Tabla Egg Ravioli

The first time I had this dish I fell in love immediately. It was three summers ago when I walked into Tabla Mediterranean Bistro for the first time. It was a busy night and they sat me at the kitchen bar looking directly into their open kitchen. I saw this ravioli being made and I knew I had to have it. The Tabla ravioli is filled with a ring of ricotta and chard and in the center is an egg yolk. When you cut into the ravioli the yolk spills out making a rich sauce for the pasta. It truly is magic. Since that first bite three years ago I’ve been back every couple of weeks and I always order the ravioli.

Last night for dinner we decided to make the ravioli. I remembered that I had seen a recipe for it in Sunset Magazine so I rooted around and found it. This is a recipe that is easy to adjust, you could put just about anything in it. I think that next time I make it I’m going to do the ricotta filling with basil and lemon zest instead of chard.

Ingredients
About 1 1/4 cups flour

2 whole eggs, plus 6 egg yolks and 1 egg white

1 1/2 teaspoons heavy whipping cream

1 tablespoon plus 1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups tightly packed stemmed chard leaves

1/4 cup whole-milk ricotta

1/2 cup grated parmesan

1/8 to 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

1/4 to 1/2 tsp. poppy seeds

Preparation
1. Mix 1 1/4 cups flour, whole eggs, and cream to form dough. Turn out onto a clean surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Prepare a large bowl of ice water and set it next to the stove. Add 1 tbsp. salt and chard leaves to pot. Cook chard until water returns to a boil and leaves are tender, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer chard leaves to ice water. (Keep pot of hot water on stove, but turn off heat.) Drain chard, squeeze out as much water as possible, and chop (you should have about 1/2 cup). Mix chard with ricotta, 1/4 cup parmesan, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and pepper to taste. Set aside.

3. Cut a 5-in.-diameter round from a piece of paper and set aside. Unwrap pasta dough, divide into 6 pieces, and pat each piece into a 1/2-in.-thick rectangle. Working with 1 piece at a time, set a pasta roller on the widest setting and roll piece through, dusting dough with flour as necessary to prevent sticking. Fold piece into thirds (like a letter) and roll it through again. Repeat folding and rolling once more for a total of three rolls on the widest setting. Repeat with remaining 5 pieces of dough.

4. Set roller to next narrowest setting and roll each piece through once. Repeat with next narrowest setting. Cut each piece in half and roll through on each remaining setting twice, turning 90° between rolls and trimming as necessary to fit and to keep a basically square shape, until dough squares are thin enough to see through and measure at least 5 in. on all sides.

5. Using paper round as a template, cut 5-in. rounds from each dough square.

6. Assemble the ravioli: Lay 6 pasta rounds on a clean surface dusted with flour. On each round, use a small spoon to arrange 1/6 of the chard-ricotta mixture in a circle about 3/4 in. from the edges, creating a well in the center large enough to hold an egg yolk. Repeat with remaining 5 pasta rounds and chard mixture. Put an egg yolk in the center of each well. Brush edges of pasta with egg white and place a second pasta round on top of each ravioli. Working from the center of each ravioli, gently press the top pasta round onto the filling to make sure there are no air pockets in the ravioli. Press edges firmly together to seal.

7. Bring pot of water to a slow boil. With a 4- to 5-in. strainer or slotted spoon, lower ravioli one at a time into the water (cook in batches of 2 or 3). Cook ravioli 3 minutes. Using the strainer, transfer them to a serving plate, blotting excess water with a paper towel. Top each ravioli with 1 tsp. butter.

8. Sprinkle ravioli with poppy seeds and remaining parmesan. Serve immediately.