Charm your guests like Italian Michelin-Starred Chef Massimiliano Alajmo with a super Italian cooking activity that is fun for the whole family. Inspired by a luxurious cooking class held at the Royal Mansour in Marrakesh, an exclusive Thousand and One Nights hotel, this version of ravioli bolognese is a fresh, colourful pasta filled with a Bolognese sauce.
The dish is completed with other small brush strokes of Italy: a small cube of mozzarella, a pinch of "pesto," a ricotta béchamel. A concentrate of Italy, in short, that wins over any dinner guest at work in rolling out the pasta and closing the ravioli.
Here’s how to make ravioli bolognese:
Ingredients for 6 people
For the meat sauce
500 g neck of beef
220 g beef tip
150 g cleaned onion
150 g cleaned carrots
100 g beef cheek
100 g cleaned celery
60 g extra virgin olive oil
35 g tomato paste
20 g brown sugar
15 g salt
2 cloves of garlic
2 bottles (700 g each) of Alajmo tomato sauce
For the ricotta béchamel sauce
250 g milk
90 g extra-virgin olive oil
90 g flour
80 g ricotta
20 g Parmesan cheese DOP
5 g salt
2 g brown sugar
For the basil pesto
200 g basil leaves
60 g extra virgin olive oil
30 g Parmesan cheese DOP
5 g salt
For the fresh pasta
175 flour
150 g pasteurized egg yolks
75 g durum wheat semolina
To Bring it All Together
150 g tomato sauce (from the total)
40 g mozzarella
20 g Parmesan cheese DOP
How to Make Ravioli Bolognese
For the meat sauce and tomato sauce
Finely chop the meat and brown it in a saucepan, adding a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper.
Let the water evaporate entirely, cooking until the meat is dry.
Turn off and pour the meat onto a perforated tray to remove any remaining fat.
At the same time, in another saucepan, heat the oil, add the tomato sauce, a pinch of salt and sugar, and cook for a few minutes.
Cut celery, carrot and onion into very fine brunoise and brown them in another saucepan with garlic, for 2-3 minutes.
Add the meat, brunoise and sauce (keeping about 150 g aside for serving) and cook the ragout for 3-4 hours, also adding the concentrate so that the flavours blend together.
For the ricotta béchamel sauce
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add the flour and stir, cooking for 2-3 minutes.
Add, a little at a time, the hot milk, stirring constantly.
Season to your taste, turn off and let cool.
Add the ricotta and Parmesan to the béchamel sauce, mix well then scoop everything into a siphon.
How to Make Home Made Pesto
Blanch the basil leaves in boiling salted water for a few seconds.
Transfer them to ice and water to stop the cooking and keep the bright green colour.
Drain and pat them dry gently.
Place them in the blender with the Parmesan cheese, gradually adding the oil until creamy.
Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
For the Homemade pasta.
Mix the ingredients in the planetary mixer, then colour to taste.
We divided the dough into 4 parts, one of which was larger than the remaining parts. In each of the three smaller parts we added saffron, blended beet, and blended green spinach to make colourful pastes.
Wrap everything in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least half an hour.
How to Cut the Ravioli
Roll out the dough to a thickness of about 2-3 mm.
Cut the coloured pastries into 8mm-high strips and arrange them neatly on top of a neutral dough base.
Roll out again with a rolling pin, returning to a thickness of 2-3 mm, resulting in rainbow sheets.
Cut it into disks or squares and place in the centre a teaspoon of ragu (you will need 200g of the total amount cooked), a small piece of mozzarella, a pinch of pesto.
Close the ravioli by overlapping empty discs, removing the air well and cutting them out.
The ravioli themselves, for simplicity's sake, you can prepare them without colouring the dough, or by casting it with just one colour.
Cook the ravioli in boiling salted water for a few minutes, draining them when al dente.
To Complete the Dish
Sauté the ravioli in a skillet with a drizzle of oil, Parmesan cheese and pepper.
Arrange some of the béchamel sauce in the centre of the plates, lay the ravioli on top and top with the tomato sauce.
This story originally appeared on La Cucina Italiana
