Okay, I know it's not my usual day for trying new recipes but I was feeling adventurous. Last night, I decided I wanted to try making homemade chicken ravioli. I was going to make a creamy garlic sauce for it. Then I remembered that crab legs were on sale this week, so I decided to go that route.
I couldn't find a good recipe for what I needed, so I've pulled from a few different places. I'll post the recipe in stages.
Ravioli
1 c whole wheat flour
1 large egg
1 tbs olive oil
1 tbs water
For egg wash:
1 large egg
1-2 tbs water
1. In a small bowl or cup, mix the egg, olive oil, and water.
2. Put the flour in a separate bow, and make a deep crater in the enter of the flour. Pour half of the egg mixture into the crater and mix it into the flour. Slowly add the rest of the egg mixture in and continue mixing until it holds together.
3. On a floured surface, knead the dough until it forms a smooth bowl. Wrap with plastic wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for about an hour.
4. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes. Divide it in half. Roll each half to about the thickness of a nickel.
Crab Filling
6 oz cooked crab meat (I used the meat from the crab legs. Okay, who am I kidding? My husband cooked and separated the crab stuff. That's just too much work for me. Now I know why lump crab meat is so expensive.)
1/2 c low fat ricotta cheese (or fat free)
1 tsp Italian seasoning
5. Mix the crab meat, ricotta cheese, and seasoning in a bowl.
Here is a good site with the procedure for making & filling the ravioli, but the recipe is different.
6. Place 1 1/2 tsp of filling on the strips of dough, leaving enough room between spoonfuls to close off the dough. Make sure your line of blobs is on one half of the strip of dough, so that you'll be fold the other half over later.
[NOTE: The dough doesn't make a whole lot of ravioli. I got 8 individual raviolis out of it, and still had about half my filling left over. I added it to the sauce.]
7. Brush the egg wash over the exposed dough that will make up the inside of the ravioli. Fold the other half of the dough over the blobs of filling and press the dough together along the edges, and in between blobs. Make sure there is no air in the pockets.
8. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut in between each blob. Press the individual ravioli edges together tightly.
9. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop the ravioli in (you may need to do this in batches) and boil 4-8 minutes, or until tender and floating near the top. Use a slotted spoon to remove the ravioli from the pan.
Creamy Tomato Sauce (not fancy, I assure you!)
1/2 c tomato sauce
1/2 cup skim milk
1/4 c Parmesan cheese (I used canned)
seasonings as desired (salt & pepper, garlic/onion powder, whatever)
remaining crab filling, if there is any left
10. Heat the tomato sauce and milk, but do not boil. Add in cheese. Pour sauce over cooked ravioli.
Makes 4 servings. 296 calories, 10.8 g fat, 28.5 g carbs (4.1 g fiber), 22.6 g protein - 6 WW points. Whether or not it's Core+1 (for the cheeses) depends on how you interpret the whole wheat pasta rules. One serving of whole wheat pasta is a Filling Food (more than 1 per day, you count the points), but being homemade with flour (not a filling food), I'm not sure if it's still technically Core.
