These homemade sun dried tomato ravioli may take some time to make. However, it you're looking for a fun recipe project that your kids will love helping with too then homemade pasta is a great place to start!
You can get lovely ravioli in restaurants, but if I'm ever tempted and buy them in the supermarket I'm always disappointed. The fillings taste the same, whatever they are supposed to be. Do you find that too?
How to get great ravioli at home
If you try to make ravioli at home without a pasta machine it is really tricky getting the dough thin enough. So, even if the flavours are great the pasta is hard to get just right.
I hate to say this but if you want really thin pasta then a pasta machine is definitely the best way to get it. However, if you just want to have fun in the kitchen, then you can definitely live without it!
How I make Pasta with my Kids
Now, my children don't have the patience to use the pasta machine with me but they love playing with the ravioli dough. I make sure I make enough pasta dough so they can play with some of it while I make really nice ravioli with the rest of the dough.
If I don't do this, we all end up getting stressed!
What's in the sundried ravioli filling?
I keep the filling really simple for these sun dried tomato ravioli. There's just a small piece of mozzarella, a piece of sun dried tomato and some fresh basil in each one. Those Mediterranean flavours go together brilliantly and the sun dried tomato is a strong enough taste to come through the sauce afterwards.
How do you make the pesto sauce for the ravioli?
The pesto is really simple to make too. Just whizz everything up in the food processor. For this pesto I used sunflower seeds instead of pine nuts but I find any nuts or seeds are delicious.
When making any pesto the most important thing is to taste it. Add all the ingredients and then after they've been blitzed, see if you think it needs any more. Sometimes an extra squeeze of lemon or a little extra olive oil are needed to give it the right taste and texture.
How to adapt this recipe for sun dried tomato ravioli?
If you are going to the effort of making ravioli then I don't think the recipe needs to be adapted at all! There are only 3 ingredients in the sun-dried ravioli filling so any changes will completely change the recipe.
However, if you want to make homemade pasta but don't want the effort of making it into ravioli then you can just dice the tomatoes and mozzarella and stir them into a bowl of freshly cooked homemade pasta such as tagliatelle.
The lazy sun dried tomato pasta recipe!
Or if you really don't want the effort then just stir the mozzarella, basil and sun-dried tomato pieces into bought cooked pasta.
Although if that was your plan then I doubt you'd still be reading this now!
How to stop the Ravioli coming open
I know from experience that it can be difficult to be sure that the ravioli won't split as they are cooking. Be really careful to seal each one carefully and not to have air trapped inside.
If you are cooking bought ravioli you can often stir a sauce through them in the pan but with homemade ravioli you need to be extra gentle. I usually just drizzle the sauce over the top of the ravioli rather than stirring it in.
More Homemade Pasta Recipes
Why not try one of my other homemade pasta recipes? You don't even need a pasta maker for some of them!
Or if you want to try something just a little different why not try these pierogi ruskie, stuffed with potato, cheese and onion?
Recipe
Basil Mozzarella and Sundried Tomato Ravioli
Ingredients
Ingredients for the pasta dough
- 100 g tipo '00' flour
- 1 egg
- Pinch salt
Ingredients for the pasta filling
- 150 g mozzarella ball
- 3 sundried tomatoes
- 5 basil leaves
Ingredients for the Pesto
- 28 g fresh basil
- 2 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 1 clove garlic
- Pinch salt
- Pinch black pepper
- 2 tablespoon grana padana or parmesan
- 70 ml extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Follow the instructions on this post on homemade tagliatelle as it explains the first steps of how to make the pasta.
- Once the pasta has been rolled as thinly as you want it (I stopped at setting 7 on the pasta machine), use a biscuit cutter to cut out rounds about 5cm in diameter. Put them on a floured board to stop them sticking together.
- Take about half the pasta rounds and top with the filling. Brush with water around the outside and then pinch together with another piece of dough to keep the filling inside. Avoid leaving air inside and be careful that there are no gaps where the filling can escape. Put on another floured board until ready to cook.
How to Make the Sunflower Seed Pesto
- Put the sunflower seeds in a dry frying pan and toast gently until going a slightly golden colour. They can burn very quickly though so keep shaking the pan and take them out as soon as they look toasted. Leave to cool.
- Put all the ingredients in the small bowl of a food processor and blitz until fairly smooth. Taste and adjust any of the seasonings if necessary. If it's too thick add a little extra oil until you get the consistency you want.
Cooking the Pasta
- Boil some water in a large saucepan and when it comes to the boil, drop in the ravioli. They will cook in about 3 minutes. Lift them out with a slotted spoon when ready and divide between 2 plates.
- Drizzle the pesto over the top of the ravioli. Top with extra cheese if you want.
Notes
Nutrition
Keep in touch
Do let me know if you make this homemade ravioli. I love to get feedback from readers.
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Lorraine Tinsley
These look amazing, I've never tried to make pasta as it just doesn't look very easy and we don't really have the room for a pasta maker, but I might make the pesto and cheap by buying fresh pasta from the supermarket!
Corina
It's fine to cheat - I'm not expecting everyone to make their own pasta!
ediblethings
I know what you mean about hand rolled pasta - fine for orchietti, strancianati or Fettuccine, but not ok for filled pasta, or anything fine. Unfortunately I'm not an Italian nonna. Your ravioli look brilliant, long live the pasta machine
Corina
Indeed! The pasta machine just makes it so much easier to make good pasta at home.
Javelin Warrior
Oh yum - I love homemade pasta and ravioli is so delicious. I love the homemade pesto and I'm sure this was a big hit. I know I would have had seconds!
Corina
Thank you. I wish there had been seconds to have!
rhiannong
I love the idea of just using chunks of mozzarella in the filling rather than a ricotta based paste, did it string out nicely when you cut them open?
Corina
It did and it was very easy to make too as I just needed to cut the mozzarella up first. I think next time I will try a ricotta based filling though.
Lea Ann (Cooking On The Ranch)
I tried making my own ravioli just once and it didn't turn out very well. I have no idea why I didn't give it another go. I agree, the store bought is rather dull. Your sunflower pesto is most interesting. I'd love to give that a try. Pine nuts can be so darn expensive. Nice to find your blog.
Corina
The pesto is really easy to make and of course doesn't need to be served with ravioli but would be great on any pasta as it makes a nice quick evening meal. Thank you for visiting.
MyKabulKitchen
Looking at your picture makes me feel like I can almost taste the ravioli, looks absolutely delicious. Homemade ravioli seems a bit intimidating but yours came out lovely, and I never thought to make Pesto with sunflower seeds...that may be good way to use up the massive bags ($$$) we bought during a diet craze. Thanks for sharing as always 🙂
Corina
I'm glad you like it. The pesto is a great way to use up sunflower seeds, although my daughter scattering the rest of the packet all over the floor has helped me too!