When I was a very little girl, select Sundays required immediate bed-making as ordered by "The Aunts." The made beds were then covered with clean white bed sheets - used only for this purpose - in anticipation of sheets of pasta dough, laid gently to dry.
Today, my Aunt Angie takes my husband to school on this process - ignoring any training he has had over the past 30 years in German, French and Italian cuisine. "It's all wrong," she says, "Today you'll do it the right way."
We'll make Ravioli Aunt Angie's way. Or else.
Mangiate in buona salute!
The Aunt
The "Student Hubby"
Step 1: Put Paul Simon on
Prepare the pasta dough
Argue over amounts. Settle on below
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup water- room temp
Argue over whether a small amount of EVOO should be added to water
Leave out EVOO or die
Pinches of salt
Make a well in flour
Sprinkle salt
Argue over the proper way to use a fork
Slowly add water to well and knead to mix until dough becomes soft and elastic
Argue with any other Italians in the room over proper size of well, pressure while kneading, speed at which water is added, the weather.
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Let dough rest half to an hour. |
Step Two: Filling
While dough is resting:
One 15 oz Container Ricotta Cheese or good fresh as available
Romano to taste
Grind, chop and mix together spices from window box: Basil, Parsley, Oregano, Fennel, Salt, Pepper & add to cheese mixture
Spinach - fresh or frozen - if fresh, quick saute in pan with garlic and EVOO
If frozen, thaw and drain all moisture
Set cheese mixture to the side
Step 3: Gravy
Start Gravy while pasta resting
Parboil 3-4 Hot Italian Sausage
2 tbsp EVOO added to large pot
1 large onion diced
6 cloves cleaned garlic minced
Handful of mushrooms quartered
Hot Pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste
1/4 cup red wine
Brown Garlic, Onion in bottom of large Pot
Add red pepper flakes, salt & pepper to taste
Add Italian sausage
Cook for 5 minutes or so until onion and garlic nicely caramelized
Add Mushrooms and red wine
Cook an additional 10 minutes over medium high heat until wine reduces
add: 1 16 oz Tomato Puree
1 16 oz crushed tomatoes
1 8 oz small can sauce
4 oz tomato paste
Stir, lower heat, let simmer uncovered for 4 hours
Oil, Onion, Garlic
Red Pepper, Sausages
Mushrooms, red wine
Argue with the Gravy. Let simmer uncovered for 4 hours, stirring occasionally
Step 4: Roll dough sheets
We use an older hand-crank pasta machine
Cut dough into smaller manageable pieces - about 8
Feed through Pasta maker - gently to avoid tearing
Lay-out and let dry ten minutes
When we have more dough than needed for ravioli, we make some Fettuccine too, and use or freeze for another meal
We Dried these on kitchen towels on the dining room table
Step 6: Cut and Fill the Ravioli
We like a good sized ravioli, but make to your liking
Flour your work surface
Grab the cheese filling
Cut dried pasta into 2-3 inch strips, place tsp filling in middle of strip (don't overfill), fold strip over and crimp and seal edges with a fork
At this point, the Ravioli team has decided to take a break - drink 'em if you got 'em.
Last Step
We made a nice arugula salad with roasted red peppers and artichokes as a starter
Next boil the water, and drop the ravioli in after the water comes to a full boil - cooking time varies on size and thickness of pasta, and taste preference - ours took about 7 minutes to rise to the top of the water.
Our guest brought some lovely flowers for the table and a nice Pinot Noir, and we enjoyed!
Next up, Italian Fried Cauliflower!
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