There is a restaurant called Ocean Prime in Tampa which is where my admiration for goat cheese ravioli begun. I have always wanted to recreate their appetizer dish of Sonoma Goat Cheese Ravioli, which is made with golden oak mushrooms, sun dried tomatoes and a white wine garlic sauce which is divine. The dish only comes with four ravioli, making it virtually impossible to share with more than one person. This evening I decided to finally give it a shot and recreate the dish. Thankfully, it was a huge success! Now I can share the beautiful flavor combination with all of you as well as my friends and family. 🙂 I made up a smaller serving size but it is easily doubled. This serves two, or four appetizer portions. (About 10 ravioli)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp. white truffle infused olive oil
• 1 tbsp. evoo
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. finely diced onion
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• kosher salt
• freshly ground white pepper to taste
• 4 very thinly sliced golden oak mushrooms
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine

Filling Ingredients:

• 7 oz. softened goat cheese
• 1/4 cup grated parmiggiano reggiano
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• salt & white pepper
• 3 sun dried tomatoes, chopped small.

Pasta Dough for Two:

(These are rough estimates to cut in half my favorite pasta dough proportions)

• 1 cup of flour
• 1 tbsp. semolina flour
• 1 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp. evoo
• 1 large egg plus a little bit of another egg white. (about 1 1/4  large egg)
• 1 tsp. kosher salt

Dough: First, to make the dough, combine the flour, salt, nutmeg in a pile on a wood board. Create a well in the center, and place the egg and olive oil. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the egg until it forms into a ball. Knead with the palm of your hands until elastic and smooth, for about 5-8 minutes. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for at least a half hour. (This allows the gluten to form and thus, makes pasta dough)

Filling: Combine the filling ingredients in a small bowl and set aside.

For the Sauce: In a saucepan, combine the truffle oil, evoo, butter, onion, garlic, and mushrooms over medium heat. Sautee until fragrant, about 5-8 minutes, being sure not to burn the garlic. Season with salt and white pepper. Then sprinkle and flour over it and stir to combine. Let the flour cook in for two minutes or so to get rid of the raw flour taste. Add the white wine and bring to a boil, reduce and simmer on low until your ravioli is ready.

Ravioli:After the dough has rested for a full half hour, divide it in half. Form each half into rectangles, and place through a pasta roller attachment on a Kitchenaid Mixer or a traditional manual pasta roller. Keep rolling it on each setting until you are on setting 6, which you should start to be able to slightly see through the dough to your hand. Then, place a small scoop of the filling along the bottom half of the dough sheets. (See picture above). With the remainder of the egg you used, create an egg wash by adding a spritz of water and mixing it well with a fork in a small bowl. Using your finger, put the egg wash around the bottom 3 edges of the dough where you will fold it over. Fold over the pasta dough and seal the edges. Cut the ravioli and cook in boiling water for about 3 minutes. They will not take long to cook because of their freshness. Once the start to float, let them cook for about 1 minute longer. Then toss in the sauce and enjoy! Buon appetito!