Recipe for success: Rotisserie chicken ravioli

What is the point of homemade pasta if you don't whip up something unusual every once in a while? I mean, fresh fettuccine is cool, but doesn't hold a candle to stuffed ravioli. My latest temptation came when Giada De Laurentiis used store bought rotisserie chicken to create a fantastic looking homemade ravioli. I made a few tweaks to her recipe, but the original can be found here.

1. Assemble the ingredients:

   3/4 c. whole milk ricotta 1 egg 1/2 c. store-bought rotisserie chicken (finely shredded) 1/4 c. grated Parmesan 2 Tbsp. basil leaves (finely chopped) 1/2 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. pepper

   Pasta dough (2 c. flour, 2 eggs, pinch of salt) Sauce: 3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 3 Tbsp. chopped basil leaves 1 lemon Salt and pepper



2. Start boiling some water (add a dash of olive oil to prevent the pasta from sticking together).


3. The dough: Put the flour, eggs and salt in the food processor and give it a twirl. Add water until the mix comes together. Dump out the contents of the processor onto a lightly floured counter, roll it into 2 separate dough balls and let it sit for 10 minutes. Once it has set, roll it through the pasta maker (or roll out by hand) using ample amounts of flour to prevent sticking. For ravioli, I have been stopping at setting 4 and that has worked well.


4. The filling: mix the ricotta, egg, chicken, Parmesan, basil leaves, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.


5. Place the filling in little clumps on the dough, cover and cut out your ravioli. Some people have fancy little trays or gadgets that will do this. Here is my tip: place your filling on the right of the ravioli dough strip and fold the left side of the dough over the filling (like folder a long piece of paper lengthwise). Use your fingers to press the dough around the filling and get out any air bubbles. Cut the ravioli - my favorite tool for this is a narrow rimmed wine glass.*
   
6. Drop the completed ravioli into the boiling water for 3-4 minutes.
   
7. Top the ravioli with the sauce. I prefer to give each plate a splash of olive oil, a good squeeze of the lemon, sprinkle of basil leaves and salt and pepper to taste. I also add segments of the lemon to top the ravioli and this acid really helps to lighten the heavy ravioli filling (I absolutely love the combination!)
   
8. Eat up!

*If you aren't going to eat all the ravioli be sure to stop before boiling the ravioli and freeze the completed ravioli. To eat later, just drop the frozen ravioli into boiling water and sauce the top of the cooked ravioli.