A few months ago, a friend of mine told me that I should start a food blog. I laughed and replied that I didn’t have the time, but I gradually found myself thinking about it more and more and was warming to the idea. When the daydreaming turned to serious contemplation, I asked myself (and all my friends on Facebook), am I insane? I am the mother of two small children, ages 5 years and 18 months, working a part time job from a home office. Between the kids, the housework and work I have no time to spare (or sleep). On the other hand, I told myself, perhaps it is for this very reason that I should start a blog. I need to start doing something for me on a regular basis. Keeping up a blog would remind me to do something that I love, being creative in the kitchen. I love to cook, and I love to share what I cook with friends. Taking up yoga might be a more relaxing use of my valuable time, but I think this will be more fun and just as good for my soul. After this little pep talk (and much encouragement from the Facebook friends), I decided I’d do it. Now I just had to decide what to make first, and perhaps even more important, what to name the blog!
I think anyone who knows me well knows that my favorite thing to cook (and eat) is pasta. Long, short, stuffed, sauced, east or west, I love noodles. When I was about 8 years old, my family went to my aunt’s house to celebrate my cousin’s high school graduation. A big gathering of family and friends were there and, besides my younger brother, I was the smallest one there. My aunt had made spaghetti for dinner and asked me if I’d like to serve myself. So I happily grabbed the spoon and scooped myself up what I have since been told was a huge portion. Apparently it was so large that everyone was worried there wouldn’t be enough food left for all the other guests. No one has forgotten this. When visiting the same aunt in Italy 7 years ago, we went to the market to buy pasta. I don’t speak Italian, but I understood when the man behind the counter asked if this was enough and she replied, “More, more. She may be small but she eats a lot!”
So, starting with pasta seemed like it might be a good way to kick things off, and when my husband came home from work with a dozen lovely eggs from a colleague who keeps chickens, I knew what I had to make, and what I should name my blog, noodles from scratch.
I decided to make two batches of pasta dough, one for fettuccine and one for butternut squash ravioli. The fettuccine is your basic, fresh egg noodle, served best with a light sauce or simply butter or oil and cheese, to really let the flavor of the fresh pasta shine through. The ravioli recipe is one I’ve been developing for a few years now with the help of my favorite taste-tester (and probably my harshest critic), my 5 year old daughter. It has become her favorite meal. Not only does she like to eat it, she likes to help me make it too!
Fettuccine
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
3 eggs, beaten
1. Put the flour in a food processor and run for a few seconds to distribute it evenly. Add the eggs and process for 20 to 30 seconds, until it begins to form into a ball of dough. If it’s too dry to hold together, add water about a teaspoon at a time. If it’s too wet and sticks to the workbowl, add flour about a tablespoon at a time.
3. After the dough has rested, divide it into six smaller pieces. Keep the pieces you aren’t working with wrapped in plastic (I keep them all in a plastic bag) to keep them from drying out. Take the first piece of dough and run it through the widest setting of the rollers of a pasta machine. Fold it into thirds, like a letter, and run it through again. Continue to fold and run through on the widest setting until you have a nice, smooth, rectangular sheet of dough. Now continue to roll the dough through the machine, reducing the width between the rollers each time through until you have the thickness you desire (I prefer the thinnest setting).
4. Place the rolled sheet of pasta to rest on a lightly floured work surface or cookie sheet and roll out the next piece of dough. By the time the next sheet of dough is ready to start its rest, the previous sheet of dough is usually ready to be cut into noodles. Feed the rested sheet through the machine’s fettuccine cutter (or whatever other cut you want). Hang the noodles to dry on the dowels of a wooden pasta rack while you roll, rest and cut the remaining noodles.Once all the noodles are cut you may cook them right away or you can continue to dry them for several hours and then store them in a plastic bag or other airtight container in the refrigerator (for up to one week) or in the freezer (for up to a month).
5. Cook your finished noodles in plenty of boiling water (salting the water is optional, I try to avoid the extra sodium). Boil till al dente, about 3 minutes, depending on how thick you cut your noodles. Serve with a little butter or olive oil, salt, pepper and grated cheese. A few fresh chopped herbs are a great addition too.
Butternut Squash Ravioli
For the Filling:
1 small butternut squash (about 2 lbs)
olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tsp brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp Chinese five spice powder
½ cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, grated
1 small butternut squash (about 2 lbs)
olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 tsp brown sugar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp Chinese five spice powder
½ cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, grated
For the Pasta Dough:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large eggs, beaten
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons butter
For the filling:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out and discard the seeds. Brush cut surfaces of squash halves with olive oil and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until soft, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven.
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cut squash in half lengthwise and scoop out and discard the seeds. Brush cut surfaces of squash halves with olive oil and place cut side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until soft, about 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven.
2. When squash is cool enough to handle, scoop out the flesh and place in a small frying pan. Sautee for about 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring frequently, until excess moisture has cooked off and the squash is thick and smooth. Remove pan from heat and stir in the butter, brown sugar, salt and five spice powder. Place squash mixture in a small bowl and stir in the cheese. Cover and set aside to cool until you are ready to fill the pasta.
For the pasta dough:
Prepare as for Fettucine through step 3, rolling the dough sheet to the thinnest setting and making the sheet about 4 inches wide.
Prepare as for Fettucine through step 3, rolling the dough sheet to the thinnest setting and making the sheet about 4 inches wide.
To assemble the ravioli:
As soon as you have finished rolling the dough into a sheet, lay the strip down on a clean, dry work surface and trim the ends straight with a fluted pastry wheel or a pizza cutter. Use a teaspoon measure to place small balls of squash filling in a line down the pasta sheet, one inch from the bottom and about two inches apart. Fold the top of the pasta sheet over the filling, lining it up with the bottom edge. Seal the edges of the sheet together with your fingers. Use the pastry wheel to trim the bottom edge and then run it between the balls of filling to cut out the individual ravioli. (Be sure to save the dough trimmings as you cut the ravioli. I gather them into a ball in the plastic bag as I work and then run the ball of scraps through the machine when I've finished with the original 6 balls of dough. You can get several more ravioli out of the scrap pieces!) Place cut ravioli on a well floured baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You should end up with about 6 dozen two-inch ravioli.
As soon as you have finished rolling the dough into a sheet, lay the strip down on a clean, dry work surface and trim the ends straight with a fluted pastry wheel or a pizza cutter. Use a teaspoon measure to place small balls of squash filling in a line down the pasta sheet, one inch from the bottom and about two inches apart. Fold the top of the pasta sheet over the filling, lining it up with the bottom edge. Seal the edges of the sheet together with your fingers. Use the pastry wheel to trim the bottom edge and then run it between the balls of filling to cut out the individual ravioli. (Be sure to save the dough trimmings as you cut the ravioli. I gather them into a ball in the plastic bag as I work and then run the ball of scraps through the machine when I've finished with the original 6 balls of dough. You can get several more ravioli out of the scrap pieces!) Place cut ravioli on a well floured baking sheet and repeat with the remaining dough and filling. You should end up with about 6 dozen two-inch ravioli.
To cook: Melt butter in a small pan over medium-low heat, add garlic and cook until garlic is very lightly browned. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Place half of the ravioli in the pot and gently boil for 3 to 4 minutes, till al dente. Scoop the ravioli from the pot using a small mesh strainer or a slotted spoon and place in a serving dish with a little garlic butter. Cook other half of the ravioli and add to the serving dish with more garlic butter. Serve with additional grated pecorino or parmesan.
Note: If you aren’t going to cook the ravioli right away, or if you only want to cook part of the batch and save the rest for later, place it in the freezer on the baking sheets. When the ravioli is completely frozen you can take them off the sheets and put them in a freezer bag instead. When cooking the frozen ravioli, add one or two minutes to the boiling time.
