6-8 first-course servings (or 3-4 dinner servings)

Ingredients
1 tablespoon butter
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 shallot, diced
1 tablespoon tomato paste (I accidentally used paste with Italian seasoning. I never noticed the difference.)
1 garlic clove, minced
1⁄8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1⁄4 cup white wine
1 cup clam juice
8 ounces shrimp, shells on
8 ounces ricotta
1 egg
2 tablespoons grated parmesan
2 tablespoons minced parsley
1⁄2 cup cream (I used half and half. It was fine.)

For the seafood broth: In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the butter just until the foaming subsides. Add the carrot and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the shallots start to brown around the edges.

Add the tomato paste, garlic, and red pepper flakes; cook and stir until fragrant, about a minute. Increase the heat to medium-high, and add the white wine, clam juice, and the shrimp with their shells. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer. Remove the shrimp when they curl and turn pink, after about 3 minutes. Peel the shrimp – Ouch ouch ouch! You may need to let them cool for a little bit first! – and return the shells to the broth.Simmer uncovered for 20 minutes. Strain the broth, reserving the liquid and discarding the solids.

Debby’s Note: Watch the amount of liquid here. You really want to make sure not too much of it boils down, or you won’t have much to strain. And really, this sauce is the bomb. You want to make sure you have enough.

For the filling: Transfer the cooked shrimp to a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse until minced. Combine the shrimp with the ricotta, egg, parmesan, and parsley.

For the ravioli: Place one rounded teaspoon of filling every 3 inches along the length of a pasta sheet. Using a pastry brush or your fingers, wet the pasta along the edges and in between the rounds of filling. If the pasta sheet is at least 4 inches wide, fold it lengthwise over the filling. If the pasta sheet is too thin to fold lengthwise, lay a second pasta sheet over the filling. Press around each ball of filling to seal the two layers of pasta together. Use a pizza roller to cut between the filling to form squares of ravioli. Transfer the formed ravioli to a dry dish towel until ready to cook (there’s no need to cover it). Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

Debby’s Note: If you are using won ton wrappers like I did, try it square and triangular. I found that triangular was plenty of filling and pasta for each of my ravioli. But if you are a fan of more pasta, by all means, use a full square for each. Be careful not to squish the filling out when you are closing the wrapper. Start near the filling and push out to the edges. You are trying to get rid of as much air as possible.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add a tablespoon of salt and lower the heat until the water is at a lively simmer. Cook the ravioli in small batches until al dente, 2 to 3 minutes, using a skimmer or large slotted spoon to remove the ravioli from the boiling water.

For the sauce: Combine the heavy cream (or half & half) and strained seafood broth in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil of medium- high heat, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer until thickened, 6-10 minutes. Gently toss the sauce with the drained ravioli; serve immediately.

A very green dinner. You could use any flavor or color of won ton wrappers that you prefer. Or your favorite pasta dough recipe. I really liked it this way though. I may never go back except for long noodle shapes.