Sunday morning,
I awoke to a glorious rainy day.
There's nothing I like better to do on a rainy day
than have a cooking project.
I'm making pasta today.
You'll know by the feel when you need to add some liquid
I poured in a little bit of EVOO.
That's Extra Virgin Olive Oil!
You can see by the texture
that it's just coming together.
Add in some OO.
That's Olive Oil!!
Keep kneading.
And you will be rewarded ...
Ingredients for the filling:
1 cup cooked, squuzzed, and chopped spinach
1 pound crab meat
2 ounces cream cheese
2 ounces goat cheese
1/2 cup Ricotta
4 ounces mozzarella, grated
Mix the cheeses and spinach
and have your significant other grate the cheese.
They must be good for something.
Let them feel good about themselves.
Give 'em a menial job.
Billy's Seafood was out of claw meat
which is the cheapest and what I use for dishes like this.
You get a large chunk of crab with the claw meat.
I had to buy the more expensive, harder to pick backfin meat
Backfin was $11/pound.
Claw is usually $9/pound.
Whenever you add in crab meat to a mixture,
do so very gently.
Fold it in.
You want to keep the crab in chunks.
Not pulverize it.
Now, on to the ravioli.
The last time I made ravioli,
I lamented about my sloppiness.
I took my pasta dough and sliced it into four pieces.
Slimmed out the first one
and ran it through #1 setting (widest) twice,
from the front then turned it over and ran through the back.
Turn the pasta machine to #2 setting
and run it through twice.
#3
#4
I stop at #4.
Using your fingers (best way)
or using Sandy's nephew, Brycer's,
miniature rolling pin,
press the ravioli dough around the frame.
Leave the filling alone.
Sandra Lee reference:
I always thought Brycer's miniature rolling pin
was a euphemism.
It wasn't.
It was about Aunt Sandy's nephew's
actual miniature rolling pin.
Apparently, at the time,
Brycer was a BoobyFlayWannabee.
I was wondering about how the ravioli
were going to release from the form.
We turned the ravioli frame over
and the one end started releasing very easily.
Had to do another batch.
Ravioli is over.
On to
CANNELLONI!
Next, I had Mr. Hawthorne
take the dough I'd run out through my pasta maker,
two times, back and forth,
on settings one through four.
This takes four hands.
At least.
Mr. Hawthorne carefully cut an even strip
of my whole wheat pasta,
going into my new cannelloni attachment
for my pasta maker.
Crab meat filling goes in.
We don't know how much to put in
and we have found out that knowing the proper amount
will take a bit of effort.
Our cannelloni.
Let's go on to my Pseudo-Bechamel-Sauce.Sauce for the ravioli and cannelloni.
I wanted a light sauce.
We're talking homemade pasta and fresh crabmeat.
I decided on a Quasi-Bechamel.
My ingredients for the sauce:
chopped onion
chopped red pepper
chopped parsley
chopped mushrooms
milk
sliced Brie
flour
butter
white wine
nutmeg
The ravioli was very good.
The cannelloni would have been better served
with a sausage/veal/pork mixture stuffed in
with a tomato sauce.
We're leaving tomorrow morning.
Wish us well.
I'm exhausted.
4 comments:
Oh my Rosie. Whole wheat pasta with the filling of the Gods. Score!
I have your sanction.
I bow to you.
Mmmm that looks tasty. You make it look so easy to make.
Aw crap, that's perfect. Nuff said.
Post a Comment