Receta Pasta Made Perfect With The Professional...
You know what they say about meeting people on-line...they're serial killers, or gypsies who will steal you blind or pervs who've appeared on Dateline at least 20 times...well, I have to say that is not always the case...I met someone on-line...she came to my house...we cooked pasta...and now she's my new best friend! Oh, she's not a serial killer, nor a gypsy and she's never been on Dateline...she's just a wonderful, friendly, regular Italian gal who knows her way around the kitchen AND a pasta machine!
Julie arrived with her arms loaded - she brought two freshly baked loaves of the best crusty Italian bread I've ever tasted - plus all the makin's for lunch! She also brought me a treat - an enamel dish with a glass lid filled with Peanut M&M's - my favorite food! And she brought her Kitchenaid Pasta Maker attachment...to say I was ecstatic would be down-playing things! (Dear Santa, please put a Kitchenaid Pasta Maker in my stocking this year!)
Julie and her sister make ravioli every year - the Saturday after Thanksgiving they spend the day in the kitchen and make about 500 ravioli that they freeze and then give as Christmas gifts. So Julie knows her ravs - plus it's in her DNA - her mom is Italian and her dad is Sicilian! I've made ravioli before, and they were good, but a bit thick - Julie gave me tons of tips and now I can pass them along to you!
Ravioli is much easier to make than you would think, all you really need is a pastry wheel to cut it, no fancy ravioli stamps, and of course, it does help tremendously to have a pasta maker but if you have muscles you can roll the dough out by hand - (pasta makers are cheap - well, not the Kitchenaid attachment, but you can get a good pasta maker for under $50). I had three fillings ready to go - roasted butternut squash, spinach and cheese, and a sausage and cheese. After making about a hundred ravioli, Julie prepared a very simple browned butter sauce with sage (Julie told us about Penzey's Spices, which is where she buys her spices - she said they are opening a shop at Pike Place Market so watch for them soon!) to top the butternut squash ravioli - it was incredible...we had quite a feast after our hard work!
Just look at all of those brown-butter bits - one of the best meals I've ever eaten in my house! After lunch we made more ravioli - about 200 or so total - it was a very good day! I don't remember when I've had more fun - it doesn't get any better than good friends and good food.
- Julie's Tips for Perfect Pasta ~
- 1. Start with a good pasta recipe:
- 2 cups flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 to 4 tablespoons water
- rice flour for kneading/preventing dough from sticking
Mix ingredients together in a food processor, starting with 2 tablespoons of water and adding one or two more if necessary. Dough should come together in a ball, then pulse a few times to knead the dough. Remove dough and knead gently for 1 to 2 minutes on a very lightly floured surface. Dough should feel like a baby's bottom...that's the official line - a baby's bottom is now a cooking term. Shape dough into a ball and cut the ball into fourths.
2. To keep dough fresh/from drying out, turn a bowl upside down and put it over the dough - no need to mess with plastic wrap.
3. As you cut the ravioli, the extra dough that is not used (scraps that are cut away), stick under a bowl to keep for making spaghetti later, Once the dough has been rolled (on top of a bit of rice flour) you can't reroll it - it would be too tough for ravioli but will still make an excellent spaghetti, linguini, fettucine. Stiff pasta can be grated to make little pasta shapes to add to soup!
4. Using 1/4 piece of dough at a time, roll each through the pasta maker, dust dough with a bit of flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking. Start with pasta maker on the lowest setting (which will yield the widest pasta) and roll on that setting 5 times, folding the pasta into thirds after rolling and dusting with a bit of flour. After 5 rolls, adjust the setting, moving it to the next number, and rolling once per number but not folding - just keep it going - one roll per number as you move to the last number. By this time your dough will be quite long and thing...ready to cut!
5. Lay a sheet of pasta on top of a cutting board that has been very lightly sprinkled with rice flour - space fillings about 1 1/2-inches apart on half of the pasta. Only use a shy teaspoonful of filling per ravioli.
6. Mix an egg-white with 1 tablespoon of water and using a pastry brush, brush the egg white between the fillings and down the edge of the pasta - this will act like glue so the raviolis will seal.
7. Fold the pasta over, on top of the fillings, and using your fingers, press out the air, working in one direction as you go.
8. Use a pastry wheel to cut the ravioli into shapes - squares are easy but you can cut circles, too!
9. Sprinkle a rimmed baking sheet with rice flour and place the cut raviolis on the sheet to dry a bit before cooking and/or freezing.
10. Fresh pasta cooks much faster than store-bought pasta - about 3 to 4 minutes total cooking time when added to boiling water so don't over cook it! You want it to be al dente - firm to the bite!
11. Don't add salt until the water is boiling - and then add more than you would think you should - like a tablespoon or so as salt is not added to the dough. Stir the pasta as you are adding it to boiling water, but then don't stir again.
Making pasta is fun and easy - I hope you'll give it a try - even if you don't have an expert to help you like I did! Thanks Julie - I had such a great time!
Notice that lovely Chocolate and Pear Tart? Recipe coming soon...it'll make your eyes roll back into your head!