For Uniform Homemade Ravioli, Grab An Ice Cube Tray

If you're a fan of shortcut ravioli recipes you can make easily at home, we have another hack for you to add to your arsenal of culinary efficiency. Whether you've decided to put together ravioli with butternut squash or crab, enlist your ice cube tray to help make your kitchen project simpler. The compartments that you typically use to freeze liquids will serve instead to hold the pasta fillings of your choice, and your perfectly sized pieces will be satisfying to plate and serve. 

Drape the pasta dough on top of a cleaned ice cube tray coated with a nonstick cooking spray. You'll need to press the dough lightly into each compartment so that you can fill the pieces with the ravioli fillings of your choice. Once you've filled the tray and spread your ravioli fillings evenly across the tray, you'll top the filled pieces with a second sheet of pasta dough. 

Just as you would seal pieces for ravioli made without the assistance of an ice cube tray, you'll want to press the doughy pieces lightly together before trimming any excess dough hanging over the outside of the tray. Place this filled and sealed tray into the freezer to solidify, which makes the ravioli much easier to remove. While this approach may not be ideal if you have larger-shaped pieces in mind, it's a great hack for producing consistent bites of ravioli stuffed with flavorful fillings made with seasoned ricotta cheese, spinach, ground meat, or diced mushrooms. 

When you're ready to boil the pasta, simply invert the cold ravioli tray onto a floured surface. Use a knife to separate any conjoined bits if you see that the ravioli has stuck together. Cook the ravioli per your recipe before dousing them in pasta sauce, sage brown butter, or olive oil. Add fresh herbs from your garden, and you'll have a pretty meal of perfectly sized pasta pieces that are easy to make, simple to serve, and look Instagram-worthy on your dinner plate.