How Your Wine Bottle Doubles As A Ravioli Maker
Wine and pasta are a food and drink pairing made in heaven, but your wine can do more than just elevate your tasting experience. Before you pour yourself a glass for dinner, consider using the bottom of your wine bottle as a makeshift ravioli press. Most wine bottles have rigid bottoms that create perfect ravioli shapes. Think of it a little like a cookie cutter: When you press down on the dough, you help form the shape of the ravioli, securely sealing the filling inside.
Not only is this hack fun, but it helps home chefs create uniform-shaped pasta that won't fall apart during the boiling process. The easiest way to do this hack is to roll out your pasta dough and pipe or spoon your filling in a uniform pattern across the dough that is evenly spaced apart according to the size of your wine bottle. Next, you'll carefully place your second layer of dough and line up the edges. From there you should be able to see the indents of where you placed your filling and be able to press your wine bottle around these markers. Then you can cut out each shape and it will already be crimped together.
Tips for making this hack work
You may consider lightly coating the bottom of your bottle with some flour. This will help prevent the bottle from sticking to your dough and ruining your pasta work. Start by pressing the bottle down gently and evenly apply more pressure as you go. To avoid crushing the top of your ravioli, it is crucial not to overfill the pasta. Aim for around a tablespoon of filling for your ravioli, as this will give your pasta a great ratio of filling to dough without compromising the structure.
Another thing to consider is the temperature of your dough. When you let your dough rest before you roll it out you'll be better off letting the pasta sit at room temperature versus in the fridge. This is the step that allows your flour and water to come together successfully and ensures your dough won't be too sticky when you press your ravioli. After pressing your ravioli, be sure to inspect them to ensure the edges were pressed together properly. If you're concerned about the edges sticking together you can either press the wine bottle over the section again or take a fork along the edges to make sure nothing falls out while cooking.