These short rib ravioli take some work to make, but that effort is worth it for a pasta that is filled with richly flavored slow-cooked umami goodness.
Some meals are meant to be quick and easy, showcasing simple but quality ingredients in a way that only takes a few minutes to throw together. Other meals are a labor of love, ones that take hours (or even days) to put together. Meals that when you take a bite you can practically feel the time and energy that went into them. This short rib ravioli recipe most definitely falls into the latter category. It is by no means a quick or easy recipe, but I happen to think that the end result is completely worth the time and energy put into making them. The ravioli are simultaneously light and hearty, stuffed with an ultra-savory, stick-to-you-ribs short rib filling. And the sauce is rich, filled with umami and slightly sweet notes. While by no means easy, this recipe is definitely one that I urge you to try.
My brother made these short rib ravioli along with homemade cavatelli in honor of Mother’s Day a few weeks ago. A dish from one of his and his wife’s favorite restaurants, Quality Italian, was the inspiration. He originally meant to make angolotti (a sort of hand-folded ravioli) but considering the time he had already put into making the pasta dough and filling, ravioli turned out to be the quicker route. Making this dish really turned into a three-day process for him, but if you woke up early enough, you could certainly make this dish in one day. Here’s how he broke down the making of these short rib ravioli:
DAY 1: BRAISE THE SHORT RIBS
Short ribs are one of my all-time favorite cuts of meat to cook, but you’ll need to prepare them carefully as they can be super tough. You’ll either need to thinly cut them (like Korean short ribs), or braise them slowly. For this recipe, a slow braise is best. The meat becomes super fall off the bone tender, ready to be shredded and stuffed into ravioli. We chose to braise our short ribs simply in red wine with onions, but you can use any of your favorite braised meat recipes for this part (like my Sweet and Spicy Braised Pumpkin Short Ribs). Braising short ribs takes a few hours, so it’s best to prepare them the day before. After braising, pull the meat from the bones and finely shred or chop it for the filling. Keep the cooking liquid for a sauce to serve the ravioli with later!
DAY 2: MAKE THE PASTA DOUGH
You don’t necessarily need to do this step in advance. But we chose to make the pasta ahead of time just to save some time on the day-of. The pasta dough is a simple one (from my Cavatelli recipe) and easy enough to throw together. But it does need some time to rest, so there’s no problem with doing it a day or two ahead of time.
DAY 3: ASSEMBLE THE SHORT RIB RAVIOLI
This is the step you’ll want to do day-of, although you can definitely do it a few hours in advance. Thinly roll out your pasta dough into long sheets, then fill and cut out the ravioli. You can do this by using one of these ravioli makers (where you’ll lay a pasta sheet down, fill each indent with filling, lay another sheet on top, and roll a rolling pin across to cut out the ravioli), or one of these ravioli punches. This is the most time-consuming and work-intensive part of the process, but again, completely worth it.
DAY 3, PART 2: MAKE THE SAUCE
While you could serve this short rib ravioli with any sauce, we made a really quick and delicious sauce using the liquid that the short ribs braised in. We sautéed a little bit of shallot and garlic, added in the totally flavor-filled and meat-fortified cooking liquid, and cooked it down with some butter until glossy.
As I said, making these short rib ravioli is no small feat. But whoever you make them for (even if it’s just for yourself) is sure to feel every ounce of love and energy that you’ve poured into them. Because they really are just that damn tasty.
Short Rib Ravioli
Equipment
- pasta rolling machine
- ravioli maker or punch
Ingredients
For the pasta dough
- 8 oz semolina flour
- 8 oz double zero flour
- 1 egg yolk
- water
For the short rib filling
- 2 lb short ribs
- 1 large yellow onion, quartered
- 6 cloves garlic, crushed or roughly chopped
- 1 cup red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- a large handful of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary or parsley)
For the sauce
- 2 shallots, minced
- 1/2 to 1 cup short rib cooking liquid
- 4-6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp butter
- olive oil
- salt and pepper
- fresh herbs (parsley, basil or thyme), minced
Instructions
For the short rib filling
- Preheat oven to 300. Pat the short ribs dry and liberally salt and pepper all sides.
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or oven safe pot over medium heat. Working in batches, sear short ribs until evenly browned on all sides, 4-5 minutes per side. Remove short ribs from the pot.
- Add another drizzle of olive oil to the pot. Saute garlic and onions over medium heat until fragrant and slightly softened, 2-4 minutes. Add wine and beef broth and use a spatula to scrape up all the bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Add short ribs back into the pot, nestling them down into the liquid, along with the herbs, and cover.
- Move the pot to the oven and cook until short ribs are tender and falling of the bone, about 4 hours. Once cooked, allow the short ribs to cool completely (or overnight in the fridge) before shredding.
- Once cooled, pull the short rib meat from the bones and remove the onion quarters from the liquid. Reserve about a cup of the cooking liquid for making a sauce for the pasta.
- Finely dice the cooked onion quarters. Use two forks to shred the short rib meat. Depending on how you want your filling, you can leave the meat shredded like this or pulse it in the food processor a few times to break it down even more. Mix it with the diced onion. This will be your pasta filling.
For the pasta dough
- If using a stand mixer fitting with the paddle attachment, combine flours and egg yolk in the mixer. Begin mixing on a slow speed, adding small amounts of water as you go until the mixture comes together into a ball. Knead on medium for 5 minutes
- If kneading by hand, mix flours and dump out onto the countertop. Make a well in the center of the flour pile where you'll whisk together the egg yolk and 1/4 cup water. Begin incorporating flour into the egg/water mixture, adding more water as needed as you go. Knead the dough by hand on the countertop for 5-10 minutes.
- Check that the dough is sufficiently kneaded by cutting the dough in half. You should see many small air pockets inside the dough. If you don't see these, continue kneading.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or cover and set aside to rest for at least 30 minutes. The dough can also be made in advance and at this point can be wrapped and left in the fridge for 1-2 days.
Assemble the ravioli
- Dust a sheet tray with semolina flour.
- Roll the pasta dough out into long thin sheets, either by hand or using a pasta roller (we usually gradually set the pasta roller smaller as we go, finishing around the number 4 setting).
- If using a ravioli maker tray, liberally dust the tray with semolina flour. Lay a sheet of pasta across the tray and fill each indent with about a tablespoon of short rib filling. Then lay another pasta sheet on top and roll a rolling pin across to cut out the ravioli.
- If using a ravioli punch, dust the countertop with semolina flour and lay a sheet of pasta on it. Dollop tablespoons of the filling onto the pasta dough, leaving enough space between them to cut out individual ravioli. Lay another sheet of pasta on top and use the ravioli punch the firmly push down and punch out each ravioli.
- As you make them, move the ravioli to the semolina dusted sheet tray, being sure to not overlap them so they don't stick.
- To cook, boil a large pot of salted water over medium high heat. Cook the ravioli in small batches until they begin to float (this means they are cooked), 2-3 minutes.
For the sauce
- Heat a drizzle of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Saute shallot and garlic until fragrant and softened, 2-3 minutes.
- Add short rib liquid and cook down until thickened and reduced by about 1/3, 5-10 minutes. Once sauce is cooked down, add in butter and stir well until sauce is thick and glossy.
- Season sauce with salt and pepper as needed and finish with fresh herbs. Spoon over cooked ravioli and serve.
The recipe says to make the sauce you need to use 1/2-1 cup.
Does that mean you need to use one and a 1/2 cups?
Of short ribs sauce?
Sorry for the confusion, and thank you for pointing that out! I just updated the recipe. I used 1/2 to 1 cup (between half a cup and one cup) of liquid, depending on how dry the meat seems or how wet you want your mixture.
Can these be made ahead and frozen?
Yes definitely! You can either make the filling ahead and freeze that, or the ravioli as well. Freeze the ravioli flat on a sheet tray first for about an hour, then transfer to a ziplock bag.