Wild Mushroom (Bolete and Chicken of the Woods) Pasta Filling

My sister (follow her on IG @cibopathy) came over today to help make sense of the boletes popping up on my front lawn. We decided to do a ravioli because she was classically trained in Italian cooking and could teach me how to make pasta dough. I pulled out the chicken of the woods from the freezer earlier this year, and collected herbs from the garden. I was very excited since boletes are a very flavorful mushroom that fetch a pretty penny on the open market. I made a Merlot tomato cream sauce to go with it (heat up your favorite pasta sauce, turn off heat, and stir in a some merlot and cream.)

This can be used for tortellini as well.

Ingredients for Mushroom Filling

• 1 cup fresh young boletes, minced
• 1 cup tender young chicken of the woods, minced
• 1/2 cup onions, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons white wine/merlot
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt (more to taste)
• 1 sprig thyme
• 1 tablespoon parsley, minced
• 3 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1. Sautee sprig of thyme, minced onion, and garlic in butter over medium heat until fragrant,
2. Remove thyme, add minced boletes and chicken of the woods, white wine or merlot, salt, and pepper and sautee until mushrooms have cooked.
3. Put into a bowl and add parmesan, ricotta, and minced parsley and cool in the fridge, covered, until ready to use.

Ingredients for Fresh Pasta Dough

• 11 ounces flour
• 2 jumbo duck eggs or 3 large chicken eggs
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Pinch salt

1. Make well in flour and crack eggs into the center. Begin mixing and incorporating the dough into the eggs and knead until smooth. The dough is a relatively dry dough.
2. Cover and allow to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Roll dough out on well floured surface, fold 3 – 5 times and flatten (making multiple layers makes it tender), and divide it into two pieces. You can either run it through a pasta press or roll it with a rolling pin to 1/8 – 1/16 of an inch thick.
4. For ravioli, use egg wash on one side of a flattened dough piece, place lumps of filling about 3 fingers width away from each other, and then place the other piece of dough over. Pressing around the filling firmly to seal and remove any air. Cut out raviolis.
5. Boil for 30 seconds to 1 minute, or until pasta is tender.