Basic Homemade Ravioli (With a Spinach and Cheese Filling)

Make the Pasta

1. Place 3 ¾ c flour in a medium bowl. Make a well in the middle of the flour and crack the eggs into the well. With your hands (or a spoon/spatula) gently mix the eggs into the flour until a soft dough comes together.
2. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 10 minutes, adding the remaining ½ cup of flour as needed to keep the dough from sticking to the surface or your hands. (Don’t skimp on the kneading, this is probably the most important part to good pasta!)
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let rest for 10 minutes to 1 hour. (Dough can be made ahead of time and let rest for up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. Let come to room temperature for 1 hour before rolling out.)

Make the Filling

1. While the dough is resting, make your filling. Squeeze any excess moisture out of the spinach. (You don’t want your filling to get soupy from the spinach moisture.) Mix the dry spinach with the ricotta cheese, beaten egg, herbs, and salt. Set aside.

Roll and Fill the Pasta

1. Divide the dough into two portions. Cover one portion with a towel so it doesn’t dry out while you work with the other.
2. On a well-floured work surface, roll one portion of the dough into a rectangle, roughly 10 inches by 12 inches and ¼ inch thick. (We find it helpful to re-flour the surface halfway through rolling to be sure the dough doesn’t stick.)
3. Place 1 teaspoon worth of filling evenly spaced (roughly 1 inch apart) in 3 columns and 5 rows for a total of 15 mounds of filling covering slightly less than half of the rolled out dough.
4. Using your fingers, brush a little water on the dough between the filling mounds.
5. Fold the empty side of the dough over the filling, matching up the edges of the dough.
6. Using a ruler (or knife or bench scraper) cut the ravioli between the mounds of filling. (You should see little mounds that will be your guide.)
7. Press the edges of each ravioli together to seal in the filling and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.

To Eat Now

1. Boil ravioli in salted water for 2-3 minutes, until they float.

To Store For Later

1. Freeze ravioli on the baking sheets for 30 minutes. Transfer frozen ravioli to an air-tight bag or container and store in the freezer for up to 6 months. To cook, boil as directed above from frozen.