Smoked Chicken Ravioli with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

Let me just start out by saying that this is not a weeknight recipe. This is definitely a Sunday all day kind of recipe. Our friends Eric and Nicole came over for this culinary adventure today. Eric has had this idea to make smoked chicken ravioli. Since I got Phil a smoker for Christmas I said they should come over and we would try it. I had my first go around with homemade ravioli not to long ago so I was feeling pretty confident about it. We did not really have a recipe so I just kind of winged it. I was trying to think of what kind of sauce would be good that would not mask the flavor of the ravioli. I found this recipe for roasted red pepper cream sauce on allrecipes.com. I thought that sounded like a good pairing. Phil smoked the chicken. I made the pasta dough. Nicole and I rolled the dough through the pasta machines (she brought hers over, which was perfect because it would have taken all day otherwise). We all filled the raviolis. I cooked them and then Phil made the sauce. It was quite a team effort. It was a fun project for us all. They came out really good. You could really taste the smokiness of the chicken and the roasted red pepper sauce paired really nicely with the pasta. We doubled the recipe below so we would have several raviolis to freeze as well.

Chicken:

1 whole chicken
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup white wine
Butter
3-4 cups (as needed) Mesquite wood chips

Pasta:

1 cup Semolina flour
2 1/3 cups "00" flour, divided
4 eggs
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons olive oil

Filling:

2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
2 cups smoked chicken, shredded into small pieces
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons dried parsley
Pepper

Sauce:

1 jar roasted red peppers, diced
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon dried basil
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups half and half
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
4 tablespoons butter
Salt
Pepper


To smoke the chicken:

Preheat smoker to 220 degrees.

Soak 1 cup of the wood chips in water. Place wood chips in the tray at the bottom of the smoker. You will need to check on the chips throughout the smoking process as they will burn out. You will then take another cup of chips and soak them in water and then refill the tray, as needed.

Rub the outside and inside of a whole chicken with butter.

Place chicken in the smoker breast side down. Smoke chicken for 3 1/2 hours or until temperature reaches 180 degrees. Halfway through cooking, turn chicken breast side up.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan heat up chicken broth and wine. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer the whole smoking process.

Baste the chicken every 30 minutes with chicken broth and wine sauce.

Once chicken comes to temperature let rest for 15 minutes to cook. Then shred into small pieces for ravioli. Set aside.

To make pasta:

In a stand mixer mix all ingredients together, reserving 1/3 cup of flour. Mix for about 30 seconds. Dough will become a pea like consistency.

Add reserved flour at this point if dough seems too sticky. Continue to mix for about another minute until dough forms a ball.

Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and knead a couple more minutes.

Shape the dough into a disk and cover with  a large bowl and let rest for 30 minutes.

Flour a pasta machine lightly. Turn the dial to the highest number.

Cut the disk of dough like a pie into about 8 equal pieces. Take one of the pieces and form it into a disk.

Pass the dough through the pasta machine. Then fold the dough in half and pass through the machine again.

Continue this until you get to the second to last setting on the machine.

Lay finished dough on a lightly floured surface and continue with the remaining dough until all dough is formed
into sheets.

Cover sheets with a towel so they do not dry out to much.

To make the filling:

Combine all filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

To make Ravioli:


Take a sheet of pasta and lightly fold in half lengthwise to mark the center. Then unfold and lay flat again.

Beginning about 1 inch from one of the short ends, place a tablespoon full of the filling about one inch apart in a row down the center of one side of the fold.

Using a pastry brush, lightly brush water around the filling.

Fold the dough over the filling.

Press down on the dough around the filling to be sure to get any air out. 

Seal the ravioli and using a knife or pastry cutter, cut ravioli into squares. 

Set aside. 

For the sauce:

In a skillet, cook the garlic, basil, and peppers in 3 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. 

Cook for 10 minutes. 

Place mixture in blender and puree to desired consistency. 

Return to skillet and reheat to boil. 

Stir in half and half and parmesan cheese. Cook until cheese is melted. 

Add butter and stir until melted.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 5 minutes to thicken. 

To cook the Ravioli:

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add 1 tablespoon of salt. Add ravioli and cook until they float.

Serve with sauce. 

This recipe is linked on:  Foodie Friday, Show and Tell Saturday, Strut Your Stuff Saturday,  Kitchen Fun with my 3 Sons,  Rediscovering Lost Arts From Our Mothers,  Mix it Up Mondays, Melt in your Mouth Mondays,  On the Menu Monday,  Show me Your Plaid Mondays,Made by You Mondays, Martha Mondays, Mop It Up Monday, Meal Time Monday