Tortelli di Zucca – Pumpkin Ravioli

Tortelli di zucca, cappellacci di zucca or ravili di zucca is a traditional dish which I always thought I should prepare once and that finally I made it for my family and for you!

This recipe of “pumpkin ravioli” (if I may translated in this way) has its roots around the city of Mantova, but you can find many different variation in the town of Ferrara (without amaretti), Piacenza (with the addition of ricotta), Cremona (with the sweet fruit mustard of Cremona, not to be confused with Dijon mustard), Pavia (where they use tomatoes with sausages for the sauce) and Reggio Emilia (less nutmeg and less mustard but more Parmesan cheese).

This specialty is are one of the most iconic dishes within the culinary repertoire of northern Italy. It should be best prepared with the “zucca mantovana” (a dry-fleshed yellow pumpkin) that has the best consistency for thefilling. The filling traditionally also takes crumbled amaretti biscuits and frequently “mostarda di Cremona” (a sweet, apple and fruits based sweet preserve) plus grated Parmesan cheese. The dough is regular fresh egg pasta (1 egg every 100 g flour), either shaped like a tortello (as I did) or like a square ravioli. I also saw different shapes, but is really up to you and how much time you would like spend for this fancy dish.

The addition of nutmeg to the filling and the herbs for the butter are essential and they give to this dish a rich and very enjoyable taste.

The version I made is without amaretti (I simply did not have them on hand), but I added a little bit of breadcrumbs the make the texture little stiffer.

• Time: 1-2 h
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

• 400 g flour
• 4 eggs
• salt to taste

Filling

• 800 di sweet yellow pumpkin (best if zucca Mantovana)
• 80 g mostarda di Cremona
• 100 g parmesan cheese, grated
• 80 g di amaretti (or about 2 heaped tablespoons breadcrumbs), crushed
• 1egg
• Nutmeg to taste
• Salt and white pepper to taste

Seasoning

• 5 tablespoon butter
• 12 fresh sage leaves, or to taste
• little bit fresh rosemary, optional
• Grated parmesan cheese

Procedure

1. Roast the pumpkin in the oven: cut the pumpkin in the oven and cook it at 180°C for about 20-30 minutes or until soft.
2. During this time prepare the dough working the ingredients until smooth. Cover or wrap with plastic foil.
3. Prepare the filling: Scrape out the pulp pumpkin add the mostarda di Cremona and puree it with food processor. Add the other ingredients, combine well with the spoon and season to taste.
4. Roll out the dough to thin sheets with a pasta maker or by hand.
5. Shape the tortelli or ravioli as you like. I my case I made rounds of about 5 cm diameter, filled with 1 teaspoon filling, folded once and fixed the edges together. Place them on a clean towel.
6. Bring enough water to boil and add salt to taste (as usually for pasta).
7. In the meantime put the butter in a small pot and let it melt and just it begins to brown add sage and brown as desired. Do not burn the herbs!
8. Tranfer the tortelli into the boiling water, let them cook 2-3 minutes, more or less, depending how thin you have rolled the dough, obviously the ticker, the longer the time. They will float when ready.
9. Serve the tortelli, pour butter sauce on top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/  

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Ravioli ai Porcini – Ravioli with Mushrooms

Crazy for ravioli? How many times we bought from the store „Ravioli ai Porcini“ and how many times we realize that they are not really tasty as they should be.

Here is the alternative: prepare these yourself for special events it’s fun, economic and the result is much better that whatever you can buy!

Don’t wait and try this recipe:

• Servings: 2-3
• Time: 60 mins
• Difficulty: medium
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You need:

Dough:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 egg
• 2 pinches salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• About 3-4 tablespoon water

Filling

• 2-4 tablespoons dried porcini mushrooms
• 1/3 cup broth, warm
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 150 g canned mushrooms, sliced
• 4 tablespoons ricotta (alternative cream cheese or cottage cheese)
• Dried rosemary powder, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• Salt, dark or light soy sauce, to taste

Sauce

• 2 tablespoon cream cheese with black pepper, more if desired
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 tablespoon brandy
• Salt if needed

For cooking

• 3 liters salted water, boiling
• 2 tablespoons vegetal

Procedure

1. Combine the ingredients for the dough in the food processor with half of the water. Pulse and more water an elastic and not to wet dough is formed. Remove from the food processor and wrap in foil.
2. Place the porcini in the broth to rehydrate (soak).
3. In a skillet fry the onion in the oil until soft and translucent.
4. Add canned mushrooms and fry until the borders of the mushrooms turn light brown. Reserve a few beautiful pieces for decoration.
5. Remove the porcini form the broth and chop them. Now add them with the soaking broth to the skillet. Cook until liquid is adsorbed.
6. Place to cool down
7. In the meantime roll out the dough on a floured to a thin sheet and cut out the shapes you with. For Valentine’s Day hearths are cute!
8. Add cream cheese to the filling and season with rosemary, pepper and salt to taste.
9. Place the filling over the first shape, Place some filling over this and cover with another shape and press well the borders. Transfer the ravioli to a towel dusted with flour.
10. Proceed until all the ingredients are finished. Remaining filling or dough can be frozen and used for example for a soup.
11. Heat salted water, add some oil sot that the ravioli don’t stick while cooking.
12. Place the ingredients for the sauce in a small bowl and heat this in the microwave, stir and the sauce is ready! J (or perform this in a small saucepan).
13. Cook ravioli in the salted water with oil. This will require only a few minutes!
14. Serve this with the sauce and reserved mushrooms!

Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Homemade Ravioli

Now that it is cooling down outside and days become shorter we look for more comfy food.

I know this kind of ravioli since my childhood, from all the Christmas day lunch with these delish, this was out highlight for dinner.  I know that in other Countries there are different favorites for the festive days but for us this was THE BEST and I loved this Italia tradition.

This recipe takes quite a lot of time especially if you prepare the roast before, but the result is so excellent that the time spend in the kitchen was more than worth!

Making artisan pasta at home with the best ingredients is very easy if you have some of the kitchen tools.  In this way just with the simplest ingredients you will get the best and most delicious you have ever had.

The tools I used: kneading machine, pasta roller and ravioli maker mold.

Kneading machine: a good food processor or something like a Kitchen-Aid will make your life easier as you only need to combine the ingredients, let the machine work and let the dough rest before the final kneading. This step can be made by hand on the table or much better beginning in a big bowl; after combining the ingredients let the dough rest and knead again.

Pasta roller: They are not expensive today, but if you plan to make more often, this machine is really worth and good value! Electrical ones or attachments for the stand mixer are more expensive, but I don’t find it really necessary unless you make often and huge quantity of pasta. The other possibility is to buy the special attachment for the stand mixer

Ravioli mold: This also can make your life easier but you can also make you ravioli on the table after topping with a second pasta sheet the first sheet of dough prepared with willing. Press well both sheets dough before cutting.

The basic ingredients for pasta are very simple: 100 g flour for each egg, but depending on the size of the eggs you may need to water (maybe a few teaspoons) or flour if too sticky.

Be prepare that pasta dough is quit stiff, but it should be elastic enough and pliable.

Note: I always prepare double amount pasta dough in order to be sure the dough is enough and I have some more to make tagliatelle. This is highly recommended!

Summer Pasta with Basil, Tomatoes and Cheese

• Servings: 4-6
• Time: 2hr 30mins
• Difficulty: easy
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Autor: https://artandkitchen.wordpress.com/

Pasta dough:

• 300 g flour (could be substituted partially with semolina)
• 3 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vegetal oil

Filling:

• 300 g leftovers ofpot roast (I used beef)
• 50 g parmesan cheese
• 150 g ricotta cheese
• 1 egg
• 1 pinch dried rosemary, pulverized (optional)
• 1 pinch nutmeg, or to taste

Sauce (herbs to taste):

• Gravy leftovers from the roast, if available (quantity to taste)
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 4-6 fresh leaves sage
• 1-2 springs rosemary
• 1 bay leaf
• Parmesan cheese to taste

Procedure:

1. First of all prepare pasta dough combing and kneading all the ingredients for the dough. Shape to ball, wrap in foil and let rest at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
2. For the filling: chop the roast with a food processor. Add all the other ingredients to combine. Shape to balls.
3. Knead the pasta dough, slice one portion and toll out the pasta slice after adding enough flour if possible using the pasta roller. You can roll it at a thicker size (adjust the notches) first and then thinner as needed. If the pasta is not smooth enough you may have to fold the pasta several times until it appears smooth. The best way is to knead the pasta before rolling until really smooth, this makes the rolling out much easier. With my pasta roller the best is the 2 thins adjustment, but rolling at this size twice.
4. To shape the ravioli it’s easier to use the special mold (see pictures) but you can also do it by hand. For this place you pasta sheet on a well-floured surface, brush little (very little water!) on the sheet and dot with 1 teaspoon of filling for each ravioli leaving about 2 cm between mounds. Now cover with a second sheet of a pasta and press down to eliminate air pockets between them to seal. My grandmother used a small glass pressing slightly to seal. Use a ravioli cutter or a knife to cut out the ravioli into rectangles. Don’t overlap ravioli to store until cooking. If you don’t use them the same day you can keep them in the fridge for one or two day or if longer freeze them in single layer. If you have pasta leftovers you can cut them into tagliatelle or fetuccine.
5. For the sauce reheat at medium the roast sauce and add butter (if you have a lot of sauce you don’t need butter) and herbs. As soon as herbs are fragrant remove from heat. Don’t burn the herbs or the will turn bitter.
6. Bring a big pot of water to boil, add salt as necessary and when it is boiling add some vegetal oil. Pour the ravioli (they may be still frozen, don’t defrost them prior cooking) in the water and check the cooking point as soon they will appear on the surface.
7. Drain and serve immediately with the butter/roast sauce and top with parmesan cheese to taste.

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Ravioli Viola

 

Today I wanted to create something exquisite and beautiful. The inspiration came looking at the ingredients available in my house and the fresh arugula growing in the garden.

I grew up with festive Italian homemade ravioli, we got these especially for Christmas, but even for Easter or simply as the whole family was reunited.

An Italian noodle machine was one of the first equipment we bought; this was really a good buy.

About 10 years later we got a kneading machine. At the beginning I thought that this would need too much space for the kitchen, because I did not realize how many times I would use it.

Well, here we are, with these machines this work was really easy. Nevertheless for the preparation of this recipe I needed about two hours, but will make about 6 big portions.

If you know that this would be too much you can scale down the recipe or much better to freeze them in a single layer in a plastic bag.

For pasta dough usually I use 1 egg every 100 g flour. In this case a substituted 2 eggs with 130 g beet roots (only little more than the weight of 2 eggs) and it worked perfectly.

You need:

Dough:

• 3 eggs
• 130 g beet roots, canned, diced (not sweetened)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 500 g flour

Filling:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 clove  garlic chopped
• 500 g turkey meat, ground
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon all spices, ground or one dash nutmeg
• Pepper to taste
• 50 g parmesan cheese, coarsely grated

Topping:

• 3 tablespoons margarine or butter
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup walnuts, peeled coarsely chopped
• 1 bunch arugula
• Pepper freshly grounded

Preparation:

Dough:

1. For the dough combine eggs and beet root in a bowl. Blend them until very smooth.
2. Place flour and salt in a big bowl (I use placed them in the bowl of the kneading machine), poor the egg mixture on the flour and work/knead until well incorporated. Knead the dough with the heel of your hand for at least three minutes until the dough is very smooth.  If you have no machine you should knead it on a clean surface. The dough should not feel sticky. If it sticks, knead in a small amount of flour, just enough so your fingers come away clean when you pull them away. Wrap the dough and let it sit at room temperature for an hour. During this time you will prepare the filling.

Filling:

1. Heat a pan on medium heat and fry onions and garlic until translucent. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl combine all the ingredients for the filling including fried onion and garlic. I simply used a fork for this step.

Rolling out the pasta:

1. Roll out the pasta, on a lightly floured surface. Cut the first piece (about 1/10 of the whole amount), add little flour.
2. Pass it through your pasta machine on the widest setting.  Fold dough in half add little flour on the surface and pass it through again. Then fold again and pass it through one more time.Repeat passing the pasta through the machine at medium setting. Remember to add a thin coat of flour before you pass it. For ravioli and noodles usually I finish with the second last thickness passing the pasta ribbon twice.
3. Fill the pasta ribbon before you continue rolling out the other pasta portions.

Filling Ravioli:

1. Place the pasta ribbon on a light floured surface. Spoon tablespoons of filling onto the pasta not really in the center of the pasta ribbon and leaving about 3 cm between mounds. If the pasta is drying to fast brush a bit of water in the channels between the mounds of filling and around the outside. Fold the ribbon of pasta over the filling, and press down between them to seal the sheets together and eliminate air in the pocket that contains the filling.
2. Now you can cut the ravioli with a pasta cutter or with a sharp knife.
3. Cut the next portion of dough and repeat with the next portion of dough

Topping and serving:

1. For the topping heat margarine in a skillet. Add garlic and fry for one minute. Add walnuts and fry for other 3 minutes. Don’t burn the garlic. Set aside but keep warm.
2. Immediately drop ravioli into boiling salted water and boil them for about 6-7 minutes as the filling has to be done as well.
3. Arrange ravioli on dishes or in the bowl, poor over them fried garlic and nuts and top with arugula and pepper.

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