Smoked Bacon and Ricotta Ravioli with Apple Sauce

As promised, little over a week ago, here is my post for homemade ravioli and what good ravioli it was too! As expected, it turned out to be a little trickier than my previous attempt at tagliatelle, but as you can see, the end result wasn’t entirely offensive. The only reason ravioli is made more difficult than average pasta is that one must roll one’s dough out to the pasta machine’s thinnest setting, which only serves to pique one’s chances of manhandling it. Still, after a couple of tribulations, we were each faced with a scrumptious plate of rather interesting pasta.

Everyone knows that pork and apple is a classic combination. As such, it seemed like a great idea to combine them in a way that I’ve not seen before. It’s difficult to be entirely original in food these days, but one can at least be original to oneself. In spite of a little mild scepticism offered by one or two people as to the flavour profile of this dish, the ravioli worked extremely well and got along famously with their sauce. Indeed, hand shaking would have gone on had inanimate objects not been involved. The only real shame is that using pork and apple in the same dish is quintessential to both British and American cuisine. Though, I’d bet my long johns on the fact that it originated on this side of the Atlantic.

Alas, this will be the last homemade past post featured on FrugalFeeding for a while; my woman and I are apart for yet another month. Actually, out of interest, is there an opposite of ‘hubby’? Then again, I could take on the role of hairy Welsh househusband – we’re very modern here in Wales – and roll the sheets myself. If you don’t quite understand that joke it’s probably best that you read the tagliatelle entry first.

N.B. I’m not really in possession of a cracking pair of long johns.

Smoked Bacon and Ricotta Ravioli with Apple Sauce

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 200g “00” grade flour

• 2 medium eggs

• A splash of water if necessary

• 200g ricotta cheese

• 100g smoked streaky bacon, finely diced

• 2 largeish apples, use the oldest you have

• A sprinkling of sugar

• A splash of water

Method:

1. To make the pasta follow the recipe here, only roll it out to the thinnest setting possible. One this has been done, let common sense prevail and cut it into adequately sized strips (roughly 8” x 4”) using a sharp knife. Fold the pasta in such a way as to mark out eight equally sized boxes, two abreast. Fry the diced bacon in a little oil until crispy. Leave to cool and mix with the ricotta.

2. Spoon the mixture onto each of the squares on only one side of the sheet of pasta. Brush the other half with water and fold over. Press down using a cupped hand, working from one end to the other, making sure that all of the air is allowed to escape.

3. To make the apple sauce simply peel and dice one’s apple and cook it in a little sugar and water until soft enough to mash. The amount of sugar needed will depend entirely on one’s choice of apple. Boil the pasta for 3-4 minutes and serve atop a generous portion of apple sauce.

Cost: As we all know, the pasta itself cost very little to make – roughly 60p. However, the most expensive part of this dish is the filling and adding it will cause the price to increase to roughly £3 for the entire dish. Still, that’s not bad.