A 2 cheese laminated ravioli with edible flowers recipe that will take your culinary skills to an amazing new level.

Laminated ravioli are amazing to freeze. Take out a portion each time you’re in the mood – which, we have to admit, is often. Plus, the edible flowers will make your dishes look just amazing. 

I love my pasta machine. It brings back memories of those Saturday afternoons, in which my parents would plan a ‘ravjul’ making session and we would all eagerly participate in it. They would wake up very early to roll metres of ravjul malti and lay them out on the table. After that, we would meticulously fill them with ricotta, so typical of the Maltese Ravioli. Everyone would compete to make the nicest looking raviolo! 

Lovely memories. Unfortunately, various commitments have meant that my beloved pasta machine has been sitting in the cupboard for months. It hasn’t been given the love it truly deserves. Also, it has been a while since we last had ravioli!

 

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My recipe for the ravioli dough (ghagina tar-ravjul) is the typical eggless pasta recipe, however, this time we added an extra twist. The traditional Maltese ravioli recipe is amazing by itself, and it is also one of the main options when we go to some fine Maltese restaurant. It is the season when our edible flowers are fully in bloom, so we took full advantage of this and tried our hand at some very colourful laminated ravioli. 

Preparing these ravioli is a satisfying process

If you’re not a fan (or somewhat distrustful) of the edible flowers, you can opt for just herbs. The result will be just as beautiful. The green touch makes a great extra point in the appearance of the dish. 

Keep in mind that any herb you add gives the ravioli a different added taste. So if you find the taste of mint too strong for example, stick with the herbs you would actually like to find in your ravioli. We would suggest parsley and basil as the basics.

Prepared with care and love

We’re big fans of cheese so our recipe includes ricotta, Parmesan, Gbejna and Pecorino cheese (for topping). We understand that the typical ravjul recipe does not include gbejna but how else can you make a Maltese dish even more Maltese?

Preparation is key for a beautiful finish

This Maltese ravjul recipe should be a winner with anyone who loves to eat a traditional dish with a more modern touch. Keep in mind that the ravjul dish is very versatile. You can have a delicious plate of pasta with a complementary ravioli sauce (zalza tar-ravjul), or perhaps ravjul moqli or perhaps baked ravjul. 

Laminated Ravioli with Edible Flowers

Given the appearance of these beauties, we would recommend that you keep in light on the sauce so your guests can truly appreciate these. For ourselves, we choose the simplest route, serving our laminated ravioli with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and some Parmesan, garnished with some more edible flowers.

Laminated Ravioli with Edible Flowers

Let us know what you think of this laminated ravioli pasta dish. We are thinking of trying beet ravioli, ravioli Nero di Seppia or maybe even a gluten free pasta dough recipe next time. What do you think we should try next time?

Recipe:

Preparation time: 1.5 hours

Cooking time: 8 minutes

Servings: 6 portions

Ingredients:

Dough

• 450g flour
• 100g semolina
• 250ml water
• Selection of edible flowers and herbs
• Salt

Ricotta filling

• 500g fresh ricotta
• 1 grated gbejna tal-bzar
• 60g grated parmesan cheese
• 1 egg
• Salt and pepper
• Chopped parsley (optional) 

Instructions:

Dough

1. Mix all dry dough ingredients (except the flowers and herbs) in a bowl.
2. Pour onto your countertop and make a hole in the middle.
3. Slowly fill with water and mix the dry ingredients (flour, semolina and salt) until you get a dough-like consistency. If you need more water, simply wet your hands and add to the mixture.
4. Knead the dough well, taking care not to overwork it. 10 minutes should be enough.
5. Cover the dough in cling film and give it time to rest (at least 30 minutes)
6. Mix all ricotta filling in a bowl, cover with cling film and keep in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
7. Blanch the herbs and soak the flowers in icy cold water
8. Poke the dough. If it rises immediately, then it is good to go. If not, give it some more time. If it is ready, roll out the pasta dough and then roll it out the pasta machine on the thickest setting.
9. Lightly cover the pasta dough with semolina on both sides.
10. Roll the same pasta again half the thickness you’d want to ravjul to be.
11. Water wash the pasta dough and put the herbs and flower petals on the dough sheet in a decorative fashion. Waterwash the another strip of pasta dough and place it on top of the other sheet.
12. Reapply semolina to both sides of the pasta dough
13. Roll the sheet of pasta with the edible flowers and herbs at half the thickness you’d want the ravioli to be.
14. Cut out round shapes from the pasta dough, fill with 1 teaspoon of ricotta filling, water the edges of the pasta. Fold and ensure that they are closed securely around the edges.
15. Place on a pan with a semolina base.
16. Repeat until all the pasta dough has been used for all the ravjul.
17. Boil a pan of water with a pinch of salt. Cook until the ravjul are al dente (rise to the top of the pan)
18. Plate and decorate with a hint of extra virgin and pecorino shavings.