Ravioli

Ravioli (raviˈɔli; singular: raviolo, raviˈɔlo) are a type of pasta comprising a filling enveloped in thin pasta dough. Usually served in broth or with a sauce, they originated as a traditional food in Italian cuisine. Ravioli are commonly square, though other forms are also used, including circular and semi-circular (mezzelune). Ravioli are mentioned in the personal letters of Francesco di Marco Datini, a merchant of Prato in the 14th century. In Venice, the mid-14th-century manuscript Libro per cuoco offers ravioli of green herbs blanched and minced, mixed with beaten egg and fresh cheese, simmered in broth and seasoned with "sweet and strong spices". In Rome, ravioli were already well known when Bartolomeo Scappi served them with boiled chicken to the papal conclave of 1549. Ravioli appear in the 14th-century cookbook The Forme of Cury under the name of rauioles. Sicilian ravioli and Malta's ravjul may be older than North Italian ones. Maltese ravjul are stuffed with irkotta, the locally produced sheep's-milk ricotta, or with gbejna, the traditional fresh sheep's-milk cheese. English and French borrowed the word ravioli from Italian in the 14th century. The ultimate origin of the word is uncertain. It is sometimes connected to the northern Italian word rava 'turnip', supposing that the filling was made of turnips, but the earliest recipes, even Lenten ones, do not include turnips. Another theory connects it to a kind of cheese (related to modern Italian robiola), but that also appears unlikely. Traditionally, ravioli are made at home. The filling varies according to the area where they are prepared. In Rome and Latium the filling is made with ricotta cheese, spinach, nutmeg and black pepper. In Sardinia, ravioli are filled with ricotta and grated lemon rind. Modern ravioli are also mass-produced by machine. In Europe and the United States, fresh-packed ravioli have several weeks of shelf life. Canned ravioli were pioneered by the Italian Army in the First World War and were popularized by Heinz and Buitoni in the UK and Europe, and Chef Boyardee in the United States.