One of the first Christmas presents given to me by my husband was a hand-crank pasta machine. Through the years this pasta machine has given us great joy from the wonderful pasta that comes from using it. Just one thing—although it was a gift to me, I have never used it! Rick makes all the pasta in this house. It just always seemed too fussy for me. But Rick likes to cook and he does it very well. He likes to make gourmet meals [we auctioned one off for United Way one year for $265.00 for four people] and I am usually the sous-chef. In other words, I get the chef a glass of wine, grate cheese, get ingredients out, do the washing up, etc.
We don’t eat much pasta anymore, but once in awhile we get a craving. One of my favorites is ravioli stuffed with ground veal, spinach, and Parmesan cheese. It’s sheer heaven. Just the smell of the veal and spinach mixture cooking on the stove is almost as good as eating it. You can bring up the memory of exactly how it tastes just by taking in the aroma wafting up from the pan. We used to have difficulty finding ground veal in grocery stores in Colorado, but here it’s as common as hamburger.
I’ve made a few small movies of the process with my new baby camera. I am thrilled at the quality! The first one (imbedded in this entry below) shows making the sheets of pasta. The other two links are short clips showing the stuffing of the raviolis and the final step. I urge you to follow through and watch all three.
Once boiled, the raviolis are then put in a baking dish, topped with a very simple tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese, and baked in the oven just until the sauce bubbles.
Bon Appétit!
Posted by Lynne on 04/08/2007 at 07:05 AM
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Daily Life •
Life in New Jersey •
Food, Wine & Cheese