10.4.12

fresh raviolis.






When you think of raviolis, what do you think of first? Do you think about that red can that contains little square raviolis filled with meat and/or cheese or something that looks more like bean dip, covered in a delicious red sauce that is my guilty pleasure? Well, then, look no further (through this post, that is) because this is NOT that recipe. However, I would like to know if you have an extra can of that stuff you'd be willing to spare. It's been a while..


But if I were to ask what you think of when I say home-made raviolis, would the image be different? I'm going to guess that the first word that comes to mind is “work”. Well, I will have to say that anything that is really worth eating is going to take a little work, but do not be fooled – these raviolis are simple enough to make that I would suggest them to anyone who has the ingredients. And the best part about this too is that the recipe is super versatile and you can change it up to whatever your preferences are. Don't like meat? Great, add extra mushrooms. Don't like cottage cheese? Just replace it with some pesto. And if you don't like raviolis? Well, then too bad. (However, the filling recipe can be used in lasagna and the dough recipe can be used to make just about any kind of pasta!)






Now, like I said, raviolis aren't all that time-consuming or difficult as they are finicky. You have to make sure that you don't roll the dough too thin, or too thick and you also don't want to over-stuff or poorly seal them. But do not fear! These are all very simple detours. If you don't try and rush things and just be a tad careful you will surely come out with some beautiful raviolis.


Also, quick note. I'll be posting a homemade sauce recipe soon that is great with these, but they will go great with any sauce you like. I've found that the filling pairs very well with pesto or a light marinara.






fresh raviolis.
makes 30-40 small raviolis or 20-30 large raviolis








filling:

1 lb lean ground beef
1 egg
1 cup whole milk cottage cheese
½ cup Parmigiano-Reggiano or grated Parmesan
2 hand fulls of fresh spinach, chopped
2 large white mushrooms, chopped
1 tbs minced garlic
¼ cup minced yellow onion
¼ tbsp crushed red pepper
½ tbsp dried rosemary or 1 ½ tbsp fresh rosemary
1 tsp salt



Coat a saute pan with olive oil and bring to medium heat and saute onions, garlic until translucent. Add the chopped spinach and mushrooms until both are wilted; place into a large bowl. Bring the heat up to medium-high and add the ground beef, spices, and salt. Brown meat, drain fat and allow to cool. Make sure that the meat is thoroughly broken apart before adding it to the bowl. Add the egg, cottage cheese, and Parmigiano-Reggiano to the bowl, and combine until the mixture is uniform. 

Use immediately, refrigerate for up to a week, or freeze for up to 3 months.









pasta dough:

2 cups of semolina flour
1 egg
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2-3 tablespoons of water

flour for dusting







In case you were wondering, semolina flour is made from durum wheat which is the main ingredient that you'll find listed on most of your boxed, dried pastas at home. It's a coarse flour that you will also find in couscous, which is one part semolina and one part durum flour (finely ground semolina). Apart from the semolina, the rest of the ingredients to this recipe are very common in just about every kitchen.






This first step I like to refer to as building the egg's nest. First, will scoop out the semolina flour onto a large, dry surface and sprinkle the salt over top of the flour. Then, with either a fork or your fingers, make an indention into the flour deep enough to fill with the cracked egg, olive oil, and about 1-2 tablespoons of water. 





Once you have filled the well with your ingredients, you need to beat the egg, oil, and water together inside the well until it's well mixed and begins to grab onto the surrounding flour.







As you continue to mix the dough, start incorporating more water into the mix, about a teaspoon at a time so that the flour begins to fold into itself. Now y
ou will begin to see something that has the resemblance of dough! Congratulations! Now that the dough can be easily handled with your hands, you're going to want to knead it for about 10 minutes, until it is nice and smooth. This process will help your pasta cook up nice and al dente, instead of being all soggy. And there really is no “right way” to knead. Just keep the dough moving; push it, pull it, smack it around and show it who's boss.







Now that your dough is all smooth, uniform and compliant, allow for it to rest for about 20 minutes. And after giving it that 20 minute break, we're gonna beat it some more, but this time with a rolling pin! (However, if you have a pasta roller, kudos to you! Go right ahead and use that, but make sure that the settings are set to where your pasta won't be rolled out too thin or thick).






I'm sure you're wondering about how to roll out all this dough at one time. Well, if you have a long hand-less rolling pin and tons of space, you should be able to roll out all of this dough at once with ease. However, if you are limited with space and have a traditional rolling pin, you will want to separate the dough into 2 or 4 different pieces to work with at a time.






Lightly dust the area you'll be working on as well as the top of the dough before you begin rolling. You also will want to make sure and flip the dough two or three times while rolling it out, to make sure that it is not sticking to the surface you're working on. Keep in mind that you're going to need to roll the dough out thin enough to where you'll be able to press together the rims of the raviolis, but thick enough to where the tops won't rip and allow filling to come out. To test this, your dough should have had the time during resting to develop enough gluten for the window-pane test. If you can see light coming through a rolled-out piece of dough that is stretching and not ripping, then you're good to go. Also, you can use a ruler to press the edges of the dough while rolling it out, or just cut the finished product to have straight lines. I prefer the latter for this occasion.






Whether or not you use a press to seal your raviolis or you choose to use a fork to make the seal is up to you. However, I had not had the opportunity to use this little gadget that I've had stowed away in my cabinet for a while, so I decided to give it a whirl. Whichever method you choose, you will still follow the same steps that are to follow.




Flip your dough so that it is wider than it is tall. Depending on either how big your press is, or how big/small you prefer your raviolis, you will need to cut an even number of strips according to the previously determined dimensions. Once this is done, you can begin ladlin' in that delicious filling!

And the same carefulness you took rolling out the dough should be taken when filling your raviolis. You don't want to over-fill your raviolis, or the filling will come through the seams during boiling (or before), and you don't want to skimp too much on the filling, or you will have a ravioli that is all pasta and no filling. And if that's what you want, then why are you making raviolis?! Also, I found that the most streamline way to make these is to put filling onto one strip of dough, then skip a strip, then fill, etc. This way, you can just bring the top strip right down to the filling-topped dough with ease.






Once you have filled up all your bottom layers, lay out the top layer of your dough on to it. Don't worry if it doesn't fit exactly, you just need to make sure that you can press the two strips together without any filling coming through. Start from the middle and work your way out. You don't want to leave air pockets where there should be filling. I like to sort of wrap my fingers around the filling and begin pressing there, making sure to push the dough outward in order to get rid of those sneaky little spots. From the middle, make you way to the edges of the strips and push them together with your fingers.

After making sure they're properly sealed, your raviolis should begin looking something like... well... raviolis! Now, depending on whether you're using a press or not, you will follow either Step A (press) or Step B (fork). If you have a fluted rolling pin, however, you can just use that.





Step A will not require any additional cutting unless you cannot get your press to fully cut out your raviolis from the surrounding dough. If this happens, just push the press down to where it would cut, take a paring knife (or a butter knife, or a steak knife, or an X-Acto-knife) and cut around the edge until the dough is completely separated.

Step B just means that you're going to cut the raviolis out to size and then press together the seams with a fork. You don't even really need to use a fork, as long as the seams are completely sealed.







Now, don't worry if you get past this step and you have a few raviolis that look a little quirky. You will find that things begin to get much easier after you have a feel for how much filling you actually need. So, just repeat the previous steps until you have all your dough filled. (If you decide to use the scraps to make raviolis, which I do, you can dampen them with a splash of water, knead till smooth, and let rest again for a few minutes before using again). And don't worry if there's still flour covering your little masterpieces; that'll come out in the wash.






Fill a large pot half way with water, sprinkle in some salt, and bring to a boil. Getting your water to boil at the right rate is also important when making raviolis. Too hard of a boil, and your raviolis will just fall apart; too soft and they'll turn to mush. You want your water to be at a rolling boil, but just slightly below a hard boil.. A medium-high setting on your stove should do just the trick. Drop in 5-6 raviolis at once and allow to cook for about 3-6 minutes or until al dente; make sure the raviolis do not stick to the bottom of the pot. Cook time will depend on how big your raviolis are, as well as how you like your pasta. If you over-cook them, however, they will begin to fall apart. Remove your raviolis with a slotted spoon and serve immediately.






And that's it! How simple, right? If you find that you're having trouble with any of the steps, post a comment and I'll be happy to help out in any way I can.






 But until then, bon appetit!





24.3.12

2011; "the best of" and what's to come.








Alright, ladies and gents... I know that I have already asked for forgiveness once before, so hopefully you all are as gracious this time as last.


It has been far too long, am I right? Things have been wild and crazy here on the home-front, with the addition of a new baby, intensive classes, and just everyday nonsense gobbling up my time, it seems that the months just fly by without any consideration. However, I have come to find some time to devote to you, my lovely readers, eaters, foodies and more, by finally coming out of my little bear cave, ending this hibernation with a yearning to eat! And I hope that you all are just as famished as I am!





Since we last spoke, I've been working on a lot different recipes, trying to perfect things like pizza dough, biscuits, bagels, and spaghetti sauce. Because I'm such a terrible blog-mother, I have not taken many pictures of the recipe process. But I am usually able to get an image or two in of the end result (if there's even any left)! So this post is going to just be a sort of "Best Of 2011", with photos of some of the best recipes cooked, baked, and scarfed down this past year. I will come back to all of these, in due time, with detailed recipes and photos. 


So without further ado, here are some of the best dishes from 2011. Enjoy!




pitas, banana bread, and salt and pepper loaf.
 

recipes coming soon.










(from the) garden pizza.

recipe coming soon.





sheepish pie.
recipe coming soon.



 

spinach and goat cheese panini.

recipe coming soon.




curried chicken.
recipe coming soon.




southern-style dumplings.

recipe coming soon.








jerk chicken, coconut rice, agave curry beans, and turmeric kale.

recipe coming (VERY) soon.





french-canadian onion soup.
recipe coming soon.



rainbowlicious cake.

recipe coming soon.






pimento pie.
recipe coming soon.




lemon curd cake.
recipe coming soon.   




boiled bagels.

recipe coming soon.





ham and havarti breakfast cake.
recipe coming soon.  





and... the honorable mentions (aka the ones that were eaten up so quickly there was no time for pictures!)




baked pineapple and cheese mac.
braised pork with edamame and pureed parsnips.
fleur de sel chocolate cake.
pad thai.
deep fried hot wings.
appalachian pulled pork and carolina slaw.

chicken paprikash with spätzle.

chicken pot muffins.
curry raisin potato salad.

(and for all the others i missed, i'm sorry. but i want to thank the academy...)





So readers, this is what you have to look forward to! All of this and more will be coming to you in the next few weeks and I can't wait to get back to sharing all of these wonderful recipes with you.


Until then!





19.8.11

fresh produce and pad thai.







Hello blog and followers, remember me?

I'm sorry I have abandoned you both (due to some SUPER computer malfunctions), but I am back and hope you all will accept me back with open mouths and growling tummies.





This past week I went with Judy, my mother-in-law-to-be (shoo, that's a mouthful,) to the North Carolina-Tennessee border to check out a few local farmers selling some of this season's delicious picks. The ride out was lovely and it was good to get out of town, even just for a short while.







Our first stop was at Johnson's Small Fruits. 





Not only did they have a delicious selection of fresh sweet potatoes, plums, squash, tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplant (I could go on..), but the first thing I noticed was the beautiful patch of well-tended flowers out front. Look at those beautiful dahlias!




Of course we showed our patronage by purchasing a bounty of sweet corn, beans, cabbage, broccoli and potatoes.




After stopping to smell the flowers once more we headed back down the road to Hump-Mountain Apple House.





Oh, the selection!




















                                                                                                                                   The fruit out front was so fresh and lovely that we smelled it as soon as we stepped out of the car. The apples were sheen-free and just the right size.








The peaches, with their warm orange glow and blush undertones, would make for a perfect peach cobbler. And the apricots, don't get me started on the apricots! If all this was out front I couldn't wait to see what was inside.






The large wall inside on the right was lined with a large selection of jams, spreads, honeys, and canned goodies. The jars of sweet pickled garlic definitely caught my eye. I imagined chopping some up to put in a honey-vinegar apricot dressing. Mmm.





Towards the back we found a bright selection of peppers, sure to be full of hot goodness. However, since I am already growing some of my own hot peppers, we opted for the
sweeter sister of the pepper family - the red pepper.





Their selection of beans was small but tempting. If you have never heard of cranberry beans, you should definitely consider using them in place of pinto beans in any recipe (coming soon).






The cherry tomatoes were almost impossible to pass up.






As were the grapes with their hues of navy blue and violet. But the thing that got me most excited, however, was this...







EGGS! Beautiful, unbleached, local, incredible eggs! I must have died and gone to hen house! I am not sure what it is about a farm-fresh egg - the écru-like shade of the shell or the sweet specks often found on them - but I go weak in the knees when an egg like that passes by. Once I gained composure, we made our purchases and hopped in the car to head back home. As we were making our way, Judy prepared me to be on the look-out for a particular building on this road. Inside the building was a quaint little place that I had heard of and dreamed of many of times before.






It was Thai Am. This little treasure is found hidden on the highway when crossing through Hampton, Tennessee. To park, you pull in the front yard of the owner's home which is right next to the restaurant. Her hours of business vary depending on the amount of food she has left. When she runs out it's noted by the "sorry, we're out of food" sign she will hang on the front door. Fortunately the dreaded sign was no where to be found, but she was breaking it out when we left.






As we walked through the front door there was a group of people sitting all cozy around a table next to a small window which offered a view of the kitchen and an opportunity to  chat with the sous chef - and if you're lucky, the owner/chef herself.






We sat at the bar in the back where the kitchen is open for view. Everything was made fresh with special attention to each order. No rush here, and no need for one. The smell alone will bring you back to this place. Our choice? Pad Thai at spice level "American" with egg rolls. They took extra care of our food while packing, making sure to poke a hole in the top of our egg roll box to keep them from getting soggy; made ALL the difference. And when our order was ready, we bolted for the door with a savage-like craze for Pad Thai.



It was nothing like I had dreamed. It was better. The egg rolls were still hot and crispy, filled with fresh cabbage and carrots and the sweet chili sauce made for a lovely pairing. Sorry for the lack of picture; any evidence of those little jewels were gone within seconds.






And as for that "American" level of spice? It was kickin'! Much spicier than I had imagined when we chose to go with the medium heat. But if you know me, you know I love some heat. Judy enjoyed it as well. With the perfect marrying of fried rice noodles, carrots, peanuts, bean sprouts, chicken and fish sauce we were blessed with a glimpse into real home-style Thai fare.




Finally we carted in the rest of our treasures into the house. Judy, being the native of Northeast Tennessee that she is, showed me the ropes on stringing, breaking, and cooking fresh half-runner beans. And although I have not perfected the skill, I can confidently say that I am well-versed in the bean-string theory.