RAV-ear-IOLI (Meat Ravioli Ears)

Ear's a food entry for the Halloween 2021 contest that is sure to leave your guests feeling earie on the scariest night of the y-ear.

RAV-ear-IOLI

Yes, you heard it right. These meat ravioli look and feel audioaciously like ears. Serve them on bloody tomato sauce and you may just lobe them and find them earresistible.

You are welcome to use your favorite ravioli recipe if you have one and just skip to the cutting, filling, and shaping. Otherwise, here are the ingredients used in this RAV-ear-IOLI Instructable:

Yields 24-26 ears (or 12-13 pairs)

DOUGH:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 whole egg + 3 egg yolks

1 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp salt

Set aside egg whites for wash

MEAT FILLING:

1/4 lb ground beef

1/4 c finely grated cheese, like parmesan, romano, or asiago (I used Italian blend with all three)

2 tbsp ricotta cheese

1 egg

1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

SPECIAL SUPPLIES

Egg-shaped cookie cutter, about 2-3/4" x 2"

Large cutting board

Rolling pin

Piping Bag

Spider Strainer

1. Place flour, eggs, olive oil, and salt in a food processor.

2. Process for a minute until combined. The texture is quite loose at this point.

3. Turn the dough over onto a large UNfloured board.

4. Knead for 10 minutes.

5. Form the dough into a ball.

6. Tightly wrap the dough in plastic wrap and press into a disc. Leave to sit for at least 1 hour to allow the gluten to relax. I left mine out for 2 hours.

1. Combine ground beef, cheeses, egg, parsley, and garlic in a bowl.

2. Mix throughly until it forms a paste-like texture.

3. Spoon the filling into a piping bag.

4. Carefully tie the piping bag and set aside.

The dough is ready to roll when it doesn't spring back. You may need to cut your dough in half and work 2 batches if you don't have a very large board. My board is very large, measuring 20" x 30".

1. Place the dough on a lightly floured surface. Lightly flour the top of the dough as well.

2. Working from center outwards, roll the dough as thinly as possible.

3. The dough should not be thicker than 1 mm and your hand should be visible from the front when the dough is held.

1. Using the egg-shaped cookie cutter, cut out several pieces of dough (only as much as you can work with).

2. Make sure that the dough is always covered with plastic wrap to ensure it doesn't dry while you work.

3. Using the remaining egg whites, brush a wash on two cut pieces.

4. Cut off the tip of the piping bag with an opening just a bit larger than 1/4".

5. Pipe the filling in a slightly curved J-shape as shown.

It helps to look at various pictures of ears online as guidance through these steps. Not all are shaped the same, so you can shape your ravioli as you desire and play it by ear. The general meat ravioli ear shape goes as follows:

1. With the filling ready (piped in a J-shape as shown on the previous step), place the second cut piece on top, egg washed-sides facing, to seal the raviolo.

2. Firmly press the two pieces together, ensuring there is no air surrounding the filling. Any air pockets will cause the ravioli to burst during cooking. Make sure the center and edges are completely sealed.

3. About one-third of the way up, pinch and slightly pull the dough as shown in pictures 3 through 5. This pinching/slight pulling will create the ear's tragus (an anatomic term I just learned, thanks to this Instructable) and also give an illusion of an ear canal beneath. You can shape the tragus as shown or as desired.

4. Using some more egg wash, brush around the outer edge of the ear, from the tragus down to the lobe.

5. Roll the edge of the ear to form the helix fold.

6. Your meat ravioli ear is almost done. Slightly pinch the lobe to form the lobe's shape.

Working several pieces at a time, you can form an assembly line to shape your meat ravioli ears for efficiency.

1. I used 8 pieces to make 4 pairs of ears at a time.

2. Brush the egg wash on the cut pieces and pipe filling on 4 of the pieces. You can do reverse-J-shaped filling for the left ear version.

3. Follow the previous steps on shaping the ears on your assembly line, remembering to mirror the shape to make the left ear version.

4. Place the shaped ravioli ears on a parchment-lined sheet to prevent sticking.

When all of your RAV-ear-IOLI are shaped, they are ready for cooking.

1. Heat a large pot of water with salt and oil. Once it comes to a boil, lower the temperature until the water reaches a gentle simmer.

2. Place some ravioli gently into the water, ensuring there is enough space to prevent them from sticking to each other.

3. Simmer the ravioli for 8-10 minutes until the meat is done and pasta is tender.

4. Using a spider strainer, drain the ravioli a few pieces at a time.

5. Place cooked ravioli on an oiled sheet pan.

Place your meat ravioli ears on a plateful of hot tomato sauce and they are ready to be devoured, if you can swallow them. Have no f-ear!