Spinach and lemon hedgehog shaped ravioli with asparagus filling

I received quite many good comments on my original hedgehog shaped ravioli and I liked them myself as well, so I decided to make a different variation but keep the same shape. This time I decided to make some colourful pasta with spinach and a hint of lemon because it's tasty and looks cute and I also absolutely love asparagus filling in ravioli. I hope you'll like these too!

So here are the steps for making this whole dish:

The side salad:

Small sweet red peppers

Mozzarella balls

Fresh basil leaves

Olive oil

Make the side salad first as then you don't have to worry about it later. I have already published this side dish as the Pepper and mozzarella appetisers and it's a nice addition to this dish.

Wash the red peppers and place them into an oven dish. Brush them with olive oil and bake at 180C for about 15 minutes until they are soft. Cut the peppers in half after they have cooled down. Stuff a mozzarella ball wrapped in a basil leaf into each pepper half and let them wait in the fridge. Done!

The pasta dough:

400g grade 00 pasta flour

4 eggs

100g fresh spinach leaves

Lemon juice

Salt

First quickly boil the spinach in water for about 3-5 minutes and drain it well. Press some lemon juice on it and mix. Pour the pasta flour on a table, break the eggs into a dent in the middle of the flour pile and add some salt and then the spinach. 

Heavily knead until you have a firm dough. If the dough is too tough, add a little olive oil to make it smoother or if it's too runny, add more flour. Finally knead the dough into a ball, wrap into cling film and place to the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

The ravioli filling:

5 small asparagus

2 garlic cloves

Bread crumbs

Vegetarian pasta cheese

Black pepper

Steam the asparagus and chop the garlic cloves small. Grate some vegetarian pasta cheese. Mix these ingredients with bread crumbs and black pepper. The filling must not be too moist, add more bread crumbs if needed and cool it down before filling the pasta.

Start rolling the pasta dough with either a pasta machine or a rolling pin and make thin sheets of it. Use a hedgehog shaped cookie cutter (or any other shape will also do) to cut many pieces.

Place a small amount (about a teaspoon) of filling on the piece, brush the sides with water and stick another pasta piece on it. The water helps them stick well together, but additionally press them firmly together with your fingers or a fork.

Boil the ravioli for about 10-12 minutes in salt water until the filling is warm and the pasta al dente. They should float on the surface when cooked.

The sage butter:

Sage leaves

100g butter

Sage butter is a divine addition to any pasta dish. It takes about 10 minutes to make this, so you can start preparing it at a later stage.

Heat the butter in a pan and add the sage leaves. Keep heating at moderate heat and stir occasionally. The butter should get brown but not burn and the sage leaves should get crispy.

Mix the ravioli with the sage butter, serve with the small pepper appetisers and enjoy!

Stay hungry!

Your VegHog