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Tow pieces of heart shaped ravioli on a white plate with homemade sauce
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Heart Shaped Ravioli (Homemade Ricotta & Spinach Ravioli)

This heart shaped ravioli is perfect for Valentine's day! Made with a spinach and ricotta filling and served with a homemade roasted tomato sauce, they're cute as well as tasty!
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Italian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Chilling time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 25 minutes
Servings 8 large ravioli hearts and sauce
Calories 192kcal

Ingredients

For the pasta

  • 1 ¼ cups flour (you can use 00 or all purpose)
  • ½ tablespoon salt
  • 2 eggs

For the sauce

For the ricotta and spinach filling

  • ¼ stick butter
  • 5 tablespoons water
  • 3.5 ounces fresh baby leaf spinach (100g)
  • 3.5 ounces ricotta (100g)
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • juice from half a lemon

Instructions

To make the pasta dough

  • Mix the flour and salt together and place it on a work surface. Make a well in the flour and break the eggs in the middle.
  • Use a fork to start mixing the flour into the egg, working from the outside in. Keep mixing slowly and gradually until the egg and flour is fully combined.
  • Once well combined, knead the dough with your hands for a few minutes so it comes together, it will be slightly sticky. Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

To make the sauce

  • Pre heat the oven to 430ºf / 220ºc.
  • Cut the tomatoes in half and add them, the red pepper and garlic (no need to peel the garlic) into a roasting tin with the oil and salt and roast for 40 minutes until softened.
  • Carefully remove the stem and seeds from the red pepper and add to a blender with the tomatoes. Peel the roasted garlic and add that in along with the oregano and black pepper. Blend until smooth.
  • Transfer to a small saucepan along with the butter, and bring to the boil and simmer until thickened, about 15 minutes. Set to one side.

To make the filling

  • In a large pot melt butter with water and wilt the spinach before stirring in the other filling ingredients. Place in the fridge until ready to use.

To make the ravioli

  • Split the pasta dough in half and roll it out on a surface until it is as thin as you can get it. You can also use a pasta maker if you have one.
  • Use a heart shaped cutter to cut out the shapes. If you are making square ravioli, you can just cut it into squares with a knife or ravioli cutter.
  • Roll the scraps of dough into a ball to cut out more shapes and repeat with the other half of the dough until you have all your shapes cut out.
  • Place 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of the filling into the center of one of your hearts (depending on the size of cutter you use) and brush the edges well with water.
  • Place another heart on top of the filling and use your fingers to seal the two pieces of dough, stretching the top bit slightly if you need to.
  • Use a fork to crimp the edges so that the filling is secure. Place the finished ravioli on a plate with flour so that it doesn't stick. Repeat with the other hearts.

To cook and assemble

  • When ready to serve, heat through your tomato sauce on a medium heat.
  • Bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil and carefully add the ravioli to the pot. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes (depending on the thickness of your pasta) until soft and the ravioli has floated to the top of the pot.
  • Remove the ravioli on by one with a slotted spoon to drain them, and serve with the hot sauce, grated parmesan and fresh parsley.

Notes

  1. When you make the pasta dough it will be slightly tacky to the touch, don't be tempted to add extra flour. 
  2. Make sure you allow at least an hour for the pasta dough to sit in the fridge before you roll it out, this will allow it to be more pliable so you can roll it out really thin.
  3. Cook the pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water and don't overcrowd the pot. The pasta needs room to cook, so cook it in two batches if you need to.
  4. Enjoy the process! Making pasta from scratch is a pure joy :)
  5. Make ahead - the filled ravioli can be made earlier in the day and covered in the fridge or you can freeze it on a baking sheet than transfer to a container. The pasta can be cooked from frozen, just add a couple of minutes on to the cooking time. The sauce and filling can be made 2 to 3 days ahead and kept covered in the fridge.
  6. Nutritional values are based on one of eight ravioli hearts with sauce and are an estimate only.

Nutrition

Calories: 192kcal | Carbohydrates: 19g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 62mg | Sodium: 816mg | Potassium: 229mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 2176IU | Vitamin C: 29mg | Calcium: 57mg | Iron: 2mg