Saturday, September 02, 2006


in which i amaze myself

yes dear readers, i have prepared the hand-made pumpkin ravioli at last. the recipe i used (here) says it serves 6.

ha! 6, if they happen to be sumo wrestlers just rescued from a desert island on which they were forced to fast for 8 days. i mean, the recipe left me with about 110 plump pasta pillows.

my husband and i struggled to down 30 of these puppies between us today. don't get me wrong, the recipe's delicious (if you're fond of sweet -- the filling is practically pumpkin candy).

it's just that how on earth can 2 people deal with so many ravioli? naturally, i froze a huge number of them.

my freezer's now packed with ravioli. i could go into the ravioli business.

as with many kitchen things i do, i find that instructions are commonly inadequate. in cooking there's a tendency to make simple things seem hard, while glossing completely over necessary and difficult details.

this recipe's no different. making the pasta's no problem, even tho' 1-1/2 lbs. is more than i'd ever made before at once. (reference household number above.)

rolling out the pasta isn't hard either, since as devoted readers know, i made a proper large matterello, or pasta rolling pin myself, according to the insructions of marcella hazan. however, the spinatoia, the large pasta board of 30 inches sq., is really a necessity when dealing with this amount.

otherwise your sfoglia (pasta sheet) is a little crazy to deal with. the raviolatrice was a lifesaver -- could you imagine making 110 little humps of filling, washing each of its edges with egg, covering each one with more pasta, sealing it, checking for air bubbles, cutting it out, etc. etc.?

with the raviolatrice, you just brush half the pasta sheet with egg wash, spread the filling out evenly, toss the other half on top, run a hand over to press out the air, and roll away. boom! your ravioli are all shaped, sealed, and nicely demarcated.

then you just take your pastry wheel and cut down the rows to separate the ravioli. whee!

but if i plan to do this again -- must have spinatoia! for those of you who may consider following my example, please note that the first time you make ravioli, allow 4 hours, start to finish.

after that it speeds up, but it probably will always take about 2 hours, even when you get pretty good at it!

Tags: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

posted by fortune | 9:02 PM | top | link to this | email this: | | | 0 comments