COOKING WITH KIDS: Homemade Ravioli

Veteran food writer Heidi Billotto shares a kid-friendly recipe in this new monthly series

January 9, 2024

Heidi Billotto,

There’s something about the comfort food karma of butter, cheese, and pasta that feeds the child in all of us. Instead of serving buttered noodles with cheese, up your family’s pasta game this month and make homemade ravioli with your kids.

Pasta & Provisions makes it easy with ready-to-use sheets of fresh pasta dough. Each sheet is enough to make 4 large ravioli or 8 smaller ones. (If you’d rather make and roll out your own dough, see the pasta dough recipe at the end of this article.)

The fun comes in cutting your ravioli in any shape you like. You may want to start with a basic square, circle, or triangle. But as you hone your technique, use cookie cutters to make ravioli in the shape of anything from cats to trucks.

In addition to the pasta dough, you’ll need ingredients for your filling of choice and three basic pieces of cooking equipment: a rolling pin, a pastry brush or clean paint brush, and a crinkle cut pie cutter or pastry wheel.

I made this recipe with my 4-year-old niece, Emory Parks. She did it all, from cracking eggs and making the filling ingredients to rolling out the dough and cutting the pasta squares with the pastry wheel. Emory and I made 8 ravioli at a time, but it’s easier if you cut each sheet of pasta dough into 8 equal squares or circles to make and fill the ravioli one at the time.

I roasted an acorn squash in advance so it had time to cool and had the filling ingredients pre-measured in bowls. This makes it easier for your young cook, until they are old enough to help with the prep work. When it was time, I handled the cooking of the stuffed pasta. It’s a fun project for a cold winter’s day and makes a delicious lunch or dinner. —Heidi Billotto

HERE’S WHAT YOU’LL NEED:

4-6 sheets of fresh made pasta dough from Pasta & Provisions

For the filling:

2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan

½ cup cubed mozzarella cheese

2 eggs

To put the ravioli together, you’ll need:

1 more egg, cracked and beaten in a separate bowl to act as the glue to hold the ravioli together

A bit of All Purpose flour

Options to add to your filling:

1 cup roasted winter squash (butternut and all varieties of acorn squash work well)

2 cups fresh spinach, shredded OR use 1 package of frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

HERE’S WHAT TO DO:

Adults:

To prep your favorite winter squash ahead of time, use a sharp knife to cut the squash in half. Place the squash, seeds and all, cut side down on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Allow to cool, then scoop out the seeds and the pulp out of the shell. Mash the pulp a bit, and you’re are ready to roll.

Kids: To make 8 large ravioli

Blend the ricotta, grated Parmesan, cubed Mozzarella, and 2 eggs in a mixing bowl. Add mashed winter squash or shredded spinach if you would like. Stir it all up.
Place 1 sheet of pasta dough on your counter or cutting board. Sprinkle it with a little bit of flour.
Use a rolling pin to make the rectangle of pasta dough just a little bit thinner. Use the pastry wheel to cut the dough into 8 equal sized squares, then do the same with another piece of dough.
Spoon about 2 tablespoons of filling onto half of the squares.
Using the paint brush, paint the beaten egg along the edges of each dough square.
Carefully take the unfilled squares of dough and place them on top of the squares with the filling. Use your fingers to press all along the edges of each square so that the dough sticks and the filling is sealed inside. (You can use the pastry wheel to trim the edges of each square if you would like.)
Let the filled dough squares rest on a plate or cookie sheet. To keep them from sticking to each other, arrange them in a single layer.

Adults: To cook the ravioli

Fill a large saucepan with 2 quarts of water and add a tablespoon of salt, then place over high heat and bring to a boil.
When the water is boiling, drop the ravioli in and cook for 2-3 minutes. The ravioli will float to the top when they are ready.
Use a slotted spoon to take ravioli out of the water and place 2-3 into a serving bowl.
Depending on the size of your ravioli, young cooks may only be able to eat 1 or 2.
Top the ravioli with your favorite sauce, or maybe just butter and a little sprinkling of grated cheese.
Enjoy a homemade meal with your kids!

HEIDI’S HOMEMADE PASTA DOUGH

Ingredients:

3 large farm eggs, beaten to blend
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup semolina flour
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon sea salt

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or electric mixer and knead until the mix is smooth and elastic. This will take about 10 minutes. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out into thin sheets with the aid of a pasta machine or by hand with a rolling pin; cut as desired.
Note: this dough can be made in advance. Wrap tightly and refrigerate it for a week; or you can freeze it for 3 weeks, defrost in the refrigerator and then roll out and cut.