Beef and Cheese Ravioli Filling

Originally posted on September 3, 2005.

Here are the ingredients, cost, and recipe for my pasta ravioli filling with lots of photos of the process. I used organic produce and beef so it cost a little more, but you could use regular stuff from your local chain grocery store and make it even cheaper..

Note: This recipe makes enough filling for 4 batches of my Ravioli Pasta recipe. So the actual cost per batch of 18 – 20 ravioli made is more like 92¢. (click here for pasta recipe)

The Basic Ravioli Filling Process:

1. Chop and mince garlic and onion.
2. Grate parmesan cheese (or buy it already grated if you’re a weenie).
3. Brown ground beef.
4. Add in chopped garlic and onion and finish browning beef.
5. Drain browned ground beef, garlic and onion in colander.
6. Chop or process fresh oregano and parsley.
7. Add oregano and parsley to browned ground beef, garlic and onion.
8. Beat or whisk an egg and stir into mixture.

Now onto photos of the process! Woo.

Here are the ingredients.. A ½ lb or so of ground beef, 3 oz of parmesan cheese, ¼ of an onion, 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, and some fresh oregano and fresh parsley.

Note: For this I did most of the shopping at Whole Foods and picked up organic produce and ground beef from animals that were never given antibiotics and all that.. The wedge of parmesan cheese I had picked up at the local chain store HEB the night before during some other shopping.

I then chopped and minced the 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (could have been 4 though, I dig garlic, heh) and the ¼ of a white onion by hand with my usual chef’s knife..

I grated up a little more than ½ the 5 oz wedge of parmesan cheese, you could use more though..

Note: You can buy a bag of parmesan cheese that is already grated, and it usually costs more. But we’re doing this because we enjoy cooking, so why skip part of the fun?

I started browning the ground beef in a skillet, and then added in the chopped and minced garlic and onion mid-way through cooking. I didn’t want to burn the garlic, so I added it in a little while after the meat had started cooking.

After a little while longer over low to medium heat the ground beef, garlic and onion were done.

Since we don’t want any more moisture and liquid inside the ravioli dumplings than is absolutely necessary I drained the cooked ground beef, garlic and onion in my spaghetti colander.

I pulled the leaves off several sprigs of fresh oregano and parsley (some stems won’t hurt though if they end up in the mix) to chop up and add to the other filling ingredients.

Note: Parsley isn’t just a garnish, it also has a lot of nutritional and health benefits and is pretty dense in nutrients and minerals.. (More info here)

Although you can do this with a knife (like I used to), I used a new small food processor I recently picked up at the grocery store for $10 bucks, isn’t it cute? It chops things pretty good, and very quickly!

And here is the browned ground beef with onion and garlic, chopped herbs, and grated parmesan cheese ready to combine..

We mix in the chopped fresh oregano and parsley, then add in the grated parmesan cheese and mix the whole thing together..

Note: Since I won’t be using it until tomorrow I covered it with plastic wrap and stored in the fridge over night. We’ll be adding some raw egg into it before it’s ready, but I didn’t want to add that in until shortly before I was going to use it.

We’ll be adding in 1 or 2 (it’s up to you) eggs into the mix now to blend it all together nicely..

Then whisk or beat the eggs with a fork, and stir into the filling mixture.

And here it is ready to fill ravioli dumplings with! I’ll cover it and store it in the fridge again while I work on making the ravioli pasta dough (click here for ravioli pasta recipe).