, smooth cutting board. Cut the sheet into 4 even squares.

Place 3 tablespoons of filling slightly off center on the pasta square. Fold the dough over, stretching slightly, making sure that none of the filling touches the edge of the dough. Press the edges together tightly. The pasta dough will be very sticky when it is fresh. You do not need to use water to help seal the dough unless it seems dry or will not seal with gentle pressing. Repeat this process until all the ravioli are filled. Hold the ravioli on a cookie sheet tray that has been lightly brushed with olive oil or no-stick spray.

Heat a large frying pan over medium high heat and add the oil. The depth of the oil in the pan should be about 1 inch (change the size of the pan or add more oil as needed). When the oil is hot, you can add the ravioli, making sure that they do not touch each other. Fry them on one side for about one minute, until you can see the edges of the ravioli turning golden brown. Gently flip the ravioli with a spatula, and finish browning the ravioli. Remove them from the frying pan and hold them on absorbent paper. You can keep them warm in a 200°F oven for 10 to 15 minutes until you are ready to serve.

Serve them with the fresh tomato sauce, fresh grated Parmesan cheese and chopped fresh basil as an appetizer or entrée.

Tomatoe Sauce procedure:
Heat the oil over high heat in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the garlic and sauté until it is just golden brown. Add the tomatoes and the basil and simmer for 4 minutes, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and adjust the seasoning. The sauce may be served immediately or refrigerated for up to 5 days.