Beef Ravioli with Arrabiata sauce

Another ravioli, this one being more 'traditional'. I find the beef ravioli goes well with tomato based sauces like the arrabiata one in this recipe. Arrabiata sauce literally means angry in Italian and it is probably named this because of the heat produced by the chilli peppers used in the production. It is very often served with Penne pasta but works just as well here.

I made this dish with the help of the Sister Missionaries. I had invited them over to be the first guests to eat in our new home (which we moved to in March) as a thank you for their help in the moving. They seemed to enjoy the making of pasta and chowed down hungrily once it was all done.

To make enough for 4 you will need:-

300g Beef mince
1 medium carrot, chopped small
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small onion, finely diced
50g parmesan cheese
50g butter
seasoning
4 Fresh pasta
1x 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 small onion, finely diced
2 red chillies, deseeded
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
6 fresh basil leaves, chopped
1 tsp sugar
olive oil

First we'll start on the ravioli filling. Put a frying pan on the stove over a medium heat and add the butter. Add the onions,garlic and carrot to it and sauté for 3 minutes, stirring regularly. Add the mince and brown off. Add the cheese and cook for 10 minutes. Once all is cooked put it in a food processor until fully blended. Put in the fridge to cool down.

 Put some olive oil in a pan and sweat the onions and garlic together for about 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Then add the chillies and cook for another minute. Add the tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, sugar and a little water and cook for 30 minutes. When finished cooking add the basil leaves.

While the sauce is cooking out let's roll of the pasta. Cut your pasta block into four pieces and then roll each piece out flat. Cut in half place one half in a greased ravioli tray (if you don't have one don't worry, I will get to that in a bit). Place a teaspoon of your mince mixture into each ravioli well, once all done place the other half on top and roll a pin over the top to cut them. Repeat with the other pieces.

Bring a pot of salted water to boil.  Now it is time to add your ravioli to the boiling water, place in the pan and cook for 2-3 minutes, take out and serve straight away with your arrabiata sauce and grated parmesan.