Where is the rhubarb? Who stole the asparagus? And the lilac bushes? Florida has me feeling out of sorts. It is April here, but it feels more like July. The 70-degree days have already bubbled into the 80s and now I can't walk to the grocery without sweating like a fat girl writing her first love letter. I am not sure that I can ever accept a spring without gray skies, chance of frost, and rhubarb. But, I don't mind taking what life gives me- I just won't call it spring.

I am beginning to worry that fresh pasta may be the monotony of this blog. Just for good measure, though, I will share one more with you. I think, if you could taste Joe’s velvety pasta sheets, you would understand the obsession. Feeling inspired by, admittedly, some signs of spring, we hashed up the dish to follow.

Joe rolled out the pasta sheets and sautéed fresh spinach with olive oil and garlic. Then, he mounded a dollop of ricotta on a stretch of pasta, and topped it with the spinach mixture, cratering out the center, a perfect nest for an egg yolk. The ravioli was then given a pasta top, edges trimmed, and was dropped into a hot tub of salted boiling water. To finish the dish, I conjured a light lemon cream sauce, made with the zest and juice of a lemon, a bit of cream and white wine, tarragon, thyme, S&P. Lovely.

chirp chirp.

-logan

Ugly Ravioli

Probably one of the best things I've made, (not much of a compliment because anything is better than mac-n-cheese) I would highly recommend making this dish. It is a sweet potato ravioli in a white wine shallot sauce. Playing the house-husband/boyfriend roll perfectly, I concocted this whilst Logan was away. I started by making a really thin homemade pasta (white pasta this time, none of that odd whole wheat texture) while sweet potatoes were a-baking. The recipe called for wanton wrappers... who would want wanton wrappers over fresh home-made pasta? Nicht mir! The filling was simple sweet potato, butter and brown sugar. As for the sauce, the recipe called for an all butter sauce, but as my teen metabolism is waning and I'm chunking up a bit I replaced a good portion of the butter with white wine and Parm. The recipe also called for me to "deep-fry" the shallots till brown, but I simply sauteed them in the butter and wine. Perfecto. Logan came home to a great meal, if I do say so myself. My one complaint is my presentation skills. Boy were the raviolo ugly as sin. I had no ravioli cutters so i resolved to doing the old "shredder" technique which I have much practice in, not pretty but absolutely tasty.

I've never played with a sweet/savory dish, as I am very new to this whole thing, but darn it was great. The filling was sweet, while the pasta and sauce was delectibly savory. The parm and white wine added a great Twang (as they say here in the south). Thin is in and making the fresh pasta as thin as possible made the texture quite the pleasure to devour.

Joe
Ps See pictures for the ugly pasta, and how I manage to make the biggest mess when I cook.
PPS The end product looks a bit "white" like a wanton soup at a regular Chinese Restaurant, but in real life it was a wee bit different.

While Logan napped

Last night while logan slept, I biked to the local Publix to pick up some ingredients for my Chorizo pasta. The pasta was a homemade whole wheat thick fettuccine-like pasta. While sautéing the sausage I added chopped garlic, sauteed onions and red wine (on logan's request). Finally I added a heaping amount of Parmesan that would make any Italian blush, red pepper flakes, seasoning and some spinach. Mixed it all together and I had a dish that caused the once vegan Logan to clean her plate. The pasta was a bit too thick and firm, next time I will nix the whole wheat thing or make dough much thinner.

Based on Mom's Pasta Al' Salsiccia.

Ciao Bella
Joe