Vanilla Pasta Dough:
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour plus additional for kneading and rolling dough
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon canola oil
1/2 cup cold water

For Apricot Coulis:
4 ounces dried apricots (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups cold water
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

For Apricot-Almond Filling:
1/2 cup whole blanched almonds
4 ounces dried apricots (about 1/2 cup)
3 ounces pure almond paste (about 1/3 cup)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons Di Saronno Amaretto or almond extract

1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
about 4 cups vegetable oil for frying
confectioners' sugar for sprinkling ravioli

Directions:
Make dough:
Split vanilla bean lengthwise and scrape seeds into a bowl (reserve pod for another use). Add remaining dough ingredients and with a hand held electric mixer, beat on low speed until a smooth dough is formed. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, 30 minutes.

Make Coulis:
In a saucepan, combine apricots, sugar, and water and cook at a bare simmer 15 minutes, or until apricots are softened. Add lemon juice and in a food processor, puree until smooth. Force puree through a fine sieve into a bowl. Coulis may be made 4 days ahead and chilled, covered.

Make Filling:
Toast almonds until golden. Cool almonds completely and in a food processor, pulse until coarsely ground. Finely chop apricots. In a bowl with electric mixer, beat together ground almonds, almond paste, and butter until smooth. Beat in Amaretto or extract on low speed and stir in apricots.

Lightly beat together egg and water to make an egg wash.

Set smooth rollers of a pasta machine at widest setting. Quarter dough and wrap 3 pieces separately in plastic wrap. Flatten unwrapped pieces of dough into a rectangle and feed through rollers. Fold rectangle in half and feed through rollers 2 more times, folding in half each time and dusting with flour as necessary to prevent sticking.

Turn dial to next (narrower) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through rollers, without folding, turning dial to make space between rollers narrower each time, until dough has been rolled through second narrowest setting and is a long smooth sheet, about 14 by 4 inches.

On a lightly floured surface, brush pasta sheet lightly with some egg wash. Put 1 teaspoon portions of filling 3/4 inch apart in 3 rows of 6, to make 18 mounds. Roll out another piece of pasta in same manner and drape it over filled pasta sheet, gently pressing around mounds to force out any air. Seal edges well. With a fluted pastry wheel, trim edges and cut between mounds of filling to separate ravioli.

Line a large tray with a dry kitchen towel and on it arrange ravioli. Make more ravioli with remaining dough and remaining filling in same manner.

In a large deep heavy kettle, heat 1 inch of oil until a deep fat thermometer registers 350°F. Fry ravioli in batches of 6, turning once, until golden brown, about 1 minute. Transfer ravioli as fried with a slotted spoon to paper towels and return oil to 350°F between batches. Sprinkle fried raviolis with confectioners' sugar.

Spoon apricot coulis onto 6 plates. Mound fresh apricots in center of plates and arrange 6 ravioli around each mound. Garnish ravioli with mint.

Serves 6.

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