<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Thank you so very much to all the people who responded to my request for gluten free ravioli or tortellini.  A few things are very clear: (1) There is a huge demand for gluten free ravioli and tortellini.  (2) Ravioli is available commercially at a few places and can be shipped frozen.  (3) The price for ravioli is very steep, and shipping prices make it moreso. (4) Making ravioli by hand is a viable option.  (5) If any of you want to produce and market tasty gluten free ravioli at a reasonable price, this list serv could keep you in business for a very long time.

I attempted my first homemade pasta Saturday night.  The whole process took about as much time and effort as baking cut out sugar cookies (about an hour start to finish, which left me with enough gluten free ravioli to generously feed our family of 5 and leave leftovers to freeze for another meal.)  I used Bette Hagman’s bean pasta recipe. I was not crazy about the results because the pasta was too beany tasting for me and I had trouble rolling the dough thin enough for a nice texture.  My celiac son and nonceliac daughter, however, LOVED the ravioli, which made it well worth the effort involved.  I will definitely try again.  Next time I plan to replace the bean flour recipe with one of the recipes provided by my kind listserv friends, and I will use the double waxed paper method of rolling the dough so that I can roll it nice and thin.  If I get the taste right, I may invest in a hand-cranked pasta machine. Given the price of purchased gluten free ravioli, I’m sure the machine would pay for itself in no time. 


Thanks to everyone for all the help!

Buon appetito!

Elizabeth


Here is what I found.  First I’ll list ravioli that can be purchased; then advice on making your own.

Several people recommended ravioli from dietery specialties in Whippany, New Jersey.  It is found in some health food stores and can be ordered on line.  Beware that it is quite expensive and requires a $75 minimum order for shipping. The web address is www.dietspec.com

Natural Food Works/Farmer's Kitchen Cafe in Davis, CA (naturalfoodworks.com) makes wonderful vegetarian ravioli - they haven't tried shipping yet, but are very willing to look into it. I plan to give this a try because Roseann who emailed me from their store was so kind in her response and sounded so committed to making it work.  I'll let you know how it tastes.

Several people recommended the Happy Carrot in New Jersey.

www.everybodyeats-inc.com was also recommended as a source for delicious, expensive ravioli.

George of Foods By George used to make a delicious ravioli----I don't know if he still does, but I know he is still making GF foods.  He is in Mahwah,NJ but I have seen his products even in Florida stores.  You might try contacting him.
He graduated from the Culinary Inst. and then was dating a celiac (now his wife) and became interested in making GF foods.

If you are in Denver, stop by Deby's Gluten Free 
Bakery and Cafe.  She has an awesome meat or cheese filled ravioli.  I 
know she ships her flour mixes from her website www.debysglutenfree.net 
or .org either will work.  I don't think she ships raviolis though.   
Maybe she has the recipe on her website?

It also sounds like health food stores sometimes carry ravioli made locally, so keep your eye out for those.


 Here is some advice about making your own ravioli (not as intimidating as you might imagine)


I make GF manicotti using home made GF crepes...just make the 
crepes, let cool, stuff with the ricotta filling, roll and bake with sauce 
and cheese...I freeze them individually. I also make something similar to a 
tortellini with the Hagman dough recipe using her 4 bean mix. I have an old 
fashioned manual pasta machine..I roll out this dough, cut fill and fold 
into triangles then pinch the sides to form the "llittle hat". 


Here is Gluten Free Girl's blog post about making filled pasta, with the
recipe. http://glutenfreegirl.blogspot.com/2005/08/making-homemade-gluten-free-ravio
li-at.html

I have a hand cranked pasta machine.  It makes a flat dough then you cut it into noodles.  I use the flat dough in a ravioli press and fill the dough with any filling I want.  It's a bunch of work so I rarely do it but they are yummy.


I make my own. I use Bette's Featherlight mix for the 
crepe manicotti and it has a less strong flavor than the bean flour. These 
are very thin and light.  I use an Atlas pasta machine and the following recipe:
>
>Combine in bowl:
>1 cup tapioca flour
>1 cup cornstarch
>6 tablespoons cornstarch
>1 1/2 tbsp salt
>2 1/2 tablespoons xanthan gum (not a typo)
>Mix together and add 6 eggs, beaten
>3 tbsp olive oil
>Place dough on a board covered with cornstarch and roll to about 1/8" thick......
>This was a recipe for pasta to put through a pasta machine. I don't have one of those. I wanted to make perogies. I rolled it out thinner and cut them into circles, stuffed them, wet the edge and folded them over and sealed them. I boiled them in salted water till they floated and then drained them on paper towels and sauted them in butter. I don't think I would use quite that much xanthan gum again, but they were pretty good for a first try.




I mix 3 250ml cups g/f flour (one of bean or quinoa, one of tapioca 
>starch, half a cup of sweet rice flour and half a cup of orgran 
>gluten-free-gluten). Add 5 large eggs and 2-3 20ml tablespoons cold 
>water. Use plenty of sweet rice flour when kneading and rolling. Roll 
>quite thin on large sheets of waxed paper, cut into shapes you want 
>with scissors (ie lasagne sheets, fettuccini or small 
>squares/rectangles for filled pasta pillows). (Cut the pasta into
shapes while it was still on the waxed paper (ie cut through pasta and
paper together), as this gave it stability.) Chill for half an hour to
improve handling (leaving on the waxed paper provides separation and is
easier to remove when the pastry is cold).
>
Fill pasta pillows and boil like normal ravioli or tortellini. 
>
Use lasagne sheets fresh, or hang long strands of fettuccini on an 
indoor clothes horse to dry...

I got only a couple tears in the pasta while rolling (I used heaps of
sweet rice flour to prevent sticking), but as I was making lasagne, the
odd tear didn't matter, because I was overlapping the sheets a little.



Thanks again!

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