I finally did it. I broke down and bought the pasta attachments for my kitchen aid stand mixer. It’s been something I’ve been back and forth on for some time, but I could never bring myself to actually click “submit order.” We don’t eat much pasta and when we do get a craving for spaghetti, I usually just pull out my veggie spiralizer for a light meal.
Last year, I even made pasta by hand to experiment with homemade pasta. The pasta was tender and delicious, but a little on the thicker side (similar to the thickness of store-bought pasta). However, it was A LOT of work. So much work that I haven’t made homemade pasta since.
Until today.
For my first pasta recipe with my new attachments, I wanted to pick a dish that was suited for a special occasion. Since I still had a lot of squid ink left over from my Squid Ink Risotto recipe, I knew I wanted to incorporate that into my pasta dish.
This Striped Crab Ravioli tastes just as impressive as it looks.
In order to make the ravioli, I first made regular egg pasta. Then, I separated a small portion of the pasta and added a bit of squid ink. With a little kneading, this portion turned jet-black in color. After resting, I rolled out the pasta into thin sheets using my handy dandy new attachments (no sweat or tears involved!) and used the fettuccine attachment to create the squid ink stripes. These stripes were then placed on top of the plain pasta sheets and gently pressed together with a rolling pin. Since the squid ink stripes were raised, I ran the sheet through the attachment to create thin, uniform sheets.
It almost makes the stripes look like they’ve been painted on the pasta.
I didn’t want to hide the squid ink stripes with a creamy sauce, so I made a quick sage butter sauce to coat the ravioli. Frying the sage leaves in butter gives them a nice crisp texture. It’s great alongside the soft ravioli.
If you haven’t taken the plunge and purchased a pasta maker, you can still make this recipe by hand. Just make sure that you roll the pasta dough out as thinly as possible. This is especially important when making ravioli in order to ensure that the edges don’t end up too thick and doughy.
Striped Crab Ravioli With A Sage Butter Sauce
Ingredients
For the Pasta:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 2 eggs
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1½ tsp squid ink
For the Filling:
- 1 cup ricotta
- 1 cup lump crabmeat
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the Sage Butter Sauce:
- 4 tbsp unsalted butter
- 8 sage leaves
- ½ lemon juiced
Instructions
- Pour the flour into a mound onto a clean work surface. Make a large well in the center of the flour, then add the eggs, egg yolks, and salt. Use a fork to beat the eggs together, carefully incorporating the flour into the eggs until a wet dough is formed in the center.
- Using a bench scraper, fold in the remaining flour, turning the dough 45 degrees each fold to create a dry and firm dough.
- Knead the dough by pressing the heel of your hand down and forward into the dough. Turn the dough 45 degrees, knead, and repeat until the dough develops a smooth, elastic texture. Test the dough by slicing it open with a paring knife and looking for air bubbles. If a lot of air bubbles are present, continue kneading the dough. If the dough feels too dry, wet your hands while kneading to slowly incorporate water (you can also use a spray bottle). If the dough is too wet, add a dusting of flour.
- Separate the dough into 3 equal-sized pieces using a bench scraper. Roll two of the pieces back together into a ball and cover with plastic wrap to rest. Add the squid ink to the remaining portion and knead until incorporated.* If the dough becomes too wet, add a dusting of flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 30 minutes.
- While the dough is resting, place a piece of parchment paper onto a baking sheet. Add a light dusting of flour to the parchment paper and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the ricotta, crabmeat, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Once the dough has rested, unwrap the plain dough and cut into 3 pieces with a bench scraper. Cover two of the pieces with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Place one section of the pasta dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle ½-inch thick. Pass the dough through the pasta attachment set on its widest setting 3 times.
- Fold in the narrow ends of the dough so they meet at the middle, then fold the dough in half where the edges meet. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a rectangle ½-inch thick. Pass the dough through the pasta attachment 3 more times. Fold in the ends of the dough again, then fold in half where the edges meet. Use a rolling pin to press the dough together, then feed through the pasta attachment one more time on its widest setting.
- Continue to pass the dough through the pasta attachment, reducing the width by 1 setting each time. Once the pasta dough has reached an appropriate thickness for ravioli (often the second or third smallest setting), place the sheet of pasta onto the parchment paper and cover with plastic wrap or a clean towel to keep the dough from drying out.
- Repeat steps 8-10 with remaining plain pasta dough sections, cover, and set aside.
- Repeat steps 8-10 with the squid ink pasta dough section, then cut the rectangular sheet of dough into 14-inch segments. This will make the sheets of dough easier to work with. Feed the dough segments through a fettuccini or linguine attachment to create the stripes. One by one, lay the strips of black pasta onto the sheets of plain pasta and gently press them together with a rolling pin.
- Feed the sheets of striped pasta through the pasta attachment reducing the width until the dough is thin and nearly translucent (about 1/16th-inch, or second to third smallest setting).
- Using a food mold or circular cookie cutter, cut the sheets of pasta dough into circles about 3 inches in diameter. Discard any remaining dough.
- To assemble the ravioli, add a spoonful of filling to the center of half of the disks. Use a pastry brush to brush a thin layer of water around the filling, then top with another pasta disk, making sure the stripes are facing the same direction. Firmly press down on the edges to make sure the two disks stay together and remove any air pockets. Keep the ravioli covered with a clean towel or plastic wrap to keep from drying out.
- While bringing a large, salted pot of water to a boil, prepare the sage butter sauce.
For the Sage Butter Sauce:
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the butter until it develops a golden-brown color and noisette in the thinnest part of the liquid. Add the sage leaves and remove from heat. Stir in the lemon juice.
- Add the ravioli to the large pot of boiling water and cook until the ravioli float to the top, about 2 minutes. Transfer the ravioli to the skillet with the sage butter sauce and toss gently to coat. Serve immediately.
