Chard & Crimini Mushroom Ravioli in Butter Walnut Sage Sauce Homemade Pasta

I've always wanted to make my own ravioli and my own filling, however always heard it was a labor intensive process and required lots of pasta making tools. I have to be honest, it was a lot of work. This is not a 'fast' food and it will take a few hours from start to finish. The most time consuming part of making ravioli is the assembly. Yikes! Make sure you have wine! The good news is ravioli making wasn't as difficult as I always imagined. Give it a try on a rainy afternoon. Call over some friends and open a bottle of wine!



Tools?! I have a wood chopping board, a really nice rolling pin, fork and a glass. That's about all you really need to make ravioli. William-Sanoma has a lot of amazing tools for pasta making, but I'm a fan of my 'free' tools.



Ingredients for the ravioli:

2 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1/2 lb. crimini mushrooms, minced
1/2 small onion, minced
8 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed from stems
8 large leaves swiss chard, trimmed from stems
1/2 cup mascarpone
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated




Ingredients for the pasta:

1 1/2 cups Farina di Semolina flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
6 large free range eggs
1 tablespoon Salt




Ingredients for the Sage Walnut Sauce:

Handful Walnuts - chopped
Tablespoon or more minced sage
Butter



Start with the dough.
In a big bowl mix the dry flour first. Make a volcano or a well in the flour for the eggs.

Ravioli Maker (Google Affiliate Ad)



Add all six eggs and knead with your hands until you have proper dough. The mix will stick to your hands at first, but keep kneading.



Once completely kneaded, make a ball

Eppicotispai Ravioli Triangle Stamp (Google Affiliate Ad)



Cut dough into fours and cover with a damp cloth or kitchen towel. Let it sit for one hour.



While the dough is resting, start on your filling. Chop everything and measure out all the ingredients.



In a 12 inch fry pan add olive oil, onions, garlic, and thyme. Cook on medium heat for about 4 minutes.

All-Clad Stainless Steel Skillet with Lid, 12" (Google Affiliate Ad) 



Next add the mushrooms and continue to stir. If needed, add more olive oil and cook for about 4 to 5 more minutes.



Your kitchen is now smelling really good!



Add the minced rainbow chard and continue to stir for another 5 minutes.



Turn the heat off and add the 1/2 cup mascarpone and 1/2 cup Parmesan. The fry pan should still be very warm and will melt the cheese without burning it. Let it sit for 10 minutes or more to cool.

All-Clad Stainless Steel Skillet with Lid, 12" (Google Affiliate Ad)




Time to roll it out! Use a bunch of flour on your chopping board so the dough will not stick. With the rolling pin, roll it out!



I used a glass to cut my ravioli and I believe it worked very well. After I cut the circles, I re-knead and rolled out the leftover dough to cut more circles.



Take a circle and fill it with the chard, mushroom, thyme stuffing. With water wet the edge of this circle.



Cover with a second circle and pinch edges together.



With a fork, press the edges together. This extra step is not necessary, but it looks pretty.



Place finished ravioli on parchment paper and let rest for an hour or less.



Bring water, salt and olive oil to a hard boil and add ravioli. I had one or two stick to the bottom of the pot. To avoid this, stir for the first 20 seconds.

Cook for 2.5 minutes for al dente or 3.5 for well done pasta. I like al dente so I cook 2.5 minutes.

Staub Marin Miniature Round Cocotte (Google Affiliate Ad)




On low to med heat saute butter, sage and chopped walnuts for 2 minutes. BAM!



Eat!



I did use this for a batch of ravioli. It's a ravioli press.



Layer of pasta, filling and another layer of pasta dough.



With a rolling pin, roll over the press until you see the metal design.



Here are the pressed ravioli. I like them, but it was very difficult to get the ravioli away from the press. I ended up breaking a few. Next time I'll just use the glass!



I love these mushrooms! Crimini are the best!

Sur La Table Marble Rolling Pin with Handles (Google Affiliate Ad)



Fresh Thyme!





YUM



Last! Freezing fresh, uncooked ravioli. YES! Please do. Do not let the ravioli touch. They keep for a very long time. If cooking a frozen ravioli, cook for 5 minutes.

Genovese Pesto Chicken Breast, Fava Beans, Pine Nuts with Arugula

Genovese Pesto Chicken (Grilled) with Fava Beans and Pine Nuts on a bed of Arugula

My mom's family is from a northern region of Italy called Liguria. Ligurians are very proud of their pesto sauce among many other amazing dishes such as Foccacia bread. Through the years, my family has kept a very traditional recipe for their pesto. However, I've since doing some research I've seen recipes using kale, arugula, walnuts or almonds instead of basil and pine nuts.  Here is a great read about the history of pesto. If you'd like a great recipe for pesto, check out Culinaria Italia – Italian Food and Cooking.

I really enjoy pesto and can eat it on almost anything; lasagna, potatoes and beans, pasta, meat, pizza, ect. However, it's so high in fat and calories. Not great if you're on a diet or trying to lose weight for a Hawaii trip in one week. Think bikini!

How do I make a 'less-fating' pesto dish where I can enjoy the flavor without the temptation of over-saucing. Got it. Marinate the chicken breast in the pesto sauce!



To start, make a homemade pesto sauce. Add uncooked chicken breast and pesto sauce in a glass bowl. Toss, cover and refrigerate for several hours. Do this step in the morning before you leave for work and by the time you're home the chicken will be ready to cook.

Slowly heat your Staub 12inch grill pan with cast iron press - use 3 tablespoons of oil while heating the grill.

Staub Cherry Square Grill Pan, 12" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Once the grill pan and press are hot, add the pesto chicken breast and cover with the cast iron press. Cook well on medium heat for about 6 minutes. Flip and repeat. Depending on your stove top, cooking time may differ.



While chicken is cooking, work on your fava beans. Start by shelling them out of their pods and soaking them in cold water.

Staub Marin-Blue Square Grill Pan, 12" (Google Affiliate Ad)



Dry the fava beans and, if you want, remove the skin. Lidia's Italy Blog explains in an easy to follow, step-by-step way to clean and remove skin from fava beans. They taste and cook better with skin off. Cook on low heat with olive oil and sail.



I use about 2 tablespoons of pine nuts. Some interesting facts about pine nuts:

1. Pine nuts take 18 months to complete its maturity; however, to reach full maturity, the environmental conditions must be favorable for the tree and its cone

2. Pinyon pine cone production is most commonly found at an elevation between 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and 8,500 feet (2,600 m)



Cook on low-medium heat with salt and olive oil for about 4 minutes

All-Clad Copper-Core Fry Pan - 10" - All-Clad Copper Core (Google Affiliate Ad)



Once Chicken is cooked (never undercook chicken), remove from grill and let sit for 5 minutes.



Toss the arugula, pine nuts, fava beans with a lemon olive oil dressing. Slice the chicken breast and plate! Voilà!

Ingredients:

- 2 chicken breast
- 1 cup of homemade pesto
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 2 cups fava beans
- pinch of salt and pepper
- lemon
- olive oil
- bunch arugula

Kale Almond Pesto

Chicken Frittata with Spinach, Potatoes and Carrots

After roasting a chicken in my Staub oven, I had more chicken leftovers than I knew what to do with...leftovers for days. What to do? What would my mom do? Yep...Baked Chicken Frittata with spinach, carrots, and potatoes. Problem solved.




The frittata is good right out of the oven, room temperature or cold. You can add a side dish such as cooked barley or a side salad. It's very healthy and a 'one pan' dish which makes for easy clean up.




What you will need:
-- Eggs (about 4 to 6)
-- Cooked Chicken
-- Cooked Potatoes
-- Carrots (cooked or raw)
-- Grated parmigiano cheese (about two handfuls)
-- Raw spinach
-- Salt and pepper


Tools:
-- Cast Iron Skillet with cover


Beat the eggs and start to add each ingredient one at a time.



I add one ingredient and mix. If the mix looks a little dry, break another egg and keep mixing. It's better to have too many eggs than not enough. It will be too dry with too little egg.



Add spinach! This mix is too dry. I need to add two more eggs at this point. Break eggs into the dish and mix well


This is perfect! Eggs, chicken, potatoes, spinach, cheese, carrots and salt and pepper all ready to go!


Before dumping the frittata mix in the iron skillet, heat the skillet up a little and melt butter. Turn off heat once butter starts to melt. Use paper towel to butter the side of the skillet.



Dump it!



Cover it and throw it in the oven (remember to pre-heat to 350)



What to do while you are waiting the next 40 minutes... clean up and start your barley or side salad.



Don't over cook! Don't under cook! Side should be lightly brown and middle firm.



Enjoy this dish for breakfast, brunch, lunch or dinner. I've added some Sriracha sauce to this chicken frittata! It adds a perfect amount of heat to a dish without overwhelming amounts of flavors.