Chicken Ravioli

On Valentine's Day I was kicked out of my kitchen!  What kind of a person would do such a thing?  Well, my husband would.  However, he did so with some great intentions.  He decided to make me a surprise Valentine's meal.  I heard a lot of loud noises and soon some wonderful smells were coming out of there.  When I was finally allowed to see the end product, this was what it was.

 

He had made homemade ravioli for me!  What a guy!  So, I learned the secret of making this delicious dish, and just had to share it with you. 

First, you make the pasta dough (you can find the recipe here.)  Then you roll out the dough.

While this is being done, you can also start on the filling for the ravioli.  My husband decided to use chicken as the filler.  First he cooked then minced two boneless, skinless chicken breasts with a good chopper.  (A food processor would work great too!)  He then placed the chicken as well as a chopped garlic clove, chopped red and yellow peppers salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan cheese into a skillet.  You can cook this mixture on low, while stirring occasionally.  This mixture looks a lot like scrambled eggs when you are cooking it.

 

 

When the filling is done, place spoon fulls of it on the flat pasta dough, in a circle about 1-2 inches in diameter.  You can really make the ravioli whatever size that you want, but we enjoyed large raviolis.  When the filling is placed, lay the other rolled out pasta on top of the first that is now covered with filling.  My husband used a tart press to cut and seal the ravioli.  If you don't have one of these, you will want to coat the edges of the ravioli with some egg whites or butter, to make the edges stick together.  Then cut out the ravioli with a pasta cutter (or a pizza cutter if a pasta cutter is not available).  Make sure the edges of the pasta are pressed tight. (You can use a fork to help seal the edges as well.)  Cook the ravioli in a pot of boiling water for 8-9 minutes, until the pasta dough is limp.  Be gentle with each piece, as they are somewhat prone to breaking open.  Place the ravioli on a plate and top with some marinara sauce that has been warmed in a sauce pan.  Then enjoy this delicious meal!