Nonna’s Pasta and Ravioli Dough

Put all ingredients in a food processor. Mix until the dough forms a ball. You may add additional water by ½ teaspoons, as necessary. Let the dough rest for a few minutes.

Divide the dough into four pieces. Flatten each with your hands and flour them well. For each piece of dough:

Begin with setting No. 1 on a pasta machine. Run the dough through that setting two or three times. Then run the dough through the No. 2, No. 4 and No. 6 settings. Run it through the No. 6 setting two or three times. Run it through the No. 8 setting. Then run it through the pasta-cutting blades on the pasta machine.

For ravioli, skip the pasta-cutting blade step and spread the flattened pasta out on a floured board. Fold the dough in half to get a center line; then unfold. Spread your choice of filling thinly on half of dough. Fold the other half of dough over the filling. Press out any air bubbles and even out the pasta. Roll with a ravioli rolling pin and cut with a ravioli cutter. Reserve the scraps to cook separately. Place the ravioli on aluminum trays lined with floured wax paper. Flash freeze until the ravioli is no longer sticky. Loosely pack the ravioli in plastic baggies. Can freeze up to four months.

You do not need to dry the pasta before cooking it. Cook it in boiling salted water for a few minutes; it is ready when the pasta starts to float to the surface of the water.

Note from Janis: “The pasta recipe makes enough for about a family of four; we usually double it, at least, and that would serve four adults and four children. For the dinner party, where we made pasta for eight adults, we tripled it, and I feel like we didn’t have quite enough but my husband remembers that we had plenty, plus leftovers. The Italian in me feels like there’s never enough food.”