Lobster Ravioli
Completely homemade with live lobster and homemade pasta
Ingredients
Ravioli Filling
- 1 Lobster (approx. 1¼ lbs)
- 8 oz ricotta cheese
- ¼ cup grated Asiago cheese
- 2 sprigs tarragon finely minced
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Pasta Dough
- 2½ cups all purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 4 eggs
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp kosher salt
Sauce
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 shallot minced
- 4 cloves garlic grated or minced
- 1 tomato seeds and juicy parts removed, diced
- 1 cup heavy cream
- ½ cup vegetable or seafood stock
- kosher salt to taste
- Grated parmesan cheese for topping, if desired
Instructions
Cook the Lobster
- Humanely kill your lobster. (See Notes section for more information)
- Once you’ve humanely killed your lobster, you’ll want to boil it for about 7 minutes. I considered cooking him for less time since it would get some additional cooking when the ravioli cooks, but I didn’t want to take the risk of undercooked lobster. It’s cut into small pieces for the filling anyway, so the rubbery texture (if overcooked) would not be as noticeable.
Sauce
- Combine the ricotta, asiago, tarragon, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
- Remove the lobster meat from the shell, and chop it into small pieces. Wait for it to cool before stirring it into the filling. Cover the filling and set aside.
- Preheat a saute pan over medium heat.
- Add butter and melt.
- Add shallots and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the shallots start to become translucent, stirring frequently.
- Add flour to the pan to make a roux. Keep stirring so the flour doesn’t burn. You’ll likely have paste-like gobs of flour-shallot-garlic, which is OK. Cook for a few minutes until the roux gets blond.
- Add heavy cream and stock tomatoes. Bring to a boil (stirring the whole time so the cream doesn’t burn), add tomatoes, then reduce to a simmer. Your sauce should be starting to thicken.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the shallots and tomatoes. I left some tomato chunks because I didn’t want it them entirely liquified. Add salt to taste.
- Keep sauce warm on low heat, stirring occasionally.
Ravioli
- Scoop flour onto work surface. Make a well in the center. Add salt.
- Add one egg and start to incorporate with a fork. Be careful not to kill the walls of your well or it’ll get unnecessarily messy fast!
- Continue to add eggs one at a time, incorporating more of the flour after each one. Add the olive oil, continue to incorporate everything until it becomes doughy. You will get your hands dirty. You will reach a point where it’s clear you can’t do any more with the fork and you just need to use your hands.
- Once you have a dough ball, knead, knead, knead for several minutes.
- Roll out the pasta dough and put it through the pasta machine. Start on the widest setting and work your way thinner. I went to #6 (out of 8) on the KitchenAid pasta roller. Lay out sheets on a lightly floured surface.
- Add filling at even intervals down the middle of a dough sheet. How much filling you need will depend on the size of the ravioli you are making.
- Lay another piece of dough over the top. Press to seal all around the filling.
- Cut out the shapes using a pastry wheel or ravioli stamp. Set them aside on a lightly floured surface.
- Bring water to a boil in a large saucepan.
- Cook ravioli for about 6 minutes. To check for doneness, test an edge since this is the thickest part that takes longest to cook.
- Use a spider spoon to transfer the ravioli to the pan with the sauce. Let them cook together for a few minutes.
- Transfer to a plate or bowl for serving. Top with grated parmesan (optional).
Notes
I learned how to humanely kill a lobster from Gordon Ramsey on MasterChef a few seasons ago (see video here). If you’ve never done this before, make sure you have an excellent and super sharp chef’s knife so you can humanely kill your lobster. I am not kidding when I say your chef’s knife needs to be in good shape and sharp. Please don’t put your lobster through agony because your knife is dull. Please also do not put your lobster through agony because you’re too afraid to push hard enough to slice through his head.