Back in high school, I had a good friend named Joe. We were in ROTC together (am I suddenly much cooler in your eyes now? Want me to bust out some GI Jane shit?) and generally ran in the same crowd. Sadly, we lost touch after high school, but I still keep in touch with his mom.
Friday I went over to her house and was schooled in the art of homemade ravioli. I had SO much fun and loved learning a new skill. Ruth was so patient with teaching me the technique, but most importantly, she allowed me to take approximately 23 million photos. And then she made me a panini, and served it with pasta salad. And for dessert, she made chocolate covered strawberries. Oh, and I ate all of this while Mike, her husband picked ten pounds of blackberries for me. Everyone needs a Ruth and Mike in their life for sure!
So, shall we begin?
In a food processor fitted with a dough blade, mix 4 eggs until well-combined and foamy. In a separate bowl, mix 2.5 cups of flour (I'm going to try some whole wheat next time), 1/2 cup of seminola flour, and 1/4 tsp of salt. Stir well. With the food processor running, slowly add 1 cup of the mixture at a time until the dough has made a ball. It was really dry today, so we needed to add a touch of olive oil to the dough.
On a floured board, knead the dough a bit, and roll in to a ball. Cover the ball with a little olive oil and wrap in plastic. Set aside for about 20 minutes.
While that is resting, arrange your "insides". We did 1 cup of ricotta, 2 egg yolks, some shredded spinach, minced garlic, and sausage.
Remove the dough from the plastic wrap, and place on a floured board. Using a pastry cutter
, cut the ball in to thirds. Roll the dough out a bit.
We then ran it through Ruth's pasta maker. Twice on each setting 1 thru 4. No photos of this. My hands were dirty, floury, and busy!
Then, lay the dough over the ravioli mold
.
And slowly press the other part of the mold in to create an indent in the dough.
After that, place some of your "inside" mixin' in to the indents.
Cover with another layer of dough, and using a rolling pin, flatten the dough until you can see the ridges through the dough.
Turn the press over and pop the ravioli out on to a foil-covered cutting board. Place in the freezer until frozen through.
Enjoy with your favorite sauce.
Did this take us a long time? Yes, it took hours. Would I do it again? In a heartbeat. I had a blast, and it's the kind of kitchen task that takes so much time because you're spending half of it laughing and chatting.
Ruth, thank you again for your tutelage! Labels: Don't be a lazy ass - make it yourself, Main dishes
