Fresh Pasta Archives - Proud Italian Cook

Tis The Season to Make Ravioli Again

November 29, 2012 by Marie 40 Comments

A few days ago my cousin, sister-in-law and I spent the day together making ravioli for an annual party that we’re having. This is a family recipe that my mother and aunt use to make. I have vivid memories of clean white sheets on dining room tables and beds filled with ravioli when I was young, and although I do things a little bit different then they did, I follow their recipe exactly, which I still have on a very yellowed index card.

They kept it simple, they would always make two kinds, a meat and a cheese version. The meat ravioli were filled with ground round or sirloin, romano cheese, spinach and a little onion. The cheese version was always made with ricotta cheese, eggs, romano cheese and fresh parsley.
I like to make all my fillings the night before as it takes time to mix everything together, tasting and getting the flavors just right. After the meat cools down I like to pulse it in a food processor so it’s more uniform and not lumpy. I also like to put my fillings into disposable pastry bags, it goes much faster than a spoon when you’re filling the forms.
I know you can use many different flours but Ceresota unbleached flour was always their flour of choice, so that’s what I use!

The morning we were making them I got up early, took my eggs out of the fridge (so they could get to room temperature) set up the pasta machine and everything else we would be using. Before they came I made 10 batches of dough, it’s very important to let the dough rest before you start rolling it.
I make all my dough using my food processor, I could never do the well method, for one thing I don’t have the patience, and I know I would have eggs dripping all down my counters, besides using the food processor is so quick and it always comes out perfect!

Ceresota flour, eggs, a tiny bit of salt, olive oil and a little bit of water creates the perfect dough for me, I didn’t have one problem with it all day!

We were in the zone, drinking coffee, listening to Christmas music, each one of us doing our specific jobs.

Squirting the cheese mixture into the the ravioli forms is super speedy with a pastry bag!

We were cranking them out left and right!

Aren’t they cute?

Because they will be cooked this weekend I froze all of them, which is very easy to do.

I lay them single layer on a baking sheet, stick the whole tray in the freezer, the meat ones take about a half hour to freeze and the cheese about 1 hour.
When frozen I take them off the tray and place them into zip lock freezer bags.

We ended up with 400! It took us only 4 hours, so that’s about 100 an hour, not too bad, although it took me 2 hours to clean my kitchen, flour was everywhere, but it was worth it because there’s nothing like homemade rav’s!

We had to taste test them to make sure everything was just right, so I heated up some marinara and boiled up a few, even in their frozen state they only take about 6 minutes to cook.

Soft pillows of tender eggy dough filled with the flavors of my youth!

Worth all the effort to make!

40 Comments Filed Under: Fresh Pasta, Party Foods, Seasonal Tagged: Christmas traditions, family traditions, Making ravioli, pasta machine

Pumpkin Gnocchi

October 25, 2012 by Marie 10 Comments

Gnocchi, humble little Italian dumplings, that when made right, taste like soft and fluffy pillows of dough. Tis the season for pumpkins so I got inspired to make Pumpkin Gnocchi!I often make butternut squash gnocchi during the fall season and lately I’ve been making a huge pan as a pasta side for Thanksgiving, and let me tell you, everyone of them gets eaten up!

I made my pumpkin gnocchi exactly the way I make my butternut squash gnocchi, all I did was replace the pumpkin for the butternut squash, so feel free to interchange them.
Here’s a link to a class I taught on making them.

I bought a sweet little pumpkin from Trader Joe’s, the kind you can make a pie with, cut it in half, seeded it and roasted it until tender. After it cools down, scoop out the flesh. You’ll notice that the pumpkin flesh is a little stringy, but that’s ok, because it all gets whirled in a food processor.

The key to a nice dough is not to overwork it too much, you might have to add a little more flour as you go but in the end it should feel semi firm to the touch.

I just love the color, it’s truly the most perfect autumn meal! Every bite is flavored inside with freshly grated parmesan cheese, they’re so addicting!

They’re ridiculously easy to make, no skills required, they don’t have to be perfect looking, in fact all you need is just a little patience!

They take only a few minutes to cook and then they’re ready to be sauced!

Speaking of sauce I wanted to try something different other than the traditional brown butter and sage so I searched and found this sauce inspired by Chef Frank DeCarlo.Saute 2 shallots in 1/2 stick of butter** add 1 bunch of sage and cook until shallots are golden** deglaze with 1/2 cup of chicken stock** whisk in 1/4 cup of pumpkin/ butternut squash puree, and 1/2 cup of cream** finish by adding 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, then season with salt and pepper.**

Luscious!

Ingredients for Gnocchi

2 cups of pureed butternut/ pumpkin squash
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
Pepper to taste
2 eggs
2+ cups flour

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cut the squash in half. Remove the seeds, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay cut side down on parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the squash until soft—30 minutes or so.
Scoop the flesh of the squash out and place it in the food processor. Puree until completely smooth.
Mix the pureed squash with parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and eggs. Then add the flour into the mixture and work together by hand. It will be very sticky.
Once smooth, flour work surface, Divide dough into 6 pieces and then roll each piece into a long strip, about ½ inch wide. Cut the strip into ¼ to ½ inch pieces.
Using a gnocchi board, a fork, the back of a grater or just as is to create ridges. Place each piece on the floured wax paper and repeat with the rest of the dough.
Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Boil until all the gnocchi floats—about 5 minutes.
While gnocchi is cooking have your sauces ready so you can toss right in, if not you can freeze them single layer on a baking sheet, when frozen place into bags.

From humble dumpling to mouthwatering perfection!

10 Comments Filed Under: Fall, Fresh Pasta Tagged: butternut squash gnocchi, fall food, gnocchi making, pumpkin gnocchi

Windowpane Pasta for a Celebration!

July 30, 2012 by Marie 15 Comments

Today I’m doing something a little different here. I was invited along with four other bloggers to guest post over at my friend Lori Lynn’s beautiful blog in celebration of her 5th anniversary.
If you haven’t discovered Taste With The Eyes, you’re missing out on something extraordinary. Her warm and friendly blog showcases amazing food and photography beyond the norm!

Today I’m featuring on her blog the technique of making
Windowpane Pasta, sometimes referred to as Stained Glass or Silhouette, it’s a very simple way of transforming plain pasta sheets into something beautiful and very impressive!

I’m giving you the complete instructions for this technique today in my guest post, so please head over HERE.

If you’re a regular reader of mine you’ll know I don’t do anything too complicated, trust me, this is so easy to make, you’ll be amazed and impressed with yourself and so will your friends and family!

When you go over and visit I’ll also tell you two different ways that I like to serve this. So please, check out my guest post and share in celebrating my friends 5th year of Taste With The Eyes!

Speaking of 5 years, my fifth year anniversary is coming up in a couple of weeks, hard to believe, but it’s true. Time sure fly’s when you’re having fun! So stay tuned for my future celebration and a giveaway!