you CAN make ravioli from scratch!

way back when, when even this blog was knee high to a grasshopper, I made pasta from scratch for the first time. And after spending hours with a rolling pin, it wasn't half bad.

a few months ago, I made some fantabulous Stuffed Mushrooms and had a metric ton (Ok, maybe 1 cup and a half) of filling left over.

pasta + yummy mixture = ravioli!

Follow the link above for regular traditional pasta, or here is a recipe that I found that claims to make "strong" pasta, for "wet fillings". I'd have to have both kinds of pasta next to each other to tell the difference, but I will say this made some super tasty ravioli.

Makes about 60 ravioli, takes about 1 1/2 cups filling.

3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp olive oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup white wine
about a 1/4 cup water

mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. (Traditionally, you would do this on a "floured surface", but mixing it in a big bowl makes clean up so much easier!) make a well in the center, and pour in the eggs and oil. mix slowly at first, slowly incorporating more and more flour into the eggy mixture in the center. then add the wine, and continue to mix. the dough will probably be dry and crumbly, so add a little bit of water. keep blending, and adding water a little bit at a time until you've got a soft dough that isn't wet. When it's just at the point where it will hold together, you're done. Knead for 10 minutes, like you would bread dough. It will get smooth and soft. cut into 4 parts, and roll each part into a ball. Let rest covered, for about 15 minutes.

These are directions for rolling by hand, because that's how I've done it in the past. I offered to trade home made ravioli to a friend if she lets me borrow her pasta machine!

lightly flour your kitchen table. One dough ball at a time (keep the others covered), gently roll out the dough. it will be very elastic, and the dough is not going to want to stay where you put it. I found it was easiest to get it into a long strip, and pull as I was rolling. When it is thin enough that you can see your hand though it, it's ready.

I did a vegetarian filling, basically the leftover mushroom filling mixed with some ricotta cheese. Get creative! if it's chopped up into teeny weeny peices, tastes good hot, and mixed with some cheese, it will be good! the drier your filling, the better. Wetter fillings will want to squooge out.

I did some experimenting with ravioli techniques:

the traditional method: cut dough into long strips about 4" wide. put about 1 tsp of filling every 2 inches on one side. brush around the filling w/cold water, and fold the other side over. Push down with your fingers around the filling, then cut into raviolis. I used a pizza cutter.

the Tortellini method: cut pasta into squares. put some filling in the center, and brush the edges with cold water. fold over diagonally, so you have a triangle, and seal the edges. Now bring the two 45 degree corners together and pinch with water. These ended up looking like Pope hats.

the post-modern ineffient method of making the prettiest raviolis I ended up with: cut pasta into rectangles about 2" x 5". holding the peice in your palm, brush the edges with water. put some filling onto one side, then fold over, pinching the edges shut. It took freaking forever to make these, but they looked way prettier than anything else I'd tried.

after eating about a dozen raviolis, I now have 3 freezer bags full of ravioli and Tortellini in the freezer. Nice!

Snowed in? Need something to do for 3-4 hours? Ravioli is it. All it takes is a few pantry ingredients, a little bit of imagination, and some patience.

Fried Ravioli

This recipe is good practice for making latkas if you want a good appetizer and feel the need to fry. We used spinach tortellini in a bag instead of ravioli, but next time...
We're not big into frying, we tried this to use up buttermilk. I probably wouldn't make this a lot, but it would be good for a party.

Olive oil, for frying
1 cup buttermilk
2 cups Italian-style bread crumbs
1 box store-bought bite-size cheese ravioli (about 24 ravioli)
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1-2 cups marinara sauce, heated, for dipping

Heat 2 inches of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat until a deep-fry thermometer registers 325 degrees.

While the oil is heating, put the buttermilk and the bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls. Working in batches, dip the ravioli in the buttermilk to coat completely, allowing the excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl. Dredge the ravioli in the bread crumbs. Place the ravioli on a baking sheet, while you coat the remaining ravioli.

When the oil is hot, fry the ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried ravioli to paper towels to drain.

Sprinkle the fried ravioli with Parmesan cheese and serve with a bowl of warmed marinara sauce for dipping.


Everyday Pasta, Giada DeLaurentiis, 2007

big news in the read.eat.rinse.repeat household! we have graduated from clunker station wagon to drumrollplease chrysler sedan! it's new and shiny, and everything works! woohoo!

this was the first weekend after we got the car, and where did i go with it? 2 libraries, and then 2 bookstores. i'm such a book-nerd.

i'd gotten Jeff Vandermeer's Shriek: An Afterword out of the library around Christmas time, and instead of realizing it was a "2 week only" checkout because it was new, i started reading it a few days before it was due, and only got 50 pages in. so now i've got it again. only 30 pages in, and i was already overcome with sensory overload: smell, touch, taste, all of it. usually authors go mainly for the visual. Vandermeer writes like someone with bad eyesight.

i can probably blame Stephen Lawhead for me not getting to Shreik on time, Paradise War was so awesome, that now i've got the 2nd book in the Song of Albion trilogy, The Silver Hand. and while i was at the library, i couldn't resist Meiville's first novel, King Rat. I can't wait to get my hands on his newest, Un Lun Dun.

i can't possibly be helpful to my favorite authors if i insist on getting their books out of the library instead of buying them, so i did actually *gasp* spend money on books today. first up, The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell, for our reading group at Worm's Sci Fi Haven, and i couldn't resist buying the next Fullmetal Alchemist volume. I'm finding if i don't buy them when i see them, i can never find them again. now i'm up to 5!!


ok, on to food!! and holy crap, i made home made pasta last weekend! and turned it into ravioli!

first things first, pasta is way easier than it looks. it just takes a lot of patience.

for every pound of pasta you want to make (i made one pound), you'll need 2 cups of flour, 3 eggs and a pinch of salt. if you're going to make ravioli (i did), you'll want stronger pasta, so use 2 2/3 cups flour and 4 eggs, and another egg for later.

blend the 3 ingredients together until you get a dough. knead for 10-15 minutes until it is smooth and elastic. if too dry, add a few drops water, if too sticky add some more flour. wrap tightly in plastic wrap and leave for 30 minutes at room temperature. divide dough into 3 or 4 peices for easier handling. stretch it with your hands, then roll out with a rolling pin until it's so thin you can see your hand through it. if you are not making ravioli, cut thinly, and let dry for one hour before cooking.

i used mashed potatoes flavored with garlic, parsley and rosemary for the insides of my raviolis (so i guess they were closer to perogies?). whatever you put into your raviolis, make sure it is spiced well (the pasta is bland) and has a very smooth pureed texture.

when you have your dough thin enough, cut the edges with a knife or pizza cutter so you have a long rectangle. put a teaspoon of filling down on side of the rectangle, each teaspoon about 1 1/2 inches apart from the next. you don't want your raviolis too big, because they will expand while cooking. brush egg around the filling. this is the glue that holds the sides of the ravioli together. fold the other side of rectangle over, and press down very hard around the filling. you don't want any air bubbles and you want all the seams closed. use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the raviolis apart. cook in boiling water for about 10 minutes, or until done.

the main ingredient is patience. the next main ingredient is time.