Caprese Ravioli

A few years ago I got a little ravioli maker and a good old fashioned pasta roller. I am constantly on the lookout for good ravioli recipes so there will probably be quite a few more ravioli recipes on this blog in the future. Anyway, making ravioli CAN be time consuming, but the great thing about it is that you can make a big batch and freeze what you don't cook. I like to make my own pasta dough, but you can just buy wonton wrappers and use those instead. I found this ravioli recipe in one of Jamie Olivers cook books, but I changed it a little to make it my own. The ingredients in the filling are similar to the ingredients in caprese salad, so that is where the name came from. Caprese salad is a simple, but delicious Italian salad that consists of fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Ravioli Dough:
2 C. flour
1 t. salt
2 T. butter
1/2 C. boiled water
In a food processor pulse flour,salt and butter together. Slowly add boiled water while pulsing until all of the dough collects on one side of the food processor and forms into a ball. Kneed the dough until smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for about 10 minutes. Cut the dough into four pieces. Run each piece through your pasta maker until very thin and about 5 inches wide and 12 inches long (maybe longer). You can also roll it out, but it takes a lot of work! You just want the dough to be 1/16th of an inch maybe a little thinner.

Filling:
8 oz. fresh mozzarella pearls or chopped fresh mozzarella
About 6 or 7 sundried tomatoes, chopped fine
5 fresh basil leaves chopped fine
3 slices of cooked bacon, chopped fine
1/3 C. grated romano cheese
Combine all ingredients. Brush your 5 x 12 sheet of pasta with water or an egg wash. Place 12 mounds (about 1 T. each) of filling on your sheet of pasta dough making sure to get at least 1 piece of mozzarella in each mound. Lay another sheet of pasta over the top and press around the edges of each mound and cut into squares. Repeat with the rest of the pasta dough and filling. If you are using wonton wrappers, brush water on one wonton, put the filling on top and then put another wonton over the top and then press around the edges.
If the pasta is fresh, cook in boiling, salted water for about 3 minutes. If it's frozen, cook for about 7 minutes and drain. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and top with fresh ground pepper, romano cheese and fresh basil.