Now I know I have admitted before that I am a pasta addict but I wanted to introduce you to one of my other vices...Food Network. No shame but I am obsessed with so many of their shows. So admittedly, my perception of at home cooking is probably a little skewed. I watch these chefs stand in their kitchen and throw ingredients together to make amazing looking dishes. Their words mention amounts but they always shrug their shoulders and throw a little more olive oil down. I tend to follow suit and just go with it when I am cooking. I will say that when I am baking, I always follow a recipe exactly because that shiz is science and I want to eat cookies, not scrape burnt sugar goop off the walls of my oven. In preparation of this week's project progress, I went to the store to pick up the ingredients I read about during last week's research (with a little improvisation). When I meal prep and plan out my meals for the week I have a whole shopping list down to amounts so I don't waste any food or money. My trip this weekend was only for ravioli stuff so I walked into Trader Joe's with a basket in my hand and grabbed whatever I thought would be yummy. Ricotta (check). Lemons (check). Parsley (check). My Mom had brought home eggs from a neighbor earlier this week and I already have flour, and good parm so all I needed was some sauce and I was good to go.
Whoever said kneading dough was tough never rolled out pasta with a rolling pin. It was a complete upper body workout ha! All the videos/blogs I visited during my research said to invest in a pasta roller. I figured that since little old ladies in Italy could do it with just a rolling pin, then so could I. Yeah I underestimated my rolling endurance. Since all the videos I viewed showed running the dough through each setting twice (running it through and then folding it over and running it again), I tried to replicate this by rolling out the dough and then folding it in half and then rolling it out again. The problem I ran into was knowing how thin to roll the dough out. I was basically winging it and rolling it out until it looked like what I thought it should look like. Once I had all the dough rolled out, I put about a tablespoon of the filling an inch apart. Oh wait!! The filling... I almost forgot. So just call me the recipe rebel because this filling was whatever I felt like. I knew that classic cheese ravioli is a mix of salt, ricotta, parmigiano reggiano, and egg. I decided to add Italian Parsley and lemon zest because I LOVE lemon. No recipe, just my Food Network education guiding me. The only thing I would change next time is add more salt and use full fat ricotta. Trader Joe's only had fat free (which is basically water pretending to be cheese-boo). Okay so back to my ravs. I added about a table spoon of filling an inch apart and using a pastry brush, I painted on some egg wash (egg+water=pasta glue). I gently laid the new sheet of pasta over my first piece, careful to squeeze out all the air. This step is super important because if there are air pockets your raviolis will explode in the boiling water. I cut out each little rav and used a fork to pinch all the sides. Once I had all my raviolis made, I boiled some salted water and threw them in. I leaned back on the counter and realized I had no idea how long they were supposed to cook. I remember hearing on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that they are ready when they float but that happened so quickly and I didn't want to eat raw pasta dough... I pulled out my phone and did a quick google search and saw that fresh pasta cooks in like 60 seconds. Well I was definitely over 60 secs so I pulled them out and added them to a bowl. Topped them with some sauce, more parm, and some parsley. I then forced my roommates to taste test before I dug in. My favorite part of cooking is sharing so I love to have someone taste my food before I do. Roommate consensus? They thought the pasta (which they kept calling pastry) was too thick but, all in all, it was really yummy. After trying my hard work I thought the same thing. I definitely over cooked the pasta (please don't tell my favorite Food Network chefs) and the dough could have probably been a little thinner. I think I will look into one of those counter top pasta rollers for next week. I also want to look into making a meat filling and test out freezing some of my raviolis to use later in the week. I am a little bummed that no one is studying massage therapy for their 20 time because I will be feeling my rolling pin workout tomorrow! Overall I am really excited how these turned out considering I did not have a recipe out to follow. Pasta is just so forgiving and it allows for a lot of creativity and play. Fun Fact: China invented the original filled pasta in the form of wontons or pot stickers. Archeologists have found examples from the 9th Century. The earliest records of Italian ravioli are in the letters of a merchant from Prato in the 14th Century.
4 Comments
3/15/2016 10:16:29 am
Sarah,
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Sophia Monaco
3/16/2016 04:15:29 pm
I love that you didn't use a recipe and really went with what you were feeling like a true chef! Your pasta by the way was delicious and tell your roommates to stop eating it all so I can eat more!! I really like how much time and thought you put into making the ravioli and researching what works best. Next time, I am lending you my pasta maker so you can make more pasta and not be so exhausted. It is really a magical machine. But as a warning, it is a two person job because the dough starts to stretch really far and you can't hold it and feed it in at the same time. So you know, if you need help I am willing to work for you, but it comes at a price. And I do accept payment in pasta :)
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Morgan Conroy
3/22/2016 02:33:54 pm
Sarah-
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Sarah Hunter
4/27/2016 01:29:01 pm
I love the photographic journey in this post, and of course all of your commentary that goes with it. What a great first attempt outcome! Your fun fact at the end is also super interesting, I love wontons and potstickers too but never would have looked at them in the same "filled pasta family" as ravioli. Great job!
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