Ravioli and the weather man

We’ve reached that time of year when the daylight can’t break through the massive cloud cover and the rain is relentless with the persistence of garden weeds. You begin to curse at the weather man because this is all he has to offer:

On days like these I’m grateful that I’m snuggled up in a warm blanket, with a cup of green tea and a laptop to reminisce of warmer harvest days and kitchen experiments.

Not long ago I tried my hand at scratch ravioli. It began with an exciting new $4 kitchen toy – a ravioli stamp (yes these are the things that excite me). I know this tool is nothing new, but I’ve never owned one and when it caught my eye in the Mrs. Cooks store, I thought to myself “oh the possibilities”.

My first and only attempt so far was caramelized onion and carrot stuffed ravioli with garlic and thyme in a creamy chèvre sauce.

In olive oil I caramelized equal parts of home grown onions and carrots until soft and golden. I added lots of diced garlic near the end, and then pureed the mixture in a blender to create a thick and smooth pasta filling. I returned the filling to the pot and stirred in the fresh thyme leaves, then let it sit while I prepared the pasta.

The dough recipe is from my favorite cook book – How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

3 eggs, 2 cups flour and a teaspoon of salt mixed and kneaded on a floured counter top until smoth (amout 2 minutes).  

 The next step is the reason I haven’t tried making it since. If you’re like me and you don’t have a pasta roller, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough out as thin as you possibly can. Perhaps my dough was too cold or hard and dry, but this part seemed like trying to roll a piece of shoe leather flat – probably why no one does this by hand any more.  When you finally reach desired thinness, cut the sheet of dough in half. On one half, drop spoonfuls of the filling in piles on the dough about an inch apart. Place the second half of the pasta sheet like a blanket over the top and press down around the edges of each little pile. Then comes the fun part when you get to cut out each piece with a ravioli stamp or just cut squares out with a knife. 

Boil the pasta until tender – about five minutes or maybe more if your pasta is too thick like mine was. While the pasta is cooking, mix 3/4 cup chèvre with 1/2 cup chicken stock and 1 teaspoon cornstarch in a sauce pot and bring to a gentle boil until thick. Serve the ravioli with a drizzle of cheese sauce and enjoy your hard work.

                                                                                                                                                                       The filling was delicious as was the sauce but I need some practice to perfect the pasta dough. I’d like it to be thinner which I might accomplish by working with a wetter dough, adding another egg or a little water. Perhaps I’ll ask my boyfriend to lend me some elbow grease next time.