Where East Meets West: Wonton Wrapper Pastas

Today’s entry is the fulfillment of a promise that I made to Norma in the Comments section of the Bartolini Cannelloni recipe post of last March. (Norma, by the way, is a cookbook author whose wonderful blog, Garden to Wok, is filled with tasty recipes and gardening tips.) She asked if egg roll skins could be used in place of pasta dough to make cannelloni. Well, Norma, it took 2 months and I used wonton wrappers but here’s the promised post.

Back before I started buying ravioli molds but after I learned I was unable to use Mom’s tiny cappelletti mold, I saw someone on a cooking show use wonton wrappers to make ravioli. That’s all I needed to see. Before long I was making ravioli and tortelloni using the wrappers without any problems. In fact, I’d probably still be using wrappers if I hadn’t seen another TV cook use a large ravioli mold one day. Soon I was making ravioli and cappelletti of all sizes and I never bought another wonton wrapper.

When I’ve shared our ravioli recipes, some have mentioned that the process seemed difficult and time-consuming. Using wonton wrappers eliminates one of the more difficult elements, that of making and rolling out the pasta dough. With that out-of-the-way, the rest of the process is a snap and this post will show you just how easy it is to use wonton wrappers to make stuffed pasta. Along the way, we’ll make round ravioli, manicotti, square ravioli, and tortelloni, all of which are pictured in the unfortunate photo above. It’s a long post but the method for preparing each pasta will “stand on its own” so that you need only reference the section(s) that interest you.

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How to make Jumbo Ravioli (Ravioloni)

1. Place one wonton wrapper on a floured work surface.
2. Place about a tbsp of filling in the center of the wrapper.
3. Use your fingers or a brush to moisten the 4 edges on the wrapper.
4. Place another wrapper on top.
5. Use your fingers to remove as much air as possible while pressing to seal the edges.
6. Use a pastry wheel or sharp knife to trim uneven edges.
7. Use a fork’s tines to press and further seal the 2 wrappers.
8. Reserve on a lined baking sheet for later cooking or freezing.

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These ravioli are about 3.25 inches (8.9 cm) square, after trimming. Remember that when cooked, they will expand a bit more.

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How to make Ravioli

1. Place one wonton wrapper on a floured work surface.
2. Use a pastry wheel or sharp knife to cut the wrapper in half.
3. Place about a tsp of filling in the bottom half of each part.
4. Use your fingers or a brush to moisten the top half of each part.
5. Fold the top half and cover the bottom half of each.
6. Use your fingers to remove as much air as possible while pressing to seal the edges.
7. Use a fork’s tines to press and further seal the 2 ravioli.
8. Reserve on a lined baking sheet for later cooking or freezing.

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These ravioli are about 1.6 inches (4.0 cm) square.

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How to make Large Round Ravioli

1. Place one wonton wrapper on a floured work surface.
2. Place about 2 tsp of filling in the center of the wrapper.
3. Use your fingers or a brush to moisten the wrapper area around the filling.
4. Place another wrapper on top.
5. Use your fingers to remove as much air as possible while pressing to seal the edges.
6. Carefully place a large biscuit cutter over the covered filling. Make sure that the cutter surrounds the filling without touching it.
7. Press down on the biscuit cutter hard enough to sever the wrappers.
8. Remove excess wrapper from around the cutter.
9. Remove the raviolo from the cutter and reserve on a lined baking sheet for later cooking or freezing.

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These ravioli have a diameter of 2.5 inches (6.4 cm).

To make Small Round Ravioli use a smaller biscuit cutter. Mine was 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter.

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How to make Tortelloni

1. Place one wonton wrapper on a floured work surface.
2. Use your fingers or a brush to moisten 2 adjoining sides of the wrapper.
3. Place a little more than a tsp in the corner opposite the moistened sides.
4. Fold the moistened half of the wrapper to cover the other.
5. Use your fingers to remove as much air as possible while pressing to seal the edges.
6. Use a fork’s tines to press and further seal the 2 sides.
   1. At this point, you’ve created a triangular-shaped raviolo. You can stop here or continue and make a tortelloni. 
7. Use you finger to make an indentation in the center of the triangle’s hypotenuse. (And you once thought you’d never use geometry in real life, didn’t you?) 
8. Bring the two opposing corners together, moisten one, and press together to seal.
9. Bend backwards the remaining corner.
10. Reserve on a lined baking sheet for later cooking or freezing.

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Although it’s not possible to give the exact size of your tortelloni, it’s safe to assume that these would be too large to be used in soup. Any stuffed pasta used in soup should be bite-sized so that the diner needn’t cut them before eating.

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How to make Manicotti/Cannelloni

1. Place one wonton wrapper on a floured work surface.
2. Place about 1.5 tbsp of filling along the bottom edge of the wrapper.
3. Use your fingers or a brush to moisten the opposite or top edge of the wrapper.
4. Carefully and tightly roll the wrapper and filling towards the moistened edge.
5. Place the finished manicotto/cannellono, sealed-side down, on a lined baking sheet for later baking or freezing.

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In my family, cannelloni are meat-filled and manicotti are cheese-filled. These manicotti/cannelloni are about 3.5 inches (8.9 cm) wide, perfect for creating a double row in many baking dishes.

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Variations

The size and shape of your pasta is limited only by the size of the wonton wrapper. If you haven’t a biscuit cutter in the size you want, try using a glass or jar to cut your pasta. I’ve never used egg roll wrappers but imagine that the processes would be the same, only much larger. Frankly, I’d never use an entire egg roll wrapper to make a single stuffed pasta. Instead, I’d cut it into halves or quarters before using.

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Notes

No matter what size or shape of ravioli that you make, be sure that there is no filling along the edge where the dough is to be sealed. It will only interfere with the seal and the pasta will probably open up during cooking. Equally important is to make sure that the pasta edges being sealed are moistened with water. Mom, Zia, Lidia Bastianich, and Mario Batali all agree: egg or egg wash is never used to seal pasta for it can harden during the cooking process, making the edges of your pasta pillows unpalatable.

As you may have noticed in the photos, I used a cheese-based filling when making each stuffed pasta. The recipe for that filling, porcini mushroom, leek, and goat cheese, will be posted next week. If you cannot wait or don’t wish to use that filling, you may prefer to use either of these 2 fillings: the traditional Bartolini ravioli filling or the Bartolini sausage ravioli filling.

At the very beginning of this post I stated that my objective was to show how simple it is to make wonton wrapper pasta. As you’ll see next week, the filling I used here is flavorful yet, also, uncomplicated and easy to prepare. The same holds true for dressing the cooked pasta. Although you can certainly use any sauce you wish to dress your ravioli or tortelloni, you needn’t complicate matters. The large ravioli pictured above were dressed with melted butter and garnished with Parmesan flakes and fresh parsley. You could just as easily use olive oil in place of the butter, and, grated cheese in place of the Parmesan flakes. By keeping it simple I hoped I’ve demonstrated just how easy it is to prepare a homemade stuffed pasta dinner using wonton wrappers. In short, yes, you can do this!

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 It’s déjà vu all over again … 

Since today’s post used square wonton wrappers, I thought I’d stick with the theme and send you back to the post where we made fazzoletti, little handkerchiefs, pasta. Nothing more than pasta squares, these are among the easiest of pastas to make at home. You can see how they’re made simply by clicking HERE.

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Coming soon to a monitor near you …

Porcini mushroom, leek, and goat cheese ravioli filling.

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