Ravioles du Dauphiné

Preparation

1. Step 1

   Make the pasta dough: In a medium bowl, combine the flour and eggs. Vigorously mix using a fork until you’re left with a shaggy, sticky dough. Lightly flour your countertop or work surface. Place the sticky dough in the center, dust with more flour, then use a bench scraper to incorporate all the dry crusty bits in the dough. Knead until smooth, flouring your hands to prevent them from sticking to the dough. The dough should look smooth after 2 to 3 minutes of kneading.

2. Step 2

   Lightly flour the dough and tightly wrap it with plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out. Set aside for at least 30 minutes to rest at room temperature.

3. Step 3

   To make the filling: In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the butter for 5 to 8 minutes, constantly stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until it turns golden brown and develops brown bits all over. Pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl. Give it a few minutes to cool down, then place it in the fridge or freezer to harden.

4. Step 4

   To a small food processor, add the cubed cheese. Pulse to finely grind the cheese until it gets crumbly and looks like tiny pebbles. Scrape the sides of the food processor bowl using a silicone spatula, as needed. Add the hardened butter and the crème fraîche. Pulse to bring everything together, then blend for a couple of minutes until smooth and emulsified. You will have to occasionally scrape the sides of the bowl to help with the blending since the mixture will be really thick. The final cheese filling will be thick and smooth with a consistency similar to cream cheese.

5. Step 5

   Add the cheese filling to a piping bag or resealable plastic bag, cut a small hole for piping the cheese and set aside. This can be made ahead and stored in the fridge, then brought to room temperature a couple of hours before assembling the pasta.

6. Step 6

   To assemble the pasta, prepare your work station with a rolling pin (or pasta machine), extra flour for dusting, a bench scraper, a pastry brush (you could also just use your fingers in case you don’t have one), a bowl of cold water and a pasta or pizza cutter.

7. Step 7

   Prep the pasta dough: Unwrap the dough and cut it into quarters. Cover 3 quarters with the same plastic wrap and roughly shape the remaining quarter into a rectangle. Lightly dust a work surface with flour and roll the dough until ⅛ inch thick using a rolling pin or pasta machine. Try maintaining the rectangle shape so you’re left with a long pasta dough sheet that’s about 9 to 10 inches wide. Slice three 6-by-8-inch rectangles out of the pasta sheet. You’ll work with 1 pasta rectangle at a time, so loosely cover the 2 remaining pasta sheets with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out.

8. Step 8

   Fill the pasta: Lightly flour the work surface to prevent the pasta from sticking. Place the pasta sheet on the work surface and lightly brush with water on top using a pastry brush or your fingers.

9. Step 9

   Pipe 24 cheese filling dots (4 columns by 6 rows), leaving about ¼ inch between the dots and leaving a little border on the edges for cutting the pasta later. Grab another pasta sheet, lightly brush it with water on one side and place it on top of the cheese piping, wet side down, dry side up.

10. Step 10

    Shape the pasta: Using a long chopstick, press the two sheets together to seal in the cheese filling, going from the center of the pasta out to the exterior. Press in between the ridges created by the cheese dots and lightly roll the chopstick to better define the cheese squares. Using a pasta or pizza cutter, cut the edges of the pasta to get an even rectangle (about 4 ¼ by 6 ½ inches). Using a bench scraper, lift the ravioli and set it aside on a floured surface.

11. Step 11

    Repeat this process with the remaining pasta dough. (If making in advance, you can store the stuffed pasta sheets in the freezer, in an airtight container, for up to a month. Add the sheets, straight from the freezer, to a pot of boiling water and simmer until the pasta feels al dente and the filling soft to a gentle touch, 4 to 5 minutes.)

12. Step 12

    Make the sauce: Bring the wine to a simmer in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, until reduced by almost half. Add 1 tablespoon of cold butter at a time, whisking continuously to emulsify and waiting until each addition is incorporated before adding the next. Remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside.

13. Step 13

    Cook the pasta: Fill a large saucepan or pot with water and bring to a boil, seasoning with a big pinch of salt halfway through. Lower the heat to medium-low so the water comes down to a gentle simmer. (You should gently reheat the sauce over low at this point.) Lift a sheet of ravioli using a bench scraper and slowly drop it in the simmering water. If there's enough room in the pot, you can cook 2 ravioli sheets at a time. Cook for 2 minutes, then remove and add them along with a splash of pasta water to the wine sauce and set over medium heat. Swirl them in the sauce for 1 minute, then serve right away with more sauce on top, olive oil and freshly cracked black pepper. Repeat with remaining sheets of pasta.