Egg Yolk Ravioli
Today, I am giving myself a real challenge, I am going to attempt to make the notoriously tricky Ravioli Al’ Uovo, otherwise known as egg yolk ravioli.
For those who don’t know, egg yolk ravioli is made by stuffing a whole egg yolk inside two sheets of pasta to form a ravioli. When done properly, you should be able to cut into the pasta and have the runny egg yolk ooze out of the pasta like with a poached egg.
In fine-dining Italian restaurants, it is served as an appetizer, usually with some brown butter and fried sage leaves.
I have never tasted egg yolk ravioli myself, much less made it, but sometimes it is good to give yourself a challenge and see if it comes out good.
I say there’s nothing to it but to get to it!
I will start by making the pasta dough. For this, I will be using my go-to pasta dough recipe. I did an entire article explaining the process, so here is the shortened version.
Normally I like to mix my pasta dough by hand, but since I didn’t want to drag on this process for too long I will be doing it in a food processor.
I start by pulsing both 3 ounces of AP flour, 1 ounce of semolina flour, and a pinch of salt in the food processor until they were just combined.
I then add one egg, one egg yolk, and half a tablespoon of olive oil, and pulsed until the flour was hydrated.
The dough will look crumbly at this stage, but once I knead it, it will all come together.
I then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it came together to form a smooth, elastic dough.
Once my dough was kneaded, I then shaped the dough into a disc, wrapped it it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
Once my dough was rested, I then rolled it through my pasta machine. I’m only going to use half of my pasta dough to start with in case I need to try it with a different thickness.
I start by dusting the dough with flour and running it through the machine at the thickest setting before folding it by thirds, turning it 90 degrees, and running through again until a smoother shape formed.
I then used the knob to the second-widest setting and ran it through, repeating with the following thickness settings until the dough was almost transparent. On my machine, that meant taking it down to the 2-setting, but it could be different for your machine.
This is going to make the pasta a bit thinner than if I were going to cut it for fettuccine but with ravioli I do believe that a thinner pasta is better because when we fold another sheet of pasta on top of itself, it will create a double-thickness for the pasta, so by starting with thinner pasta I can ensure that the finished ravioli will have the perfect thickness.
Ok, now I am going to cut some circles out of my pasta sheet, and I will do this with a simple round cookie cutter.
I want there to be enough pasta to wrap around my egg yolk and create a tight seal, so I think that using my wide 3-inch cutter will do.
Edit: A 3 1/2-4 inch cutter would’ve been better, but I went with what I had.
I did make a few extra rounds in case something went wrong with my first attempt.
From there, it is time to put in the egg yolk. Some recipes for egg yolk ravioli have you put a bit of ricotta cheese underneath the yolk, but I want to do this with just the yolk for a cleaner taste.
Egg yolks are like little water balloons in that even the tiniest prick, like from a cracked egg shell, can cause them to burst open.
To that end, I will separate my yolk by cracking the whole egg into a container and using my fingers to gently scoop out the yolk and separate it from the white.
I then gently lay that yolk in the center of one of the pasta rounds that I created. (Yes, I did wash my hands after handling that raw egg yolk.)
The issue with this method is you are digging your fingers into the snotty raw egg white, but this way I don’t have the risk of the eggshell potentially puncturing the yolk.
From there, I dipped my finger into a little bit of water and brushed that around the edge of my pasta, the water acting as a glue that’ll help seal my pasta circles together.
I then lay one of my other pasta circles on top and use my fingers to gently press out as much air as I possibly can.
This is a crucial step when making any ravioli, as any air bubbles can cause the filling to leak out the sides of the pasta. I also pressed down on the edges of the pasta to further seal.
This is the delicate part that makes egg yolk ravioli so difficult to make, because if you apply even a little too much pressure, then the egg yolk will pop and you will have to start over.
It does help if the egg yolks are as cold as possible as colder yolks won’t burst as easily.
From there, I gently lower my ravioli into a pot of salted water that I brought to a simmer and let it cook for about 3 minutes, or until the ravioli float to the top of the water. Once done, I took it out and laid it on some paper towels to remove any excess water.
With the pasta done, it was time to make one of the best things in the world, brown butter. All I did was melt down a few tablespoons of butter in a frying pan and cooked it, swirling occasionally, until the butter smelled nutty and had specks of brown running through it.
(It helps to use a stainless steel pan for this so you can see the browning of the butter easier)
I then add a small pinch of sage leaves (That I grew at home, but that part is optional) to let those fry a bit and get crispy, then I add my ravioli and took that off the heat. I didn’t want to fry the ravioli at that point, but I wanted it to get coated in that butter.
Then it was time to plate.
I lay my perfect ravioli into a shallow bowl and topped it with crispy sage leaves, a drizzle of brown butter, and a light grating of parmesan.
Digging my fork into the pasta, I almost immediately watched in awe as that egg yolk popped out like a balloon, and was filled with joy soon after.
When the egg yolk mixed with that nutty brown butter, it created a wonderful sauce that I was able to drag the pasta through and lift into my mouth, and that fried sage did its part in giving some crispy bits plus a nice freshness.
I was also impressed because it was my first attempt at making that ravioli!
(So, interesting enough, I wanted to make two more ravioli with the rest of the pasta that I cut, but both of the yolks in there ended up popping! No clue how I nailed it the first time then messed up on the other two tries.
It could be that the eggs were left out a bit and therefore warmed up a little so they weren’t as firm as they could’ve been.)
Anyway, if you wish to give this daunting dish a shot, here’s how to do it.
Egg Yolk Ravioli
Servings: 2
1/2 of a batch of my homemade pasta recipe (See the link below)
3 large egg yolks
Salt for the pasta water
2 tablespoons of butter
10-12 fresh sage leaves
Grated parmesan for topping
https://the-s-word.net/pastaandpizza/how-to-make-perfect-fresh-pasta
Make and rest the pasta dough for 20 minutes, as instructed in the other article, and use the pasta machine to roll half of that dough to a thin, transparent stage. (Save the remaining dough for later use)
Bring a pot of salted water to a gentle simmer.
Use a 4-inch round cutter to cut the dough sheet into six rounds.
Gently lay one egg yolk into half of the rounds, then use a finger to brush some water onto the edges of each round and lay the remaining pasta rounds on top. Use your fingers to gently press the pasta dough down onto the egg yolks and seal the edges of the pasta while pressing out as much air around the yolks as possible.
(If any of the egg yolks burst, then you do have extra pasta dough that you can roll out)
Gently lower each ravioli into the simmering water and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until the ravioli float to the top of the water. Remove from the water and let it drain onto paper towels.
In a small frying pan, melt the butter over medium heat and cook for about 5 minutes, swirling occasionally, until the butter smells nutty and has little brown specs throughout. Add the sage leaves when the butter is close to being done so they can fry a little.
Add the ravioli and gently toss in the hot brown butter to coat.
Divide each ravioli into a small shallow bowl, then top with the crispy sage leaves, a drizzle of brown butter, and a grating of parmesan.
Enjoy!
