Raviloli

I will admit, since I haven't been working full time, I've been having some fun experimenting in the kitchen.
Call me old fashioned. Call me traditional. Call me whatever you want.
Maybe not "chef" quite yet...but I'm working on it!

Tonight Today I made ravioli. Homemade ravioli.

From scratch. Eeehhh! YAH!

Paul's grandparents gave me a pasta maker for Christmas, and I was have been waiting to use it. So today I finally pulled it out and found a recipe.

I've never used a pasta maker before. I've never even really seen one used. But I read as many blogs about them as I could. It wasn't that difficult actually. And quite fun. I'm telling ya, it's the simple pleasures in life that make it all worth it.

I found a couple of recipes for pasta on line. Have I mentioned I love reading food blogs. Cause I do.

Unfortunately, when baking, most chefs use weight for the measurements. For example, one recipe called for 1.5 pounds of flour. Well I don't have a food scale, so I had to find other recipes that used volume measurements - i.e. 3 cups of flour.

And then, the recipe that I found said something along the lines of mix all ingredients and knead "until it feels right". UGG! What does that mean!? I've never made pasta before so I didn't know what it's supposed to "feel like". Another blog then said to "knead till it's a little tacky but not sticking to your hands". Ok, well that makes a little more sense - I guess.

So this is what I ended up with. It was a little tacky. But didn't stick to my hands. Sounds about right.

Then came the fun part! Rolling it out. Divide the dough into portions "bigger than a golf ball, but smaller than a baseball". Start on the highest/widest setting, and then roll through, decreasing the size each time. Not too hard to do. (the hard part was taking a picture while rolling out the dough!)

This is what I ended up with!

The filling I made up!
On my own!
I mentioned in a previous blog that I found a recipe for a roasted tomato basil pesto that was really good! I wanted to create a filling that would go along with the pesto. So I came up with a spinach, goat cheese, and walnut mixture. I put an egg in it as the binder, so I couldn't taste it before actually filling the pasta. I just prayed it turned out well.

Once the filling was mixed together, I placed a spoonful on the pasta, folded over the other side, and then cut them into squares.

I don't have a ravioli cutter, so I used fork to press the sides together.

They weren't all uniform in size, shape, or form. But honestly, I don't really care. I think they still looked good for a first-timer.

The pesto and the ravioli came together really well! Paul was impressed and excited that I had made it all from scratch.

 I do think next time I will roll out the dough one or two more settings. But the possibilities are endless.

 What will she think of next...

God Bless!