Gluten Free Pork Raviolis

Its that time again for the Gluten Free Ratio Rally! This past month was a bit crazy for me with work and life, so I was happy to have the opportunity to participate in the rally again!

This month we worked together to come up with pasta recipes. I loved pasta before I was eating gluten free, so I had been looking forward to the month of June to make some pasta. This month's Ratio Rally helped give me the opportunity to realize how complex simple food can be. Pasta is often treated as one of the simplest types of food, yet making a perfect pasta is far from easy. Especially gluten free.

I fully admit that I don't believe my pasta is perfect, and that I want to try the same ravioli filling again, only this time with Jenn's (of Jenn Cuisine) pasta recipe. She was the wonderful host for this month and made some really beautiful Tagliatelle with Smoked Salmon.

Please visit Jenn's post for some amazing pasta, and for a full listing of the Gluten Free Ratio Rally  posts. Her link is here http://jenncuisine.com/2011/07/tagliatelle-with-smoked-salmon-ratio-rally/#more-6646

I went through two trials for this recipe. The first I included way too much corn starch in my recipe, it ended up being quite brittle and chewy after cooking. Pasta fail for sure. The second trial was a greater success, I was able to easily roll out the dough and the raviolis stuck together (for the most part). 

I'm glad I was able to participate this month, it was tons of fun and thank you to Jenn and the rest of the Ratio Rally for all the collaboration. It inspired me, and I hoped some of my lessons helped y'all as well!

Active Prep Time: 30 minutes

Inactive Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 4 minutes

Ingredients:

Pasta

84g tapioca starch

84g white rice flour

42g teff flour

42g corn starch

168g egg yolks (approximately 8 egg yolks)

1 tsp xantham gum

Filling

3/4 lb ground pork

3 cloves garlic, diced

1/4 cup ricotta cheese

2 tbsp dried basil

1 tbsp dried oregano

2 tsp dried thyme

Sauce

3 tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

1/4 cup white wine

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp coriander

1 tbsp oregano

2 tbsp Parmesan cheese

dash salt and pepper

Steps:

The Pasta

1. In a food processor, pulse the flours, gum, and egg together. Once combined, remove from the food processor and knead for a few minutes until the dough comes together. If the dough is really sticky, add a little more flour. The consistency you want is slightly sticky and moist. Wrap the pasta in some plastic wrap and set aside for about 20 minutes. 

Sauce

1. Preheat broiler oven. Sprinkle some salt and olive oil on the tomatoes, and broil in the oven. Once there is some charring on the outside of the tomatoes, remove them from the oven and place into a cold water bath. This will help remove the skin.
2. Once the tomatoes have cooled, peel the skin off them, and dice them into chunks. In a saucepan over medium heat, add the tomatoes, the garlic, the paste, and the wine. Cook for about 15 minutes.
3. After the 15 minutes, puree the sauce in a blender and add the spices and cheese. Reduce the heat and let the sauce simmer.

Filling
1. In a pan, brown the ground pork and drain the fat. To this, add the rest of the filling ingredients.

How it all comes together...
1. Fill a large pot with water and boil the water.
2. Either using a pasta roller or two pieces of parchment paper and a rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/8". I also recommend lightly dusting the paper with flour to reduce sticking to the paper.
3. Slice the pasta into equal sized squares, and place a spoon of filling into the middle of half of them. Cover each filled pasta with a second sheet, and press the ravioli together either with your fingers or a fork.
4. In batches, cook the pasta for about 3-4 minutes or until the dough is tender. Serve the pasta with the sauce and garnish with some fresh basil.

I hope you all enjoy! Please go to Jenn's page for the full listing! http://jenncuisine.com/2011/07/tagliatelle-with-smoked-salmon-ratio-rally/#more-6646