My starry spinach ravioli with fresh pasta started off more like an experiment. Just because I was curious about how to extract and obtain natural food coloring from food!
I was aware of the chlorophyll magic inside fresh spinach. But I had never tried or used it before.
Sounds like I have been watching way too many cooking shows on TV and YouTube lately! I’m not usually into that scientific angle of cooking. But for some reason I started to think of trying something like an experiment.
Just for fun really.
Chlorophyll
I didn’t think that I would come up with something in the end.
And to be fairly honest, I’ve seen far better green ravioli pasta with chlorophyll than the ones that I ended up with in my pictures. But you know, I had a great time in the kitchen.
And after all, these spinach ravioli were totally delicious as well!
However I will probably not be trying that chlorophyll thing again soon. There’s this fresh pasta stall at the local farmers market here on Saturdays that sells a mean green ravioli. And they are also delicious and not that expensive at all really.
Besides, I like to help out artisan food makers if I can.
Easy Green Spinach Ravioli with Fresh Pasta
But back to this spinach ravioli recipe below.
Before I started cooking and experimenting, I first browsed the internet. And that’s how I came up with loads of methods to extract that green color. Most of those methods were pretty difficult and contained quite a few do’s and don’ts.
But hey, truth is that I’m just a simple home cook. Not a molecular geek.
So off we go! We will see what comes out of it in the end.
The following method is an easy one, right up my alley.
Homemade Ravioli
Do you love making fresh ravioli and fresh pasta at home?
Then also check out my pumpkin ravioli!
Enjoy!
Easy Green Spinach Ravioli Recipe
My starry spinach ravioli with fresh pasta started off as an experiment: how to extract and obtain natural food coloring...
- 7 oz pasta flour (200 g)
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 medium fresh tomatoes chopped
- 1 lb fresh spinach (450 g)
- 1 small onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- 2 tbsp fresh ginger chopped
- 2 tsp red chili chopped
- red wine vinegar
- parmesan cheese
- olive oil
- pepper
- salt
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1) Rinse the spinach. Blanch a handful of leaves and then blend them into a paste adding a little olive oil.
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2) Blend the pasta flour, egg yolks and a pinch of salt. Add the oily spinach paste and then blend again until you get a firm dough. Add more olive oil or water if necessary. Wrap the dough in cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
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3) Then chop the rest of the spinach roughly. Gently fry the garlic, ginger, half of the red chili and half of the chopped onion in olive oil for about 3 minutes. Add the remaining fresh spinach. Stir well and season with salt. Cook the spinach over low heat until soft. Remove most of the liquid. Stir in 3 tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese. Then take the pan off the heat and let the spinach filling cool.
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4) Brown the remaining chopped onion and garlic in some olive oil. Then add the tomatoes and remaining chili. Season with salt. Let the tomato sauce simmer under a lid for 20 minutes.
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5) Roll out the dough thinly (I went as far as stand 7 on the pasta machine). With a round ravioli cutter, cut out circles of dough and wrap the scraps in clingfilm. Beat the remaining egg. Put a teaspoon of spinach filling onto a pasta circle. Brush the edges with a little water or egg wash. Place another dough circle on top of the filling. Gently fold down the sides and work your way round the filling, pushing out all of the air. Then tighten both pasta circles with a fork.
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6) Keep the ravioli under a damp kitchen towel and put the badges in the fridge or the pasta may get sticky. Make ravioli until all of the filling is used. Heat a generous amount of salted water. Cook the ravioli for 1 minute. Take them out with a slotted spoon.
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7) Scoop the tomato sauce into deep plates. Top with the ravioli. Sprinkle with extra olive oil, salt and grated parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
