Ravioli Filled with Runny Egg Yolk

This is a decadent dish, and we're delighted the yolk remained runny and unctuous. The goal is to cook the pasta enough without hard-boiling the egg. We topped them with brown butter and sage. This was an experiment: for dinner, probably 3 per person is enough.

We made a pasta without egg whites on the theory that the whites expand when cooking, making the cooked pasta loose and sloppy in appearance. Perhaps, we're not sure, but these were fairly shapely; we need some more experimentation, but we'd make this again. 

This pasta was different than our normal AP + Semolina dough, using 00 and some Rye flour. This was an experiment in dough for another project, so we used only a little of the finished dough for these. (You can make an Angel Food Cake with the Egg Whites you produce). 

180 g Italian 00 Flour (we have this for pizza)

 20 g Rye Flour

  5   Egg Yolks

      Water

      Ricotta Cheese

  3   Egg Yolks

      Butter

      Sage Leaves

In a food processor, whisk the Flours together; while spinning, drop the Yolks in one at a time; we're trying to barely get the dough to come together.

Ours did not, so we drizzled in Water until a ball formed, then we processed some more to knead it.

Wrap in cling film or a ziptop bag and let hydrate an hour or overnight.

Roll out the dough in a Pasta machine; most of this dough was for Tagliatelle, so we went down to #7.

We only need a little for these two (plus one) ravioli, so we cut off about 9-inches, then rolled out to the thinnest setting, #9 on our machine; this gave us about a 12-inch length of 6-inch wide dough.

Cut out circles big enough to hold the Ricotta containing a Yolk;

we cut two smaller ones, and two larger ones to cover with a dome.

Lay out a "doughnut" or nest of Ricotta on the smaller disk, and set the Yolk in the center.

Top with the larger disk of dough, and press down to seal the edges and tighten the dough against the filling. 

Left is filled, right needs the top layer of pasta

I took the scraps and rolled out another sheet, filled likewise, and simply folded it over for a half-moon; it cooked up well too.

The scrap-pasta was fine, not tough, and easy to fill and form

In a small pot, brown some Butter, and add Sage leaves.

Cook the ravioli in salted water for about three minutes: you want the pasta barely done, but do not want the yolks to cook.

Plate and top with brown butter sauce.

Next time, add some seasoning to the Ricotta: at least salt and pepper. Parmesan and Black Pepper would be good. Some finely diced ham or cooked bacon would be a riff on bacon and eggs. If you don't have fresh Sage for the sauce, capers would be tasty.