Mini Blue Cheese Ravioli

FILLING: With a wooden spoon or electric mixer, beat the blue cheese and the mascarpone together until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer to a piping bag, and refrigerate for 1 hour. (You may use a teaspoon to fill the raviolis instead of a piping bag, but it is slower and messy.)

THE PASTA: In a mixing bowl mix the flours well, then mound them on a work surface. Crack the eggs into the bowl, and whisk with a fork. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, and pour in the eggs. Using a fork, gradually bring the flour into the well and combine with the eggs. When done you should have a crumbly dough with wet patches.

Form this dough into a ball and knead, gradually pressing into the work surface to pick up all the loose flour. Continue to knead until you have a dryish, patchy ball of dough. Don’t overknead (the dough will come together more in the pasta machine). Place the pasta dough in a bowl, and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rest at room temperature for half an hour.

Unwrap the pasta dough, and cut it into quarters. Using one piece at a time, roll out the dough in a pasta machine at the thickest setting. Fold the dough, run it through the machine again, then do this a third time. Go down to the next setting, and repeat. Continue to lower the setting on the machine, folding the dough and rolling it through each number three times until you reach the desired thickness, usually one notch above the thinnest setting. At the desired thickness roll it through only twice without any folding.

To form the ravioli, lay a pasta sheet on a lightly floured work surface. Lightly brush the top with water; pipe the equivalent of a teaspoon at 1-inch intervals. Carefully place another pasta sheet on top; gently press around filling to seal and remove any air. Using a pastry cutter, cut mini ravioli into 1-inch squares around filling and transfer to a parchment paper-lined baking sheet; do not stack, as ravioli will stick. Repeat process with remaining sheets of pasta and filling. (The raviolis can be frozen at this point. To keep them from cracking, sprinkle semolina on the bottom of a cookie sheet, place ravioli in rows, and dust with more semolina. Repeat with additional layers, being sure to finish with a coating of semolina on top. Do not defrost before cooking).

Cook in boiling water until the pasta is done, 3 to 5 minutes. Chef Estes serves these with a grilled steak and garlicky sautéed greens.