This green ravioli is the perfect Sunday dinner to have throughout the summer and into the shoulder seasons. You can serve it as the main event or as a side dish to your favorite protein. It is fresh, light, and flavourful, and it is so much fun to put vibrant green colors on a plate and admire how beautiful your creation is!
Never made ravioli before? No problem. This is a step-by-step guide to making sure your ravioli comes out perfectly every time. It comes together in about an hour and a half and it is so worth the time!
Ingredients You Will Need
- Eggs
- Ricotta cheese
- Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
- Handmade spinach pasta dough
- Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Semolina flour, for dusting
- Butter
- Garlic
- Dry White wine, like a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
- Lemon
- Fresh sage leaves
Tools you will need
- Kitchen Scale (affiliate)
- Kitchenaid mixer (or any stand mixer (affiliate)) with dough attachments and pasta roller attachment OR a manual pasta roller
- Ravioli maker (affiliate) (tray), wheel or stamp
- Rolling pin
- Spray bottle with water
- Large saute pan
- Sharp knife or bench scraper
Details
Make the Dough
For this green ravioli recipe, you need to make the dough first so it can rest in the fridge before you roll it out. This is an important step in pasta making because it allows the flour to fully combine with the water and allows the gluten to relax. You’ll notice that if you don’t rest the dough, it is very dry and too elastic to roll into the thin sheets you need to make the ravioli.
For this step, skip over to our full instructions on how to make fresh spinach pasta dough.
Once you are done making the dough, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and throw it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes and no more than 24 hours.
Make the Filling
While the dough is resting, you can get started on your ravioli filling. Mix the eggs, parmesan, ricotta, salt and pepper together in a large bowl and put it in the fridge until you’re ready to use it again. Make sure the filling is not too wet, otherwise it might make the fresh pasta sticky and difficult to work with when you add it.
Make the Green Ravioli
Take your fully rested dough out of the fridge and cut it into 1/8th wedges. Working with smaller amounts at a time will make it easier for you to roll out the dough. Take your wedge and roll it out with the rolling pin first so it is flat enough to fit in the machine.
Before you start rolling out your dough, make sure you have enough space to lay out your sheets while you are finishing the rolling process. You will need semolina flour for dusting the counter and the sheets so they do not stick. You will also need plastic wrap or tea towels to cover the sheets so they do not dry out. You will have a hard time shaping and sealing the ravioli if the dough has dried out.
Start rolling out your dough either using a hand roller or a KitchenAid attachment, whichever you have. I like to roll the dough to the 2nd thinnest setting on the KitchenAid attachment. This gives the pasta enough thickness to hold the following, while still being delicate.
I use a ravioli tray (affiliate) to make my ravioli, so I aim to make my sheets fit the tray – about 6 inches wide by 12 inches long. I find this tool really useful for keeping the size of the ravioli consistent and I find they end up looking very professional. However, you will also get good results with ravioli wheels or stamps.
Roll out all the dough, making sure you are dusting it with semolina flour and covering it up along the way. Once you are done rolling you are now ready to take your filling out of the fridge to assemble the raviolis.
Dust the ravioli tray (affiliate) before you start to use it, so the dough does not stick to it. Place your sheet of pasta directly over the ravioli maker (affiliate), making sure there is enough overlap on all the edges. Then use the plastic dimples to create pockets in the dough. Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling into each pocket.
Inspect the dough. Is it tacky? Or dry? If you think it’s a bit dry then use your spray bottle with water to lightly spray the pasta, this will help it seal. If you do not have a spray bottle, fill a small dish with water, dip your fingers in the water and run them along the edges of each square of ravioli.
Next, place a second sheet of pasta directly over top and gently push down with both your flat hands, starting from the center and out to the edges to remove any air bubbles between the layers of dough. Use the little rolling pin to roll over the ravioli maker until all the excess dough has fallen away. You can keep all the excess bits to throw in soup. Just put them in the freezer and save them for later.
Turn the ravioli tray over and remove the ravioli. If they don’t pop out of the tray easily, then you know you need to use more semolina flour on the next batch. Place the ravioli on a lightly dusted sheet pan, lined with parchment paper. Keep the ravioli separate so that they do not touch, otherwise, they may stick together and it will be very difficult to pull them apart without tearing the pasta.
If you plan to freeze some of these ravioli, take the entire sheet pan and place it in the freezer while the ravioli are still separated. Once they are completely frozen you can take them off the sheet pan and throw them into a freezer bag, or airtight container, for storage.
Repeat this process until all your filling is gone. And now you’re ready to cook the ravioli!
Make the Sauce
Bring a large pot to a soft boil. Ravioli can be very delicate so it is better to cook them at a soft boil so make sure they do not get damaged. The ravioli should only take about 3-4 minutes to cook so you can get started on your sauce right away.
As the ravioli are cooking, heat a large pan to medium-high. Add the butter to the pan and cook for about 1 minute after it has melted. Add the minced garlic and cook for another minute. Add the fresh sage leaves and cook for 30 seconds. Then add the white wine and allow the alcohol to boil away for about 1 minute. Finally, squeeze the fresh lemon juice into the pan.
Use a slotted spoon to scoop the ravioli out of the pot and add them directly into the sauce. Add the parmesan cheese and the starchy pasta water to the sauce and let it cook for another 2 minutes, coating the ravioli in it.
Plate and finish with a pinch of parm, freshly ground black pepper and red pepper flakes (optional).
Now you can eat, and you earned it. Enjoy!
Frequently Asked Questions
Green or spinach ravioli is best paired with a light sauce that matches the freshness of the spinach and doesn’t overpower the filling inside. A butter sauce, broth based sauce or light cream sauce would be best with this dish.
Most commonly, green ravioli is made using blanched spinach leaves, which gives it a vibrant green color. You can also use other green leaves such as kale or Swiss chard to accomplish the same look.
Green ravioli, or green pasta dough, requires fewer eggs than the more common egg dough, so it may contain slightly fewer calories than some other pasta. Outside of that, there is very little difference in the health benefits of green pasta compared to other pasta made with white flour.
Parmigiano-Reggiano is parmesan cheese that comes from Italy and is made in a very specific way. It is a protected food by the European Union. It is the gold-standard of parmesan cheese because you know you are getting quality every time. This doesn’t mean that you cannot find good parmesan cheese made outside of Italy, you’re just not allowed to call it Parmigiano-Reggiano. I use Parmesan cheese and Parmigiano-Reggiano interchangeably in most of my recipes, and you can too, as long as you are using the stuff that comes in a wedge, is refrigerated at the grocery store and you are freshly grating yourself. This will maintain the quality of the recipes.
A light protein such as chicken, shrimp or a white fish would pair very well with this dish. You could even add shrimp, claims or another type of shellfish right into the white wine sauce and cook it altogether. Delicious!
Related
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with green ravioli in white wine sauce:
Wine Pairings
Since you will already have a bottle open from making the sauce you might as well pour yourself a glass. The sage, spinach and garlic in this dish suggest that you will need something that is a bit earthy and acidic. The butter also suggests you will need something at least medium-bodied. I would go with a Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc-Semillon, which is also the perfect white to use in your recipe.
Here’s a few options:
- Leaning Post – Sauvignon Blanc, Stoney Creek, Ontario, Canada
- Clos du Soleil – Capella, Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada
- Calvarino Soave Classico, Veneto, Italy
- Orchard Lane – Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand
- Howling Bluff – Sauvignon Blanc- Semillon, Okanagan Valley, British Columbia Canada
Green Ravioli in White Wine Butter Sauce
Equipment
- Kitchen scale (affiliate)
- KitchenAid mixer with dough attachments and pasta roller attachment or a manual pasta roller
- Ravioli maker (tray), wheel or stamp
- Rolling Pin
- Spray bottle with water
- Large saute pan
- Sharp knife or bench scraper
Ingredients
Spinach Dough
- 1 ½ lb handmade spinach pasta dough
- Semolina flour for dusting
Filling
- 2 eggs
- 1 16 oz (475g) container of ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese finely grated
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
Sauce
- 6 tbsp butter
- 8 cloves garlic finely minced
- 20 fresh sage leaves
- ½ cup dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio
- Juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup starchy pasta water
- 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese finely grated, plus more for garnish
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Head over to our recipe for homemade spinach pasta dough.
Make the Filling
- In a large bowl whisk together the ricotta, eggs, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper until blended.
- Store in the fridge for up to 2 hours, or until you are ready to use it.
Make the Ravioli
- Remove the dough from the fridge and let it rest on the counter for about 5-10 minutes before you roll it.
- Lightly dust your work surface with flour.
- Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and lightly dust with semolina flour.
- Unwrap the dough and cut it into 1/8th pieces. Use your pasta roller to create 8 sheets of dough about 6 inches wide by 12 inches long, or big enough to fit your ravioli tray. I go to a thickness of 2 on my machine, but every machine is different, so this might take some experimentation on your part.
- Dust the sheets with semolina flour and cover them with a tea towel so they do not dry out.
- Dust the ravioli maker with semolina flour so the dough does not stick to it.
- Lay one sheet of ravioli on your tray and use the plastic piece to create dimples in the dough.
- Spoon 1 teaspoon of filling into each dimple.
- Using a spray bottle, or dip your fingers in some water, moisten the dough around the edges of each ravioli. This will help the layers stick together.
- Lay a second sheet of dough over the first layer and gently press out any air bubbles between the layers using your hands.
- Use the rolling pin to press the dough together. Keep rolling until the edges cut away. Keep any trimmings to make a soup with if you like.
- Flip the tray over and pop the ravioli out of the tray. They should come out easily if you have used enough semolina flour to prevent sticking.
- Place each ravioli on a tray lined with parchment paper, so they are not touching. You do not want them to stick together.
- Repeat the above until you are out of steps, dusting the ravioli tray each time you start the process over.
Make the White Wine & Butter Sauce
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling (soft) boil. Add the ravioli and cook for 6- 8 minutes, depending on the thickness of your pasta. Do not overcrowd the ravioli in the pot. You may need to do multiple batches if you don’t have a large enough pot. Do not start your sauce until you have dropped the ravioli otherwise it will be ready too soon.
- Place a large saute pan over low heat and add the butter. Allow the butter to cook for about 1 minute after it has melted.
- Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds or until aromatic. Add the fresh sage leaves and cook for another 30 seconds.
- Add the white white and cook for another minute. Then squeeze the lemon juice into the pan.
- Your ravioli should be just about ready now. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ravioli from the pasta water and place it in the sauce. Add the starchy pasta water to the sauce and mix it all together until each ravioli is covered with sauce.
- Serve immediately with a freshly ground pepper and a pinch of parm!
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