Egg Yolk Ravioli

I’m not going to lie; I love an egg on just about anything.

On a burger.

On some pizza.

On top of some toast with avocado (I’m such a millennial).

On top of pasta.

So.. why not inside of pasta.

Growing up, I have always loved ravioli. It was always the dish I ordered when we would go out for Italian food. Growing up in St. Louis, we actually had some amazing pastas which you could usually find in the little neighborhood called “The Hill”. A St. Louis staple was the fried ravioli that you would order as an appetizer and dip in some marinara. Heaven.

Back to making ravioli..it is definitely a dish that takes a little more time, so I only make it on rare occasions. When I do make it, I don’t want to just make the same-old-same-old cheese ravioli. Not to knock it.. because it is delicious. It’s more just that when you are going through the whole process, you want to make it special. What is more special than a beautiful bright yellow egg yolk? When you cut into the ravioli, it practically makes its own sauce. In order to keep the egg yolk inside the ravioli though, you have to make a nice little ricotta bed. Two amazing things snuggly wrapped inside some homemade dough.

For this particular dish, I decided to do a light wine sauce with shiitake mushrooms. However, in retrospect, a little bit of bacon or pancetta would have been a great addition to make it like a carbonara. These are also great alone, with just a little parmesan on top as when the yolk breaks, it practically is its own sauce.

Egg Yolk Ravioli

Pasta Dough (recipe below)

Ricotta filling (recipe below)

12 egg yolks

Roll out your pasta dough into long sheets of equal length, about a foot long each and about 5″ wide. You should be able to get about 4 ravioli out of 2 sheets of pasta (one being the bottom, one being the top..

Using the ricotta, make a ring that is 2 layers tall, leaving room in the middle to nestle the yolk in. The easiest way to do this is to place the ricotta in a piping bag, or ziplock, and pipe the ring. Gently crack an egg and separate. Place the yolk in the middle of each ring. Using the egg yolk as “glue”, brush around each ring so that the top sheet of dough will stick to the bottom. Seal well, and cut out each ravioli using a cookie cutter or pizza knife. A circle always looks prettier, but let’s be honest, just cutting into a square is easier.

Boil water, add salt, and place your ravioli in. Boil for about 3 minutes and remove. You can place your sauce over, or just a little cheese and enjoy warm.

Gluten-Free Pasta Dough

2 cups gluten free flour

5 tablespoons tapioca starch

1 teaspoon salt

2 whole eggs

2 egg yolks

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/3 cup warm water

Place all ingredients, except the water, in a food processor. Slowly incorporate your water until the dough makes a nice ball. Remove and shape into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for an hour then you can use.

I used my pasta maker to roll out the dough into sheets, but you could easily roll out by hand as well.

Ricotta Filling

16 ounces ricotta

1 tablespoon thyme or oregano

salt

pepper

splash of milk or cream (if needed)

Mix together your ingredients. If you need to thin it out, add a little bit of milk. You want it to hold up though so that it makes a nest for the egg yolk.