Sausage Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter

For the pasta:

First make the PASTA DOUGH: combine the flour and salt in a food processor. Add the 2 eggs and 3 yolks and process until it begins to come together into a ball.

Now look at the dough: if it’s grainy, add some water a few drops at a time. (I think I ended up adding a couple teaspoons of water before the dough would finally come together completely.)

If it’s sticking to the food processor, add a little bit of flour. Once it seems to be about the right amounts of flour and water, remove from the food processor and knead by hand just a little bit.

(You can also do all of the kneading and combining by hand instead of using the food processor. In that case, make a well in the flour and mix in the eggs with a fork until combined, and then add water/flour as needed and knead.)

When you knead it, you want to be able to stretch it a little bit before it breaks (but mine really didn’t stretch very much before breaking off, and it turned out fine).

Cover the dough and let it rest at room temperature at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the FILLING: cook the bulk Italian sausage over medium high heat, crumbling as it cooks.

When its most of the way cooked, add the chopped shallot and continue to cook. When the sausage and shallot are nicely browned, drain off any excess fat.

Toss in the sage, a small grating of fresh nutmeg, and the parmigiano. Taste and adjust the seasoning (it may need a little salt).

Let it cool just a bit and stir in the beaten egg. (You just want it cool enough that the egg won’t scramble.) Set aside.

Now, ROLL OUT THE PASTA. Cut off about a third of the dough. On a lightly floured surface, shape it into a rectangle about the width of the pasta maker. Flour the pasta maker. Roll it through on the widest setting, then continue to roll it through on incrementally higher settings. I went all the way to the highest (thinnest) setting.

This makes for a delicious, delicate pasta, but some of it kind of fell apart when I boiled it/tossed it with the sauce, so you might want to go with one setting short of the highest one.

Flour the rolled pasta and cover it with plastic. Repeat with the other two thirds of pasta dough.

Cut the dough into rectangles that are the width of the pasta maker and a foot or so long.

Working with one sheet a time, drop teaspoons of the filling onto the dough, about an inch apart, making a row along one side of the pasta sheet.

Wet the dough a bit with a finger and then fold it over and seal it. Use a pastry cutter or knife to cut into individual ravioli.

The ravioli can be refrigerated in a single layer on a floured cookie sheet for up to a day, or can be frozen.

For the SAUCE:

First brown the chopped pancetta until it’s just barely crispy. Set aside.

Put on a pot of salted water to boil. When it’s close to boiling, melt a couple tablespoons of butter over medium heat in a large saute pan.

When it’s hot, add the sage and fry for a couple minutes on each side. Remove with a slotted spoon. Add the rest of the butter and cook over medium to medium low heat until it’s browned and smells nutty (like making caramel, your nose is a better indicator than your eyes).

Keep the sauce barely warm, and add the ravioli to the boiling water. They should only take about 3 minutes to cook.

When the ravioli are done, gently toss them and the pancetta with the browned butter sauce. Serve immediately, garnished with the fried sage.