Recipe: Lobster Ravioli in a Vodka Cream Sauce

I got the chance to spend this past week with Sara, my best friend from college—she found a reasonably-priced flight and flew up to my home in Pennsylvania for a visit. We spent time in Pittsburgh, visiting museums and eating some fantastic meals, and we also spent time at home, watching movies (including a guilty pleasure, You've Got Mail with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks) and even doing a little cooking. I showed her some basics, like mincing garlic and cutting basil in chiffonade, and hopefully didn't drive her nuts by hovering over her while she performed said basics. One thing she said she really wanted to try was making homemade pasta with my pasta rolling machine, so I got the bright idea to make ravioli, because that's the one attachment (for raviolini, actually) on the pasta machine that I hadn't tried out yet. That idea turned into Lobster Ravioli in a Vodka Cream Sauce (with a little inspiration from here and here) that took at least three hours to make and resulted in some not-so-attractive but oh-so-tasty raviolini (basically, miniature ravioli). Now, if you want to go the easy route, buy pre-made lobster ravioli and skip ahead to the vodka cream sauce part of the recipe. If you want to go for the glory and make the ravioli by hand, I recommend looking up methods for cutting them by hand, because I've tried that way before and I'm betting it's a lot faster and less messy than the machine (though, keep in mind, this was our first time using this attachment, so it was bound to take a little longer than if I'd tried to do it before).

By the time we finally finished cooking, I was too hungry to go find my "plating" plate, so the "Poppies in Blue" will have to do

Serves: 4-6 (depends on the size and amount of ravioli/raviolini)
Prep. time: 10 minutes for the sauce; anywhere from 1-3 hours to make the ravioli (dough comes together in 10 minutes, and 30 minutes to rest, then the ravioli will take at least an hour to roll out and form)
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes for the sauce; 5 minutes for each batch of ravioli
Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients
For the sauce

• Extra virgin olive oil, enough to lightly coat the bottom of a pan
• Approx. 1 tbsp. butter
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 shallots, minced
• 1 cup vodka (you don't need to use the good stuff, since you're cooking it)
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 can crushed tomatoes (28-32 oz.)
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• Fresh basil, chiffonade cut, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• Italian seasoning, to taste

For the ravioli

• 1/2 stick (2 oz.) unsalted butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp. shallots, minced
• Approx. 16 oz. pre-cooked lobster meat (I used frozen, pre-cooked langostino lobster)
• 4 oz. cooked crab meat (I used the crab meat you can find on the same shelf as canned tuna)
• 2 oz. Cognac 
• 1/2-1 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 tbsp. chives, chopped
• 2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Pasta dough, double batch, rested for 30 minutes (see recipe here; double the recipe)

Directions
Heat the butter for the ravioli in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes, until fragrant. Add the lobster, crab meat, and chives and cook for a few minutes, then add the Cognac and cook until it's been reduced by about 1/2 to 3/4 (you only want a little liquid in the pan). Pour the mixture into a food processor and pulse to chop the mixture (only pulse a few times—you just want to break up the pieces of lobster, but you don't want to turn the mixture into a puree). Pour the mixture back into the bowl and set aside to cool. Once cool, add in the desired amount of ricotta and season with salt and pepper. Now, the tricky part...if you're using a pasta machine with a ravioli attachment, follow the instructions for use (it'll likely involve threading dough into the attachment, adding filling, rolling out sheets of ravioli, then pulling apart the ravioli sheets into squares). If you're cutting them by hand, look up instructions (they'll likely say to lay out rolled-out dough on a flat surface, place a dollop of filling a few inches apart in straight lines down the dough, then lay a sheet of dough on top, press around each filling mound, and cut into ravioli shapes). Either way, you will need to make sure you have large, rolled out pieces of dough before you start forming and cutting. (I apologize for not offering more information, but I was using a machine and followed its instructions to make my ravioli). Once the ravioli are formed and cut, spread them out on a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with a clean towel to keep them from getting dried out.
In a large, deep pan, heat the olive oil and butter for the vodka sauce over medium heat. Add in garlic and shallots and cook for a few minutes, until lightly fragrant. Add the vodka and cook until it's been reduced by half, then add the chicken stock and tomatoes. Turn up the heat and cook until it just starts to boil, then reduce heat to low. Slowly whisk in the heavy cream, and continue to keep the sauce warm.
Bring salted water to a boil in a large pot. Cook the ravioli in batches, for 5 minutes each. Rather than drain the pot, refill, and wait for it to boil all over again, just pull the ravioli out with a slotted spoon and continue to use the same batch of boiling water. Transfer the cooked ravioli from the spoon into the sauce. Once all of the ravioli is cooked and added to the sauce, it's finished. Serve with grated Italian cheese and a sprinkling of fresh basil.

Despite being labor-intensive (if you make the ravioli from scratch), this really is a delicious and surprisingly light dish. The ravioli are flavorful little pouches of meaty lobster and creamy ricotta and the vodka sauce, with the fresh taste of tomatoes and just a hint of the vodka, is the perfect choice for the pasta.

Recipe: Prosciutto and Spinach Ravioli

I made this recipe for my dad and myself a few weeks ago, while my mother was on vacation at the beach with her mother, and we both loved it. My mom heated up some of the leftovers when she got home a day or so later and really enjoyed the ravioli too, so she asked if I'd make the recipe again, and that's what was on the menu tonight. This recipe comes from my Giada De Laurentiis Everday Pasta cookbook (recipe is originally called Prosciutto Ravioli; I've made slight changes) and what I love about it is that you don't have to make fresh pasta to make the ravioli—wonton wrappers take the place of pasta sheets and they are perfectly tender when you bite into them. They cook quickly too!

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: Approx. 4 minutes per batch
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 (15 oz.) container whole-milk ricotta (I use a lite/skim ricotta to make the meal a little less fattening)
• 1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 4 oz. thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 48 square wonton wrappers
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (I use a little less to make the dish a little healthier)
• 1 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
• Grated Parmesan cheese
• Extra virgin olive oil

Directions
Whisk or stir the spinach, prosciutto, ricotta, egg yolks, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Place approx. 1 tbsp. of the mixture in the center of a wonton wrapper. Brush the edge of the wrapper lightly with water, then fold the wrapper in half, point to point, closing the wrapper completely and forming a triangle. Pinch the edges together to seal, then transfer the ravioli to a baking sheet. Repeat until all the wrappers and/or filling is gone, placing each ravioli on the baking sheet as you go along.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Working in batches, cook ravioli until tender (about 4 minutes per batch), stirring occasionally. Place cooked ravioli in a large shallow dish. Drizzle them with a little olive oil and toss them gently every so often to keep them from sticking to each other. Cover the dish as you go along adding to it so the ravioli stays warm.
Melt the stick of butter in a small skillet over medium heat, then add the oregano, stirring to blend. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Pour the mixture over the ravioli and toss them gently so they're all coated. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

These ravioli are packed with flavor and very filling! The wonton wrappers are tender, the prosciutto adds a delicious saltiness to the dish, and the oregano-butter sauce is light and doesn't overpower the other flavors in the dish. The ravioli reheats wonderfully and you could easily substitute in beef, chicken, or other meat (though you'll need to cook it a little first) in place of the prosciutto and try a different sauce, like pesto or marinara.