As a part of our new “World at Home” series, we’re bringing you the world’s most incredible experiences, LIVE via Facebook and straight to your living room! It’s our way to help you live the joys of travel at a time when travel is on the back-burner.
If you missed our LIVE cooking class with authentic Italian chef, Francesco, you can still get cooking at home with his fresh pasta recipe. Watch as Francesco — chef and guide of the wildly popular “cooking with kids” experience in Florence — teaches fresh pasta making, and how to whip together a classic red sauce, straight from his cucina in Florence. It’s so easy, our whole team even managed to follow along during the livestream (really!)
Watch the video on YouTube here (be sure to subscribe for more content!) or below. For exciting upcoming virtual tours and activities, check out our livestream schedule here.
Recipe: Fresh potato ravioli with a traditional red sauce
The chef: Francesco from Cooking with Kids Experience in Florence
Serves: 3-4
Follow along on: Francesco’s facebook page
What you’ll need:
- Large mixing bowl
- Wooden rolling pin
- Chef’s knife
- Serrated knife
- Potato masher
- Frying pan
- Large saucepan (for pasta water)
- Small saucepan
Nice to have:
- Pasta machine
- Pasta cutter
- Pastry bag
Ingredients
Fresh pasta:
100g flour — any type is fine
2 eggs, beaten — substitute with water to make vegan-friendly
Potato ravioli filling
200g potatoes, baked with rosemary and garlic, cooled
30g grated parmesan (omit to make vegan-friendly)
1 Tbs chopped parsley
5 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of ground nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Sugo all’agliona (fresh tomato sauce)
5 fresh tomatoes
2 cloves garlic
5 fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup white wine
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
Pasta dough (this can be done in advance)
1. Pour the flour onto a clean benchtop and make a well in the center.
2. Pour the egg and water into the well and mix until it forms a sticky paste that you can knead.
3. Once the dough is smooth and elastic, cover with plastic wrap and put it to the side. Allow it to rest for 20 minutes.
4. After 20 minutes, roll out the dough onto a floured counter with a rolling pin and pass through a pasta machine, starting at the setting “0-2-4”. You may have to fold the dough to size to pass it through the machine.
5. Fold the dough once more and pass through the machine at the “0-2-4-6” setting. You should have a long, thin sheet. Place on the floured counter.
Note: If you don’t have a pasta machine, use the rolling pin and roll until you have one long sheet about ½ an inch (a couple of millimeters) thick
Ravioli
1. In a large mixing bowl, mash the rosemary garlic potatoes with parsley, parmesan, ground nutmeg, olive oil, and salt and pepper.
2. Combine well and spoon into the pastry bag.
3. Pipe the potato mixture into heaped-teaspoon-sized balls lengthways along the top of the pasta sheet (or use a spoon). Leave around 2 fingers of space between each ball.
4. Fold the bottom of the pasta sheet over the balled mixture and cut into squares. Press the sides of each square to prevent them from coming unstuck during cooking.
5. Place the ravioli in a large saucepan of salted boiling water.
6. Cook for 6 minutes and remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
Sauce
1. Half-fill a small saucepan with water, allow to boil.
2. In the meantime, remove the stems from the tomatoes. Using a serrated knife, score the tops with an “X”.
3. Place the tomatoes into the boiling water and blanch for 1 minute.
4. Remove the tomatoes and cool under running water to stop the cooking process.
5. Peel and cut into cubes, place to the side.
6. In the frypan, heat the olive oil on a low heat. Add a whole clove of peeled garlic, fresh basil leaves, and white wine. Allow to simmer for 2 minutes.
7. Add the diced tomatoes, raise the heat, and cook for another 5 minutes. Avoid stirring.
8. Toss the cooked pasta through the sauce and serve immediately.
Buon appetito!
Watch the step-by-step video
Let us know how you went in the comments!
Be sure to check out our schedule of upcoming virtual tours and experiences! We’ve already done a Balinese watercolor class with an Indonesian artist, a private tour of the Vatican and Sistine Chapel, and an up-close-and-personal with a Berlin drag queen. Plus, we’re adding new content every week.
