Coming home was more than a little bump back down to earth, it was more like being drop- kicked from our plane then landing face first into a bunch of nettles. Reality soon sets in with normality chipping away at you with a hammer, every knock clearly reminding you that you will no longer see the thousands of age old olive groves, no more strolling around Chianti villages just meandering around and per-hap's the biggest of all - no more delicious home cooked Tuscan food to linger over and divulge.
Keen to make the holiday feeling last that little bit longer i turned to one of the things which had been constantly filling my mind during all the gastronomic experiences i had undertaken while we were away - cooking. I have been determined to make my own ravioli for a while now and after ordering it at least five times we were away ( in various forms) i knew the kind of tastes and textures i was looking for when creating my own.
To make things easy i decided upon the classic spinach and ricotta filling and after giving the vote to R to see if we stayed with tradition and had it served with a butter and sage sauce or had it smothered over with a home made tomato and basil sauce he thankfully picked the tomato ( i was beginning to look a little strange discretely picking the sweet leaves of a basil plant i kept in the kitchen window and popping them straight in my mouth, it had to be used before someone caught me and thought id completely lost it).
I have tried making pasta numerous times on my kitchen surface, every time i do i just end up with a thick gooey mess that likes to run down the sides of my cupboards onto my kitchen floor with globules of flour and egg sticking to my feet and the tiles like some kind of adhesive. this then leads to me feeling frustrated and the whole lot goes in the bin, telling R that plans for fresh pasta for tea cant possible go ahead due to lack of the right ingredient's not mentioning my incompetence in making the dough.
Trying not to dwell on my bad past experience's i took to my large mixing bowl, made a well in the flour and added my eggs - No spillage, no gooey icky mess to try and quickly tidy up before R came in and saw how useless i am and no bits of dough that i had to scrape of my kitchen work top with a blunt knife, the pasta dough quickly and quietly came together into a plump ball ready to be needed then passed through my pasta machine.
When i first bought my pasta machine i promptly decided to use it that afternoon and although i was suffering greatly with a monstrous hangover the whole process of rolling, folding and rolling again seemed to work surprisingly well considering only around 30% of my brain was fully functional, the second time i used it however even after actually reading the manual this time it was a disaster. When id finally managed to get the stubborn piece of dough to hold together, every time i passed it through my machine it just fell apart, i tried to resurrect it by dusting it with flour in case it was too moist but still it just was'nt happening. I gave up, the only ones having any sort of pasta that night were my ever starving chickens who soon pecked through the doughy mess.
This time was going to be different, my dough had turned out soft and silky just as intended and after 30 Min's in the fridge we were ready to roll ( no pun intended ). As i made my way through the settings, the dough was getting thinner and thinner and being given that final needing, as soon as it was almost see- through it was ready. A smile started to broaden across my face- it was actually working! Confidence starting to rise i decided on piping my filling onto the pasta (mainly just to impress my self ) instead of just slopping it on with a spoon, i pressed ravioli shapes out with my cookie cutters and although there was not many, there stood little parcels of extreme joy all made with my loving hands.
Deciding to re roll any off cuts of pasta, i quickly gathered the spare bits and started to knead it back together to form some kind of shape i could pass through my machine, i sensed a squishiness between my fingers as i was trying to work it back together, upon looking down i discovered ricotta/spinach/pasta mulch in my hands - I d carelessly not been looking when gathering up the spare bits of dough and scooped up a ravioli parcel in with it.
Counting to ten and inhaling and exhaling deeply, i forcefully kept squeezing and pressing my hands around the creamy mess determined that yet another pasta disaster was not to be given to the chickens. Moulding it through my pasta machine it actually started to come together, a few dusting's of flour here and a few folds in half there and i was astonished to find that the finished product was a fresh pasta dough that was creatively marbled with spinach, my hand grasped underneath my jaw to stop it from dropping to the floor.
Always wanting to impress my nearest and dearest i served it to R while i paced quietly around the kitchen and with baited breath to hear his always so professional opinion - ' Its A - manzing babe ' , i stopped pacing knowing there was a but to follow - ' but theres a bit too much pasta around the filling for me ', i quickly decided to retract my feelings of wanting to defend myself , what i really wanted to do was to go and whip his plate from under his nose and go and give the pasta to my non critical always extremely appreciative pasta loving chickens.
Home - made spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce
600g tipo 00 flour / pasta flour
6 eggs
200g cooked spinach
200g ricotta
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Tomato sauce -
Extra virgin olive oil
One garlic clove
1 can of good quality tinned tomatoes
Teaspoon of tomato puree
A good big handful of basil leaves and stalks
Salt, Pepper and a teaspoon of sugar
Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center, beat the eggs the add carefully to the well you have just made.
Using a folk or a wooden spoon gradually begin to mix the eggs into the flour, when it becomes to difficult to mix with the spoon flour your hands and your work surface and begin needing the dough until it turns smooth, elastic and silky
Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for around half a hour.
Meanwhile make the filling - Squeeze out as much excess water from the spinach as possible then add to the ricotta along with the salt pepper and torn up basil leaves, stir well to mix and test to check the seasoning. Keep to one side until needed.
Take the pasta out of the fridge and cut into two, placing one half back in the fridge ( to keep for a later date ). Flatten the dough out and after flouring your pasta machine start to pass through your dough starting at the widest setting. After passing through once dust your dough with a little flour, fold in half and pass through the machine again. Repeat this process, adjusting the settings of your pasta machine until you finally get to the narrowest and you can almost see through your dough.
Cut your strip in half and on one piece gently mark out with a cookie cutter where your your ravioli are going to be, working quickly either pipe or spoon the filling into the center of each marked out shape. Place the other strip of rolled out dough directly on top of the one with the filling on and start to gently press out any air from around the filling. Take the same cookie cutter and press out the shapes keeping the ricotta filling in the middle, once all ravioli are cut out place under a damp tea towel until needed to prevent from drying out.
For the tomato sauce, place the oil on a medium heat an finely chop the basil stalks and peel the garlic. Bash the garlic with the heal of your hand just so it breaks the clove then along with the chopped basil stalks add to the oil. Leave for only around thirty seconds then add the tinned tomatoes, fill the empty can half full with water and pour in with the tomatoes.
Add the tomato puree, salt, pepper and sugar, bring to the boil then allow to simmer on a low heat for at least half an hour ( longer if you have time ). Tear up the basil leaves add to the sauce then depending if you want a smooth sauce puree with a stick blender, if you prefer a more rustic look then leave it as it is.
Put a large pan of salted water on to the boil, once boiling add the pasta and cook for around 4 Min's.
Drain then add the ravioli to the sauce in the pan in which it was made .
Serve as desired but a grating of fresh Parmesan finishes it off perfectly.
Keen to make the holiday feeling last that little bit longer i turned to one of the things which had been constantly filling my mind during all the gastronomic experiences i had undertaken while we were away - cooking. I have been determined to make my own ravioli for a while now and after ordering it at least five times we were away ( in various forms) i knew the kind of tastes and textures i was looking for when creating my own.
To make things easy i decided upon the classic spinach and ricotta filling and after giving the vote to R to see if we stayed with tradition and had it served with a butter and sage sauce or had it smothered over with a home made tomato and basil sauce he thankfully picked the tomato ( i was beginning to look a little strange discretely picking the sweet leaves of a basil plant i kept in the kitchen window and popping them straight in my mouth, it had to be used before someone caught me and thought id completely lost it).
I have tried making pasta numerous times on my kitchen surface, every time i do i just end up with a thick gooey mess that likes to run down the sides of my cupboards onto my kitchen floor with globules of flour and egg sticking to my feet and the tiles like some kind of adhesive. this then leads to me feeling frustrated and the whole lot goes in the bin, telling R that plans for fresh pasta for tea cant possible go ahead due to lack of the right ingredient's not mentioning my incompetence in making the dough.
Trying not to dwell on my bad past experience's i took to my large mixing bowl, made a well in the flour and added my eggs - No spillage, no gooey icky mess to try and quickly tidy up before R came in and saw how useless i am and no bits of dough that i had to scrape of my kitchen work top with a blunt knife, the pasta dough quickly and quietly came together into a plump ball ready to be needed then passed through my pasta machine.
When i first bought my pasta machine i promptly decided to use it that afternoon and although i was suffering greatly with a monstrous hangover the whole process of rolling, folding and rolling again seemed to work surprisingly well considering only around 30% of my brain was fully functional, the second time i used it however even after actually reading the manual this time it was a disaster. When id finally managed to get the stubborn piece of dough to hold together, every time i passed it through my machine it just fell apart, i tried to resurrect it by dusting it with flour in case it was too moist but still it just was'nt happening. I gave up, the only ones having any sort of pasta that night were my ever starving chickens who soon pecked through the doughy mess.
This time was going to be different, my dough had turned out soft and silky just as intended and after 30 Min's in the fridge we were ready to roll ( no pun intended ). As i made my way through the settings, the dough was getting thinner and thinner and being given that final needing, as soon as it was almost see- through it was ready. A smile started to broaden across my face- it was actually working! Confidence starting to rise i decided on piping my filling onto the pasta (mainly just to impress my self ) instead of just slopping it on with a spoon, i pressed ravioli shapes out with my cookie cutters and although there was not many, there stood little parcels of extreme joy all made with my loving hands.
Deciding to re roll any off cuts of pasta, i quickly gathered the spare bits and started to knead it back together to form some kind of shape i could pass through my machine, i sensed a squishiness between my fingers as i was trying to work it back together, upon looking down i discovered ricotta/spinach/pasta mulch in my hands - I d carelessly not been looking when gathering up the spare bits of dough and scooped up a ravioli parcel in with it.
Counting to ten and inhaling and exhaling deeply, i forcefully kept squeezing and pressing my hands around the creamy mess determined that yet another pasta disaster was not to be given to the chickens. Moulding it through my pasta machine it actually started to come together, a few dusting's of flour here and a few folds in half there and i was astonished to find that the finished product was a fresh pasta dough that was creatively marbled with spinach, my hand grasped underneath my jaw to stop it from dropping to the floor.
Always wanting to impress my nearest and dearest i served it to R while i paced quietly around the kitchen and with baited breath to hear his always so professional opinion - ' Its A - manzing babe ' , i stopped pacing knowing there was a but to follow - ' but theres a bit too much pasta around the filling for me ', i quickly decided to retract my feelings of wanting to defend myself , what i really wanted to do was to go and whip his plate from under his nose and go and give the pasta to my non critical always extremely appreciative pasta loving chickens.
Home - made spinach and ricotta ravioli with tomato sauce
600g tipo 00 flour / pasta flour
6 eggs
200g cooked spinach
200g ricotta
Handful of fresh basil leaves
Salt and pepper
Tomato sauce -
Extra virgin olive oil
One garlic clove
1 can of good quality tinned tomatoes
Teaspoon of tomato puree
A good big handful of basil leaves and stalks
Salt, Pepper and a teaspoon of sugar
Place the flour in a bowl and make a well in the center, beat the eggs the add carefully to the well you have just made.
Using a folk or a wooden spoon gradually begin to mix the eggs into the flour, when it becomes to difficult to mix with the spoon flour your hands and your work surface and begin needing the dough until it turns smooth, elastic and silky
Cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for around half a hour.
Meanwhile make the filling - Squeeze out as much excess water from the spinach as possible then add to the ricotta along with the salt pepper and torn up basil leaves, stir well to mix and test to check the seasoning. Keep to one side until needed.
Take the pasta out of the fridge and cut into two, placing one half back in the fridge ( to keep for a later date ). Flatten the dough out and after flouring your pasta machine start to pass through your dough starting at the widest setting. After passing through once dust your dough with a little flour, fold in half and pass through the machine again. Repeat this process, adjusting the settings of your pasta machine until you finally get to the narrowest and you can almost see through your dough.
Cut your strip in half and on one piece gently mark out with a cookie cutter where your your ravioli are going to be, working quickly either pipe or spoon the filling into the center of each marked out shape. Place the other strip of rolled out dough directly on top of the one with the filling on and start to gently press out any air from around the filling. Take the same cookie cutter and press out the shapes keeping the ricotta filling in the middle, once all ravioli are cut out place under a damp tea towel until needed to prevent from drying out.
For the tomato sauce, place the oil on a medium heat an finely chop the basil stalks and peel the garlic. Bash the garlic with the heal of your hand just so it breaks the clove then along with the chopped basil stalks add to the oil. Leave for only around thirty seconds then add the tinned tomatoes, fill the empty can half full with water and pour in with the tomatoes.
Add the tomato puree, salt, pepper and sugar, bring to the boil then allow to simmer on a low heat for at least half an hour ( longer if you have time ). Tear up the basil leaves add to the sauce then depending if you want a smooth sauce puree with a stick blender, if you prefer a more rustic look then leave it as it is.
Put a large pan of salted water on to the boil, once boiling add the pasta and cook for around 4 Min's.
Drain then add the ravioli to the sauce in the pan in which it was made .
Serve as desired but a grating of fresh Parmesan finishes it off perfectly.
Looks fab Amy. You're very brave to make homemade pasta! xx
ReplyDeleteThanks for Sam's birthday cake, he is so thrilled with it. X