Ravioli with Cheese Filling and Basil-cream Sauce

Pasta dough:

1. Put the flour on the work surface, make a well in the middle, beat in the eggs, add oil and salt and whisk everything with a fork. Always add some flour from the edge. This until the edge of the flour is roughly mixed with the egg. Then continue kneading with your hands. If the mass is too dry, just wet your hands lightly with water and continue kneading. Do this again until the dough is smooth and pliable, but does not stick to the work surface. Do not despair, it can take some effort and time. Wrap the finished dough in cling film and let it rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Longer is also ok

Filling:

1. Put the butter in a saucepan and heat. Scatter the flour into the melted butter and stir well with a whisk. Deglaze immediately with the milk in small batches and continue to stir vigorously until no more lumps can be seen and the mixture has a very creamy, slightly pudding-like consistency. Turn off the heat, but leave the saucepan on the stove and stir in the grated cheese. Season to taste with pepper, salt and a little nutmeg. Cool down and let something solidify.
2. The filling tastes really good if you use a hearty cheese such as Bergkäse, Emmental, Gruyère etc. Since I didn’t have any, I mixed Parmesan and Gouda. Taste the stronger types of cheese before seasoning. Often they don’t need any additional salt.

Sauce:

1. Roughly chop the basil. Peel the shallots and dice them. Skin the garlic, finely chop. Sweat the shallots and garlic in the oil until translucent. Deglaze with cream and simmer gently over a mild heat and reduce a little. Then stir in the sour cream and heat it with. Season to taste with salt, lemon juice and a pinch of sugar. Keep ready. (Basil comes in just before serving.)

Completion:

1. Divide the pasta dough into 4 portions and pull each one (if available) well floured through the pasta machine from level 0 – At level 0 = 3 x, and always fold once after each pull-through. At level 1 = 2 x and fold up, then only 1 x at the next. Without a pasta machine, roll out the dough lightly 4 times with the rolling pin and fold it up again and again. Then – if possible in an elongated strip – roll out about 2 mm thin.
2. Cut out circles with a diameter of 10 cm from the dough. Since I’ve owned these ravioli molds for ages, I finally used them once. Here the punched out circle is placed on it, 1 teaspoon of the filling is placed in the middle, the edge is coated with water or egg white and the “thing” is simply folded up and pressed firmly. If you do not have such a device, you should not put the filling in the very center of the dough plate, also coat the edge, fold it up (half moon) and press the edge with a fork (also makes a nice pattern …; – )).
3. When all the ravioli have been made, cook them for approx. 2 – 5 minutes in well-salted water. The dough should be firm to the bite, but still cooked, and the filling should be hot. Drain and drain a little.

Completion of sauce and topping:

1. Fry the bacon slices in a pan without any additional fat and then degrease on a paper towel.
2. Bring the sauce to the boil again, remove from the heat, add the basil, mix everything well with a hand blender and froth up slightly.
3. First put the sauce in a large soup plate, then arrange the ravioli, roughly grate a little Parmesan and decorate with the bacon chips.
4. The amount of ingredients resulted in 17 pieces. Sufficient as a main course for 3, as a starter for around 8 people.