Fava Bean Ravioli on a Spinach Wine Sauce

This is a very special meal. It is gourmet and delicious in flavor well worth the effort to make.

Serving Size: 4

Ingredients:

for the ravioli:

• 1 cup semolina flour
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup water
• pinch salt

for the filling:

• 2 lbs. fresh fava beans
• 1 small clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon mild grainy mustard
• 1 tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup nuts (walnuts, pistachios almonds or hazelnuts)
• Salt and pepper to taste

for the sauce:

• 1 small carton of fresh button mushrooms, cleaned and thinly sliced
• 1 Tbsl oil
• 1 med. clove garlic, minced
• 4 cups of fresh spinach, washed and spin dried
• splash of white wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• chives as optional garnish

Directions:

To make the ravioli dough:
In a bowl, combine the pasta dough ingredients to make a dough.
Wrap in a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.

To make the filling:
Shell the fava beans. You need about 1&1/2 cup shelled beans.
Cook beans in 1 quart boiling water until just tender, about 3 to 5 minutes.
Drain the beans.
Place beans immediately into a bowl of cold water. Drain.
Peel outer skin of beans by loosening with tip of thumbnail or knife and slipping off.
Puree the shelled, peeled beans, garlic, mustard, sesame oil and nuts.
Season to taste with salt and pepper.

To make the ravioli:
Divide the dough in fourths and roll out each portion on a floured work space, allowing the first sheet of pasta to sit while rolling out the second.
One of the tricks to the pasta is to make sure you’ve rolled the dough out very thin.
Cut out your ravioli shapes and fill with the filling.
Place the top part of the ravioli over the filling and close with a fork.
If you have a form or press, then of course that saves time you merely place 1 sheet of dough on one side, put the filling on the dough and then lay the 2nd sheet of dough on top.
Close the form to seal and cut off the extra using a knife.

To make the sauce:
Heat the oil in a large frying pan.
Saute the mushrooms until golden.
Add the minced garlic.
Splash the white wine over the mushrooms and garlic just before adding the spinach.
Cook the spinach just until it is wilted.
Season with salt and pepper.

When the ravioli have all been made.
Put them in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes or until they are floating.
Serve the ravioli with the sauce and optionally garnish with chives.