Ravioli With Figs, Walnuts And Goat Cheese In Sage Butter Sauce

Fresh goat cheese ravioli with figs and butter/sage sauce 

** Note: When making this dish I used my Italian pasta machine and ravioli stamps. If you don't have any stamps at hand a pastry cutter roller will work just as well.

Ingredients:

250 g of flour, type 00

2 organic eggs (1 egg per 100 g of flour is the magic Italian formula)

6 fresh figs

A handful of walnuts

200 g of goat cheese

A pinch of salt 

40 g of butter (I typically use  a Swedish salted kind, if unsalted add some flake salt)

Fresh sage leaves 

Black pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese 

A couple of tbsp of semolina flour for dusting 

Directions:
Pour flour on to a table or work surface and scoop up a couple of tablespoons, creating a kind of well in the middle. Crack the eggs straight into it and with a fork start mixing the flour and eggs together. Work from the "walls" and inwards so that all flour gets completely incorporated with the eggs. Once evenly mixed, knead the dough for at least ten minutes. The dough should feel smooth and elastic and sort of bounce back when you poke it with your finger. Wrap the dough in plastic film and let rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. 

 
In the meantime, make your filling. Cut figs into smaller chunks and mash cheese with a fork. Toast walnuts in a dry pan until they've gotten some colour. Chop them up and add to the cheese/fig mixture. Add a pinch of salt. 

Get your dough from the fridge and  cut it into pieces. Start working one piece (covering the remaining ones with a damp towel to keep from drying out) through the thickest setting of your pasta machine, folding it and double folding it until it comes out smooth and even. Gradually stretch the dough out by using a narrower setting. Repeat with folding and running it through a couple of times. Lastly run it through the narrowest setting until the pasta sheet comes out paper thin and place it on a smooth surface. Cut it in half so you have two equally large sheets of pasta. 

Drop teaspoons of the filling on the center of the sheet and make sure there's a two finger space between  each dollop. Lightly brush the dough around the filling with water. Place the second pasta sheet on top and gently press out air around the filling using your finger tips. Using the ravioli stamps, cut out the ravioli and place them on a parchment sheet, sprinkling them with semolina flour to keep them from sticking together. Make sure they're properly closed or the filling will seep out while cooking. Repeat until you've used up all your pasta dough. 

Bring salted water to a boil and carefully place the ravioli in the pot. Let boil on medium heat for about 3-5 minutes depending on ravioli size or until pasta feels firm without being hard (I usually cut through one to make sure it's cooked). In the meantime, cut remaining fresh figs into quarters. Melt butter on medium heat on the stove and add fresh sage leaves. Let them fry in the butter until they're crisp but absolutely not burnt. Add salt if using unsalted butter. When the ravioli are done, drain them of water and place on a plate. Drizzle over the sage/butter sauce and add a generous amount of freshly grated Parmesan, some black pepper and the fresh figs.