As promised I have written for you today my recipe for Hot Smoked Salmon and Ricotta Ravioli. I prepared this dish for my family on New Year’s day, using my new Kitchen Aid attachments that I received for Christmas. I was lucky enough to get the Pasta Roller and Ravioli Roller from Santa, which I had been dreaming off for years.

I first used an electric pasta machine when I did a cooking class in Milan.  I couldn’t believe how easy it was and wished someday I would get my own. Since then I have been using a manual pasta machine, but I needed a second person to help me. Now I can do it all myself and lucky for little Octavia I can cook her favourite pasta anytime now.

For this recipe, I prepared the pasta from start to finish using my KitchenAid Stand Mixer, Pasta Roller and Ravioli Roller. If you don’t have these items, you can still prepare the pasta dough by hand, use a manual pasta machine to roll the pasta sheets out thin and then fill and cut the ravioli by hand. The ravioli attachment does give you some half-sized ravioli, that you wouldn’t have if doing completely by hand. I still cooked them since they are great for checking if your pasta is cooked through enough. In the KitchenAid Ravioli Roller booklet, it does recommend the setting to use with the Pasta attachment. I did go a bit thinner when I made my pasta sheets since I had already done a trial. The setting they recommended gave me ravioli that was so thick that the filling didn’t shine.

If your dairy free, you don’t need to use ricotta. In the future, I would probably use an alternative, as it doesn’t make much difference with for the filling. You just need something that will help make the salmon a little bit creamy when blending. If you don’t have eggs, you could always use soft tofu for the pasta dough. This is something I am yet to try but wouldn’t mind seeing how it turns out. I recommend the New Zealand  King smoked salmon fillet, which I bought from Aldi. Otherwise wild or organic smoked salmon filet would also be great. If you can’t get smoked you can always use good quality freeze or frozen salmon, which you could and cool in preparation.

Hot Smoked Salmon and Ricotta Ravioli

(nut free, dairy free option)

Ingredients:

3.5 cups unbleached plain flour

4 large eggs

1 tbsp water

200 g hot smoked salmon fillet/prebaked salmon fillet, skin removed

4 tbsp smooth ricotta/vegan ricotta/cream cheese/cashew cream

1-2 tbsp olive oil

8 sage leaves

1 bunch asparagus, remove hard end and cut half or thirds

1 cup frozen peas

1-2 tbsp salted butter/vegan butter/olive oil (optional)

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. First, prepare the pasta dough. If using a Kitchen Aid mixing, follow instructions to make the dough using the flour, eggs and water. Otherwise, mix by hand. Leave the pasta to rest for 30 minutes in cling wrap.
2. In the meantime, place salmon (skin removed) and ricotta into a blender or processor. Blend until it is pureed. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Leave the mixture in the fridge until your ready to use.
3. Now use your electric pasta roller attachment or manual pasta machine to make the pasta sheets. Remember to cover the leftover dough so it doesn’t dry out. If you are placing the pasta sheets on top of each other put flour between the layers, so it doesn’t stick.
4. Now it time to make your ravioli. If you’re using a Ravioli attachment, then follow the instructions. Use a pasta cutter to divide the ravioli from each other. If making by hand, spoon about 1-2 tablespoons of filling on your pasta sheet, top with another pasta sheet, press and cut with a pasta cutter. Make sure you dust your cut ravioli with flour, so they don’t stick to each other before cooking.
5. Boil a large pot of water and add a big pinch of sea salt.
6. In a large pan, heat olive oil and then add the sage leaves. Allow the leaves to crisp a little but don’t burn them.
7. Add the asparagus and peas to the pan and cook until tender.
8. In the meantime cook your ravioli in the boiled water until they are al dente or to your pleasing. This should take 5-7 minutes.
9. Add the ravioli to the pan of vegetables. Stir in butter and allow to melt and season with sea salt and black pepper before serving.

Serves 6