Spinach ravioli with spicy oyster mushroom tomato sauce

A taste of Italy with a spicy twist. I still need to work on my ravioli-making skills, but even though they don't look so nice they tasted really good. Next time, I'll 'invest' in a proper ravioli cutter ;). I'm especially satisfied with the sauce, which I'm sure could be used for other pasta dishes as well.

Fun fact: a raviolo (singular form of ravioli) is possibly a Tuscan invention. First known mention of the dish comes from writings of a 14th century merchant living in Prato.

You'll need:
for ravioli dough:
     300g of flour
     2 eggs
     5 spoons of warm water
for ravioli filling:
     100g fresh spinach
     100g of ricotta
     freshly grated black pepper
the sauce:
     125ml of tomato passata
     125g of mascarpone
     100g of oyster mushrooms
     10 drops of tobasco sauce
     1 spoon of butter
     oregano
some parmigiano to serve on top

Pleurotus ostreatus (oyster mushrooms)

1. Start by mixing dough ingredients. Adding warm water is a trick used to make the dough softer. The major difference between ravioli and Polish pierogi is the addition of eggs. Eggs tend to make the dough harder, so ravioli need to be cooked longer than pierogi to achieve the same level of softness.

2. Remember to cover the dough with a cloth while preparing the filling and the sauce. It's actually a good idea to leave the dough to rest for a while - it's another technique used to make it softer.

3. Wash the spinach and cook on a dry pan under cover. Once it becomes soft, transfer onto a cutting board and chop. 

4. Put the spinach in a bowl and add ricotta and pepper. Your filling is ready.

5. Roll out the dough. You'll need two very thin layers of pasta dough. Use a tea spoon to add the filling on top of the first layer of pasta, leaving 2-3cm space in between. Cover with the second layer of pasta and stick the two layers together. Cut out squares with the filling in the middle.

6. Cook in boiling salted water for around 5 minutes.

7. Start preparing the sauce by frying the mushrooms (cut into small pieces) on melted butter. Then add the tomato passata, a few drops of tobasco and mascarpone. Allow the ingredients to mix over a medium heat. Add oregano.

8. Serve your ravioli warm together with the sauce and some parmigiano on top.

Bon appétit!