Chicken, Spinach, and Ricotta Ravioli

Ingredients

• Fresh thin pasta sheets (you can either make homemade or buy fresh pasta sheets for ravioli.
• 10 oz. frozen or freshly cooked spinach (for fresh cooked you'll need 1 1/2 lbs of fresh spinach to make 1 1/2 c. / 10 oz.)
• 1 c. finely shredded chicken
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1/2 ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 clove garlic, minced. (try to stay away from pre jarred minced garlic. Most the lovely flavors of garlic are missing. It's worth using fresh garlic when ever you can)
• 3/4 c. romano cheese
• S & P to taste 

Directions

Have your pasta sheets ready and set off to the side near a lightly floured surface so you are ready to prep them soon!

beat ricotta cheese, egg, and romano in a bowl till fluffy.  Mix in spinach, lemon zest, and S&P. Next fold in the chicken.

Lay out a pasta sheet on the lightly floured surface. Place a spoon full of filling onto dough.  Cover with another piece of dough and press down with a ravioli cutter. If you don't have a ravioli cutter you can use a small cookie cutter, bowl, or what ever will help shape, cut, and seal the edges. if the edges won't seal use your fingers or tip of fork to gently press down till you get a nice seal around the edges.

Keep going till all your dough is used up or you've made enough raviolis. Don't discard left over pasta sheets! You can use them for something else later! use your imagination.

Lay your ravioli out in single rows to let dry for a little bit. In the mean time clean up your mess! two birds with one stone. (you can either start the cooking process now or you can freeze them after your done cleaning up for use in a recipe later. While you're cleaning also bring a pot of water to a slow boil.  I'll usually crank the heat to high till i see it almost starts to become a rapid boil then drop it back to medium - medium high heat.

When you are ready place raviolis in slow boiling pot for 6 min.  Check them, and if the pasta is still pretty tender put them back in the water till soft. keep checking till done. Make sure not to over cook them!  check ever 2-3 min.

You can add what ever sauce you enjoy most on these. Some of my favorite are a simple splash of extra virgin olive oil and romano. I also enjoy a nice rosa sauce which is marinara combined with alfredo sauce.You can try marsala sauce if you enjoy mushrooms. It's really up to you what you and your family palette is craving.

Making your own pasta might seem tedious and expensive but the prices of pasta makers can be found as low as $30 and dough is even cheaper to make!  So go ahead try it out. you might get hooked.  If I'm on a time frame fresh pasta can also be found. I rarely ever use dried pasta any more unless I'm making something with spiral. shell, or elbow pasta.

Enjoy and happy eating!