Monday, October 1, 2007

Another Home-Made Pasta Day - Ravioli

My daughter Joanna and I are back into the wonderful routine of making fresh pasta on the weekend. And, of course, we both have lots of cookbooks....and, of course, we also usually end up doing our own thing instead. This time around though we were 2 people short for the team...Ezra, Jo's husband was away and Sharron has moved back to Toronto. So that left my Honey looking after Boaz, and just the two of us making the pasta.

This time around Joanna wanted to do ravioli but her special attachment to her Atlas Pasta Maker hasn't arrived yet. (She ordered it in June...what is wrong with this picture?) So we did things the old fashioned way...by hand. It was great fun and we, naturally were working blind...Here's some of the conversation...



"How big should they be? I don't know...2 wide?...

How much filling? I don't know...about a small teaspoon?...

Water or egg white wash to stick it together?...hmm - it's faster if we just use water.

What about the filling? ...there's goat cheese, feta and spinach in the fridge and some sundried tomatoes in oil and the fresh rosemary would be nice...rosemary?-you think? I do! Okay, then.

What about a sauce? Tomatoey, pesto?...no, let's do something that will let us really taste the fresh pasta. Okay. What about some of these Porobello Mushrooms with lots of garlic. Perfect!


Spinach, Goat Cheese & Feta Ravioli with Mushrooms

Anyway...about 2 hours later we were ready to eat. I do wish we had some white wine handy to make more of a sauce...and, of course, to wash it all down! But it was very tasty. By the way, the bit of filling left over was eaten immediately on crackers as a dip...Yummy!

Boaz isn't quite ready for the ravioli, but he is into pasta and he's very independent. So Jo made him some fettuccine with the left over pasta dough, mixed it with broccoli and cheese and....

Now, THAT's how you eat pasta! We particularly enjoyed the waving of the long pasta around. It's quite funny, but a word of warning...don't stand too close!

So what are you going to make for Presto Pasta Night this week?

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8 comments:

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Your ravioli look so beautiful and perfect! Great job!

Cheers,

Rosa

Deborah said...

What a perfect combination - spinach, goat cheese and feta! I'm hungry!

Ruth Daniels said...

Thanks ladies, the ravioli did come out well in spite of us. And the filling was really great. I do love it when inspiration comes in front of the fridge.

Katie Zeller said...

I had a ravioli attachment but always made them by hand like you did - I liked them better. I have got to find my pasta maker....

test it comm said...

That looks really tasty. Making your own pasta sounds like fun. I will have to look into making pasta without a pasta maker.

Truffle said...

What a fabulous routine to get into and that ravioli looks sensational! I am flat out this week but promise a Presto Pasta entry is coming your way next week!

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth,

Nice blog! I love making home made pasta but seldom take the time - you have inspired me to change my routine.

When I was in chef school one of my instructors made an excellent analogy that fresh pasta is like silk while dry pasta is like wool....both are excellent but they are so different.

Your article reminds me that I've been wearing lot of sweaters lately and need to mix my pasta wardrobe up a bit!

Ruth Daniels said...

Katiez, we're still waiting to see what the ravioli attachment will do...probably make them half the size.

Kevin, check out Jamie Oliver. I saw him do it without a pasta maker on his Italy trip.

Truffle, looking forward to your pasta dish. They're always awesome. And you're so right - it's a great routine we have.

Dana, thanks and I love the analogy. I'm looking forward to an entry from you.