FOODISM 1 – RAVIOLI

NOTES ON MY FAVORITE ITALIAN DISHES

-1-

Homemade ravioli are made simple here with readily available gyoza wrappers (look for them in the refrigerated Asian section of your supermarket).

Yield: Serves 4

INGREDIENTS :

3/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 ounce (about 1/4 cup) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1 egg
1 garlic clove, pressed
Pinch of ground nutmeg
24 (about) gyoza (pot-sticker) wrappers or wonton wrappers

Light Tomato Sauce
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
Additional chopped fresh basil

PREPARATION

Mix first 6 ingredients in medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Place 1 rounded teaspoon filling in center of gyoza wrapper. Brush edge of gyoza wrapper lightly with water. Fold wrapper in half, enclosing filling completely. Pinch edges to seal. Transfer ravioli to baking sheet. Repeat with remaining filling and wrappers. (Can be prepared up to 2 hours ahead; refrigerate.)

Bring large pot of salted water to boil. Carefully add ravioli to pot. Cook until ravioli are just tender, stirring gently, about 3 minutes. Using large slotted spoon, transfer ravioli to bowls. Pour sauce over ravioli. Sprinkle each with 1/2 tablespoon cheese. Garnish with additional basil and serve immediately.

-2-

This is an Italian Jewish recipe for ravioli, and since it is designed to be followed by dishes containing meat, it omits the cheese one often finds in green-based ravioli fillings, substituting for it with chicken breast or veal. To serve 6:

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the Pasta

4 1/5 cups (500 g) flour

3 eggs

2 eggshells of water

For the Filling

2 1/4 pounds (1 k) fresh spinach

6 ounces (150 g) chicken or veal, ground

2 eggs

Half a small onion and half a small carrot, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Wash the spinach well, trimming the roots if need be, shake them dry, and wilt them in a pot with just the water that stuck to the leaves. While they’re heating, sauté the onion, carrot, and ground meat in a little oil in a fairly large skillet, and as soon as the spinach comes to a boil drain it and add it to the meat mixture. Cook for a few minutes more, until the mixture is moist but not dripping, and then blend it and mix in the two eggs.

Make the pasta (see instructions if need be — you could also buy 1 1/4 pound (550 g) fresh pasta sheets if need be), divide the dough ball, and roll it out into two thin sheets. Set teaspoons of the filling two fingers apart on one of the sheets, lay the other sheet over it, and press down between the ravioli to make the sheets adhere. Cut the ravioli free with a serrated pasta wheel or a glass.

Cook them in abundant lightly salted water, and serve them with a tasty sauce.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

10 Things about me :

1.  ON  FOOD

Not in to hot & spicy food.  I sometimes crave nasi padang or nasi lemak but this type of craving does not come very often.  I try not to be prejudice about food so I’m willing to try local cuizine even if I encounter local food such as honey coated cockroach, though ‘try’ doen not mean I have to swollow it.  I hate onions & shallots.  Loves protein based food and has a weakness for chocolate.

2.  ON DRINKS

Tea is mandatory, it must be serve everyday.  Tea of choice would be jasmine tea and green tea.  No sugar on my coffee or tea or juices !  Cocktails of choice :  Mojito and Strawberry White Sangria.  I can drink beer but dont like it especially beers that comes out of a can…Yuck!  I like my Merlot and Chardonay, and my dessert wine would be Riesling or Muscato.

3.  ON “I.T”

I Hate Spam (both the meaty food and the email version).  I am currently learning to twitter and check on my FB acount regularly.  I prefer Mozilla products.  I uses Windows Mobile 6.0 and Linux.  I have 5 blogs and I have 6 active email address…whoa!

4.  ON TV

5.  ON MOVIES

Loves Action Thriller Movies, sometimes a black comedy film is enjoyed alone.  I watch at least 1 movie a week, that means I can go through no less than 52 Titles a year.  Favorite movies are so many … Love the Star Wars Trilogy (the Adult Luke Skywalker), A john Woo Film and JJ Abrams Film will be my ultimate fave… for dramas I like “West Side Story”, “Dead Poet Society” and “The Yaya Sisterhood”

I also like documentary like “Taxi to the Dark Side and Michael Moore’s “Sicko”

6.  ON BOOKS

I think  “Twilight” is such a hype… quite the Mary Sue boring, though I have read all the 4 books.  Harry Potter series is wonderful for an easy refreshing read.  Novels from Jody Picault, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Jane Austen mixed with Sheldon, King, Roberts, Steele are inside my cocktail of literature.

My Alltime favorite books would be : “Cold Sassy Tree” by Olive Ann Burns and “to Kill a Mocking Bird” by Harper Lee

7.  ON HOBBIES

8.  ON FAMILY & PARENTING

9.  ON REGRETS

10.  ON HOPES & WISHES

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