Lots of things can go wrong in the kitchen. Anyone who has spent any time cooking has burnt a finger, added too much salt to the sauce, or maybe even dropped an entire pan of food on the floor. Accidents are common and unavoidable and even those competitive souls on Top Chef can completely blow it every once in a while (which really helps ratings). Yet errors can also be illuminating. A few years ago when I added too much salt to a tomato pasta sauce I threw in some leftover mashed potatoes to help soak up the salt. Normally I would never (ever) add mashed potatoes to a pasta sauce, but was desperate. So I was surprised to find that those potatoes gave the dish a uniquely creamy and lustrous texture. It was an enlightening moment.

I was confronted with a similar situation last Saturday. My friend Christina decided it would be fun to have a ravioli-making party with the Italian ladies in her life. What a great idea. So on Saturday morning at 10:00 a.m., Christina, her friend Laura and I congregated in Christina’s kitchen to make homemade pasta dough. After comparing methods, we set to work using Laura’s grandmother’s tried and true pasta recipe (use one egg per person plus a half egg shell of water for each two people and then add semolina and flour “l’occhio” (by eye) — brilliant!). Laura had also brought over her Kitchen Aid pasta-making attachment, which had Christina and me oohing and aahing as those strips of pasta beautifully rolled through the press, perfect every time.

Once all the dough was made and laid out on the counter, one of us looked at the clock to discover it was noon. Laura had to take her two-year old home for a nap, Christina had to take her son to a friend’s house, and I had to dash off to my daughters’ soccer game nearby. After a few kisses on the cheeks and promises to be back by four, we all rushed out the door — our morning’s labor deserted.

Dried pasta

After a few hours, we met up again to fill those raviolis, but were horrified to find none of us had actually covered the pasta — which was still sitting on the counter, most of it dry as crackers and not fit to shape around a filling to make raviolis. After staring in horror at the pasta, we laughed at our mistake. I mean, honestly, what else could we do? Thankfully Christina’s husband Marhsall is handy with a shaker and he made us some Manhattans to ease the pain while we put our heads together to find a solution.

Although some of the dough was still pliable enough to make raviolis, most wouldn’t make the cut. We quickly used the most supple pasta pieces to make a butternut squash ravioli, but it seemed obvious we would need to abandon our meat ravioli plans as we quickly ran out of dough that could be shaped. The most logical and natural answer was to just make lasagna out of the dry pieces.

Now the three of us are all from Neapolitan or Sicilian families, so are used to preparing lasagna with fresh ricotta cheese and mozzarella (two ingredients we did not have on hand). The situation, however, demanded that we abandon those traditions. So instead of creating the usual cheesy lasagna, we decided to make the most of the perfectly seasoned and slow-roasted short rib ragù Christina had cooked and then pureed the night before as a ravioli filling, along with the light marinara sauce Laura had made earlier that day. We also chose to make a béchamel sauce to round out the flavors and finally added some aged Parmesan cheese. That’s it.

Layering the lasagna

So there we were, making béchamel, lining the dish with sauce and dried pasta, grating cheese, and drinking Manhattans. The lasagna went into the oven and we all sighed, wishing those ingredients had become raviolis instead. When the lasagna came out of the oven a while later, we set the table for the feast and then sat down with the other diners, laughing again about our pasta dough disaster.

But once we started cutting into the lasagna we knew something wonderful had happened in the kitchen that day. We had thought the butternut squash raviolis in a brown butter sauce with fresh sage would be the highlight of the meal, and although they were lovely, they were no match for the cobbled together and impromptu lasagna. Those once-dried noodles, ragù, marinara sauce and béchamel had melded themselves perfectly together. The raviolis were ignored as each person first smelled and then tasted the lasagna. Very few words were spoken — mostly “Wow!” and “Oh!” interspersed with the noise of forks touching plates. Finally one of the husbands said “Boy I’m glad you guys messed up the ravioli dough.” And so was I.

Never in my life had I experienced such perfect lasagna. The once-forgotten dough that had languished on the counter all day was transformed into a thing of beauty when combined with the meat filling and sauces. And that ragù! If we had used ricotta and mozzarella with it, the cheeses would have blanketed our taste buds with their creamy flavors and textures. Without them, the ragù was the diva of the dish — capturing our attention and mesmerizing us.

So remember that although some kitchen disasters lead to burned fingers, others lead to superlative lasagna.

Lasagna

Superlative Lasagna

Makes: One 9×13 pan

Ingredients:
Homemade pasta dough rolled out into sheets
Christina’s Short Rib Ragù (recipe below)
Béchamel sauce (recipe below)
Marinara sauce (here is Mario Batali’s Marinara recipe if you don’t have a favorite of your own)
Parmesan cheese (enough to thinly coat each layer of the lasagna, about 1 cup)

Preparation:
1. Make and short ribs and marinara sauce ahead of time and then refrigerate. You can do this the morning you’ll make the lasagna or the day before.

2. Make the pasta dough. You can make it a couple of hours ahead of time, but should cover it with waxed paper or dish towels to avoid curling.

3. When ready to assemble the lasagna, make the béchamel sauce.

4. In a large 9 x 13 pan, assemble your lasagna by lightly layering the bottom of the pan with marinara sauce, followed by a layer each of pasta, ragù, béchamel sauce and grated Parmesan cheese.

5. Continue layering until you are out of ingredients, being sure to leave enough marinara sauce to coat the top of the lasagna. Sprinkle on a final coating of Parmesan cheese.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through.

7. Serve.

Béchamel Sauce

Makes: 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter
3/4 cup all purpose flour (or enough to create a thick roux with the flour)
3 cups whole milk
Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Preparation:
1. In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter on medium low heat.

2. Once the butter is melted, slowly whisk in the flour until the sauce has a smooth consistency.

3. Slowly add in the milk, whisking to avoid lumps.

4. Simmer sauce for a few minutes and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste (I only use a sprinkling of nutmeg, but you can add more of you like a heartier nutmeg flavor).

Christina’s Short Rib Ragù

Adapted from: Faux Babbo Ravioli recipe; Originally published with THE CHEAT; So You Still Can’t Get a Reservation at Babbo? By Sam Sifton, May 8, 2005

Makes: Enough ragù for one lasagna

Ingredients:

2 lbs short ribs
3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large onion chopped
2 celery stalks chopped
2 carrots chopped
2 1/2 cup red wine
1 cup tomatoes diced drained
2 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary or oregano

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2. Heat a large ovenproof skillet (such as a cast-iron pan) on medium-high heat.

3. Add the oil and then mix in the chopped onion, celery and carrots and sauté for five minutes.

4. Remove the vegetables and turn the heat up to medium-high heat. Brown the short ribs (being sure not to crowd the pan.

5. Remove the meat and deglaze the pan with the wine; add in the tomatoes and herbs as well as salt and pepper to taste.

6. Add in the meat and vegetables and then bring mixture to a boil.

7. Set the pan in the oven and bake for 2 hours or until the short ribs are falling apart.

8. Let mixture cool and then refrigerate overnight or at least two hours. Puree or chop until mixture is fairly smooth.

WHAT A SUNDAY FEAST  MY WIFE AND I SHARED WITH THE BROWNS AND THE DALESSANDROS THIS AFTERNOON IN FOXBORO. WE STARTED OFF WITH RAVIOLIS AND SAUSAGES . THE PASTA CAME FROM MAMA ROSAS AT ROACH BROS. THE MEAT CAME FROM TUTTO ITALIANOS SOME OF ANGELOS BEST. THE NEXT COURSE WAS SOME OF EDDIE  AND SUSANS FINEST ROASTED CHICKEN WITH ROASTED POTATOES AND CARROTS. ALSO INCLUDED WAS A FINE SALAD TO FINISH OFF THIS MADE FOR A KING MEAL. FOR DESSERT WE HAD A CHOICE OF NEW ENGLANDS FINEST CHOCOLATE CREAM PIE.  AUNTIE JANET PASSED MUCH GAS AFTER TO RELIEVE THE PRESSURE. EDDIE PUT ISABELLA TO SLEEP ON HIS LAP AND SUSAN TRANSFERED THE BABY TO THE COUCH. THE BOYS RETIRED TO WATCH THE FOOTBALL GAME AND UNCLE TONY WAS FAST ASLEEP BEFOR WE KNEW IT. IN CLOSING, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE BROWNS FOR THIER HOSPITALITY AND THE DALESSANDROS FOR THIER FINE COMPANY AND GASSY ATMOSPHERE.  BIG LOU

Mushroom-Provolone Ravioli in Rosemary Brown Butter Sauce

It’s adorable to watch the Mrs. get all enthusiastic about dinner while in the throws of our weekend food shopping, sometimes even on the subway ride.  Keeping her in suspense is easier than you might thing since typically I have no idea what I want to make until I’m wherever we’re going.  It’s a bit existential, I know, but lately I’ve felt compelled to well… not plan anything.  I think being in a new place has something to do with it.  I also think that it’s almost impossible to get used to something as large and multifaceted as NYC.  As far as choice goes, I feel literally spoiled by it.  This makes for some wonderfully spontaneous evenings in the kitchen, but pulling a culinary Hail Mary carries some amount risk.

A much nicer day in Union Square

I try to offset that risk by incorporating new ingredients into traditional preparations, or vise versa. Back at the Union Square Fresh Market (on a lovely day this time) last weekend, I got the sensation that the harvest season was about to provide bounty as in times of old.  I was impressed by the semi-unusual fall veggies piled high on the stands: multi-colored carrots, pig-tailed fennel,  lovely purple onions (called ‘torpedos’, they are originally from Italy), and the return of the sweet potato, a recently-added personal favorite.  I got it into my head that I wanted to do a very simple oven roast of as many of these as I could get away with.  Elizabeth runs hot and cold on huge helpings of roasted veggies, depending on more factors than a husband should have to keep track of.

Heirloom "torpedo" red onions

Having firmly placed the cart before the horse, I set to composing a main dish.  Elizabeth suggested fennel raviolis from a recipe she had seen that week.  Unwilling to part with my roasting notion, I countered with mushroom raviolis.  I thought the earthy little guys would compliment the autumn veggies well.  I knew I had some uncooked turkey burgers I had made that could also serve as the center of a few meat-filled offerings as well.

Fennel with Purple, Orange and White Carrots

I have made ravioli dough several times now, and it comes out great… sometimes.  There are quite a few variables to optimize and not making it every day or week makes it tough to track what works and really, what doesn’t.  As a scientist, if I can’t be 100% sure about these things, I don’t bother, it just gets too frustrating.  Rigorous training in empirical logic notwithstanding, I have picked up one or two things.  I tend to be too cautious when adding water to the dough.  Most recipes do not stress that the dough can be really dry sometimes and I think I overwork it rather than just making it stickier with water.  I let it rest for more than 30 minutes also, and one of these things seems to have helped (but which??!!  See the problem???).

Filling up ravioli

No matter, I guess.  This time around the dough came out beautifully:  not too sticky, not too dry, and very easy to roll out with the pasta machine.  The fillings were a snap to bring together, as we sauteed a selection of cremini, shiitake and oyster mushrooms with some olive oil and butter, and then added some table wine Elizabeth had picked up earlier in the week that wasn’t as good as expected (but I liked it well enough).  Roasting the vegetables, of course, was also a cinch to prepare (what could be easier than quartering some veggies, drizzling them in olive oil, sprinkle a little salt on them, and roast them in the oven?) and the meal we completed was ample reward for the work that is required in making homemade ravioli.

Depuis que nous nous sommes offerts le kit “pâtes” de Kitchenaid sur Vente Privée, nous voilà accro des pâtes maison. D’abord un peu réticents à l’idée de mettre “la main à la pâte”, nous avons tardé à essayer.  Mais le souvenir de l’atelier pâte d’Auntie Joe était trop présent ! Puis le premier essai fut tellement concluant que les pâtes déshydratées sont boudées depuis des semaines ! Cette recette-ci est une de mes préférées :

Ingrédients :

Pour 4 personnes

Pour la pâte à raviolis

2 œufs
60g d’épinards
150g de farine T45
150g de semoule
1 cuill. à soupe d’huile d’olive
sel

Pour la garniture (farce du blog Péché de gourmandise)

200g de saumon frais cru
50g saumon fumé
100g de ricotta
40g de parmesan
1 cuill. soupe de crème fraîche
1 jaune d’œuf
aneth
sel, poivre, citron

Préparation :

Préparation : 15minutes Cuisson : 5 minutes

Pour la pâte :

1- Mélangez la semoule et la farine dans le bol de votre robot. Faites un petit puits, y casser les œufs et les battre énergiquement. Ajoutez ensuite les épinards hachés (du surgelé peut faire l’affaire). Incorporez le tout pour obtenir une boule lisse (merci le crochet à pâte du robot!). Si jamais la boule obtenue est trop humide, ajoutez un peu de farine. Laissez reposer au frigo une petite heure dans un film plastique.

2- J’imagine que l’on peut étaler la pâte au rouleau à pâtisserie… mais on peut aussi la laminer dans l’accessoire idoine (la fameuuuuuse machine à pâtes). Dans ce second cas, il s’agit de faire 8 petites boules à partir de la pâte initiale et de passer chacune d’elle environ 3 fois au laminoir. Cela nous fait de grandes lasagnes de 6-7 centimètres.

3- C’est donc le moment idéal pour farcir… Pour ce faire, coupez le filet de saumon frais en morceaux et mixez-le avec la ricotta, l’aneth, la crème, le parmesan et le jaune d’œuf. Assaisonnez et ajoutez le saumon fumé. Réalisez des petits tas de farce sur la pâte :

4- Passez un pinceau mouillé d’eau sur toutes les futures jointures des raviolis. Apposez la couche de pâte du dessus en veillant à éviter les bulles d’air puis détaillez les raviolis avec une roulette dentelée. Appuyez bien sur les bords pour que le trait d’eau en soude les bords.

5-Faites bouillir une casserole d’eau salée et laissez cuire les raviolis 4-5 mn à frémissements.

6- Salez et poivrez et ajoutez un peu de parmesan. Tout simplement un régal !

Courtesy of the last ’shrooms of the season.

First, a Bolete quesadilla, made in this case with a pair of King Boletes.

This was fun, doing the mushrooms first at high heat, then adding celery and chunky garlic, then taking the whole lot out and reserving it before adding a little butter and frying a large flour tortilla a bit ’till it was ready to receive back the ’shroom filling:

It folded over quite nicely, thank you, before I crisped it up for the kill.

‘Twas guuud.

‘Twas equally guuud to think of something to do with my last harvest of chanterelles for the season.  They’re a summer mushroom around here, and are most likely done blooming.

I sautéed the chanterelles with celery and sun dried tomatoes, then unceremoniously removed them all from the pan and replaced them with my new love, fresh goat cheese raviolis poached in chicken broth.  Then, as above, I added back the niceties to dish up Raviolis with Wild Mushrooms:

I made noises eating this.  I may have bothered the neighbors.  I didn’t care.  Life is too short to not appreciate what’s good, and I’m just not into dampening my enthusiasm for what I have left of it.

Not that I’m checking out, mind you, but I’m no Spring chicken either.

And one never knows, now, does one?

My fridge is bursting with ’shrooms!  They’re being crushed beneath each others’ weight, forcing the half-and-half to sweat and fade on the counter, keeping me up late at night, challenging my imagination and culinary stamina.

What to do with a basketfull of Black Trumpets?

…or a bag’s worth of Eastern chanterelles?

Perhaps a breakfast omelet of local duck eggs, chanterelles, caramelized onions and cheddar:

…and a dinner of black trumpets and chants with garlic, white wine, basil and a crumble of Gorgonzola, served over fresh lobster raviolis:

… prime examples of my Hundred Yard Diet, being largely from my garden and the nearby woods.

If anyone has a pickling recipe for a shopping bag’s worth of Oyster mushrooms, I’d be more than happy to entertain it, as my half-and-half needs a place to stay…

Ce qu’il vous faut…

• 250g de semoule de blé extra-fine ou de farine
• 2 œufs frais
• huile d’olive

Pour la farce :

• Roquefort, Ricotta, ou tout fromage à pâte molle
  
• Bœuf, veau, Saumon
  
• Aux légumes (purée d’aubergines, courgettes…)
• Épinards & Ricotta
• Champignons, cèpes, girolles
  
• Parmesan & basilic

Ce qu’il faut faire…

• Préparer la farce choisie
• Préparer les deux “feuilles” de pâtes
• Passer les deux feuilles dans la machine
• Introduire la farce
  

It’s so hard to give my raw pasta dishes names, since the ingredients are basically the same…lol. However, this particular one is all about the sauce, and the nut cheese. I really love the flavor of the sauce, which goes great with the greens in this dish. You can use the sauce as a dressing for a salad, or as a dip too. It’s loaded with flavor! Enjoy.

Spicy Marinara Sauce.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (soaked for 1 hour)
3 Roma tomatoes chopped
handful fresh basil
2 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup or more EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
1T ACV (apple cider vinegar)
1 tsp sea salt
1T agave nectar
dash cayenne
dash garlic powder
dash onion powder
1/2 tsp crush chili pepper

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and blend until smooth. Add more EVOO if necessary to get the consistency of a sauce. Sauce can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 3-5 days in the refrigerator.

Nut Cheese.
Ingredients:
3/4 to 1 cup cashews (soaked)
1 tsp pink Himalayan salt
juice from 1/2 a lemon

Preparation:
Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until thick and creamy. Cheese can be used as a replacement for cream cheese, or ricotta cheese, or any type of cheese spread. You can add spices to enhance the flavor. Store nut cheese in an air-tight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Other ingredients:
mixed salad greens, sprouts, micro-herbs
mushrooms (sliced or chopped)
zucchini strips (to use as pasta)
raw pine nuts (whole or grounded up for a raw version of Parmesan)

Dish Preparation:
Spread salad greens over a plate, layer strips of the zucchini on top. Place dollops of the nut cheese over the mix. Pour some of the spicy marinara sauce over the pasta and salad. Top with micro herbs or sprouts, and sprinkle the raw pine nuts and mushrooms over and around the plated dish. Ready to serve! Now that’s a Raw-talian!

Optional suggestion:
For rawviolis, create larger and wider strips of the zucchini. Place dollops of the nut cheese on the edge of each strip, and roll-up. Plate the dish as suggested above, and serve. Another great way to serve-up this sauce and cheese! Yummy!

Tonight (well last night,) pesto chicken and red pepper raviolis over wilted baby spinach:

The leftovers will make killer quesadillas. 

The last night of our honeymoon just happily fell on my birthday, and it was marked first by a plate of petit fours from our innkeeper Diana at breakfast, a lazy morning/afternoon of wandering around Acqui (for background on this fabulous little city, check out Diana’s article here), and eventually enjoying some of Baur B&B’s house wine while making and eating dinner.

Salumeria Centrale, Acqui Terme, Italy

Our last day also marked the one day we were able to make it to Salumeria Centrale and finally sample some of their amazing hams.  Over the course of our shopping we picked up an etto or two of proscuitto di San Daniele (similar to that of Parma, but the pigs are fed different foods to give the meat a different taste), an etto of fromaggio piemontese (a local cheese that is similar to cheeses used in fondue, which is unsurprising given Piemonte’s proximity to Switzerland), and a mezzo kilo of ravioli di tartufo–that’s right, white truffle ravioli.

The fresh pasta store: Italian fast-food.

The day's specials...

I didn’t realize this until we were in Italy, but not only were we situated in prime truffle country, we actually were in Acqui for the start of white truffle season.  The big market is in Alba–the prince of Monaco was in attendance to mark the festivities, and it’s filled with purveyors tempting you with lots and lots of fresh white truffles.  We were thinking of going, but after driving to Asti the day before to go to Torino, Michael requested that we not make the journey.  Since we were able to prowl around Acqui instead (and get to Salumeria Centrale), I was OK with this–besides, it begs for a return trip there to haggle with the sellers in person.

As for our dinner that night, well, perhaps it is best to tell it in pictures.  You may recognize the Salumeria Centrale wrapper, as the blurred version is our Twitter image.  Enjoy!

Proscuitto di San Daniele...all wrapped up.

Fromaggio Piemontese

White truffle ravioli, cross-section.

White truffle ravioli, prepared with just a little butter. Easiest. Meal. Ever.

And a tease on the wine (these varietals really require a post of their own, especially where to source them here in the U.S.):

Tonight, fresh pumpkin-sage raviolis, topped with a ratatouille of leeks, roasted red peppers and some of my own dried wild mushrooms, in this case a medley of boletes, the fabled cèpe of French culinary fame:

…with a few other flavors thrown into the sauté, like garlic and anchovies and vegetable broth and white wine, in this case a decent Gruner Veltliner, 2007.

Came out pretty good for blind gastronomic groping.

Un autre jour où on mange comme au nouvel an chinois

Il y a 3 jours (29-11-2008), la Grande roue et ses copains les chalets ont reparu sur la place de l’Hôtel de Ville. Ils nous annoncent que Noël est tout proche, dans une vingtaine jours. On peut trouver partout une ambiance de fête.

Autour de moi, mes amis français me demandent comment les Chinois font Noël. En fait, c’est plutôt comme une fête de shopping en Chine, surtout pour les jeunes. Parce que ce n’est pas notre tradition chez nous.

Pourtant, il a aussi un jour important en Chine (aussi en Japon, en Corée et au Vietnam). C’est le SOLSTICE D’HIVER, en chinois. On l’appelle DONG ZHI (冬至), c’est-à-dire extrême de l’hiver. Normalement, il est célébré aux alentours du 21 décembre (cette année le 21 décembre).

DONG ZHI est le jour plus court pendant toute l’année, à partir de celui-ci, les jours recommenceront à s’allonger. Dans la philosophie chinoise le Yin et le Yang, on dit que les énergies positives vont revenir de plus en plus fortes. Dès ce jour, on compte encore 81 jours, l’hiver sera fini. C’est pourquoi on célèbre ce jour comme une fête.

Par rapport aux autres trois importantes fêtes traditionnelles chinoises, DUAN WU JIE (端午节 Fête des bateaux dragons), ZHONG QIU JIE (中秋节 Fête de la lune) et CHUN JIE (春节 Le nouvel an chinois), DONG ZHI n’est pas une vraie fête. Néanmoins, ce jour-là, tout le monde va essayer de retourner et prendre un repas ensemble avec sa famille. DONG ZHI est aussi une occasion de réunir la famille. Donc, comme le réveillon de Noël, c’est un jour aussi important pour les Chinois.

Comme tous les fête chinoises (aussi dans le monde entier), on mange des choses spéciales pour la fête. Traditionnellement, pour DONG ZHI, il y a deux choses différentes a manger: dans le sud de la Chine, les gens préfèrent les TANGYUAN (汤圆 un genre des boulettes de riz gluant), de par leurs formes rondes, ils symbolisent la réunion. TANGYUAN est servi dans une soupe sucrée ou un bouillon ensemble dans un seul bol par personne.

Dans le nord de la Chine, on mange plutôt les raviolis chinois. Il y a une légende sur cette tradition. Il y a longtemps, pendant la dynastie Han, les paysans travaillaient dans leurs champs tout le temps, même pendant l’hiver. Ils avaient très froid, donc il y des gens qui commençaient à tomber malades. Il y a un médecin ZHANG ZHONGJING, qui voulait bien aider les pauvres, alors dans le jour DONGZHI il fit des boulettes de pâte avec de l’agneau, puis il en donna aux pauvres pour les réchauffer. Car la forme de ces boulettes est comme l’oreille, ZHANG les appelle JIAO ER (娇耳 petite oreille). Petit à petit, à DONG ZHI manger des raviolis est devenu une tradition chinoise.

Quand j’étais petit, chaque DONG ZHI, il neigeait toujours au matin (je ne sais pas pourquoi), ma mère me préparait toujours les petits raviolis. Elle me disait que les raviolis pourraient protéger mes oreilles, pour cette raison, elle me demandait toujours d’en manger plus avant de sortir. A ce moment-là, je la croyais, donc je finissais toujours mon assiette. Maintenant, je sais bien que ce n’est pas vrai, et aussi je sais faire bien les raviolis moi-même. Cependant, les raviolis de maman, ils me manquent toujours, je pense que vous savez bien pourquoi. C’est pourquoi les gens font des efforts pour retourner en famille, pendant Noël, peu importe où ils habitent ou travaillent.

JOYEUX NOEL ET BONNE FETE!

Zheng ZHANG, étudiant chinois, 3° année design

Avec toutes mes excuses pour le retard de publication J.C.

Une fois n’est pas coutume, un titre qui veut rien dire, sauf que juste au moment où je l’écrivais, j’ai eu grave envie d’un plat de raviolis gratiné au four avec pleiiin de gruyère dessus. Je suis pas ravioli pourtant… mais la, je bave…. allez comprendre… bref

Après un week end orgasmique, comme vous avez pu le comprendre hier, dans mon billet, aussi court fut il, il m’a effectivement fallu un jour de rtt…. un rtt maladie (cherchez pas ça n’existe pas). Aka jour où tu te gaves de paracetamol et de tisane en priant pour avoir le nez débouché le soir pour aller au lit, et qu’en fait non, il est bouché. des 2 côtés. Sa race. j’ai les lèvres gercées, le nez rouge et qui coule. She’s so sexy. Heureusement que le Mossieur, c’est dimanche qu’il m’a massée hein. En même temps, j’ai des courbatures, donc ca serait pas de refus.

Mais bon retour au boulot aujourd’hui… Avec tout le monde qui te demande si ca va mieux (alors qu’officiellement t’étais en RTT, pas en maladie, mais bon), alros que je n’ai qu’une envie c’est de retourner au fond de mon lit, ou alors sur mon canap, avec un plat de ravioli (oué et alors?)

Mummy’s side : hier, pour la première fois en 3 (trois) semaines (quand meme), La Puce a daigné s’endormir à l’heure. 20h15 par là, j’entends. et pas 22h ou 23h comme dimanche soir (Experts addict?).  et sans chouiner / hurler / taper des pieds sur son matelas. Et ça je peux vous dire que ça fait du bien. Grave.

PS : en cherchant une belle photo capable de vous rendre en image ce que j’ai dans la tête concernant les raviolis, je suis tombée sur une photo de lasagnes. Et en fait, la comme ça, si y’a que des lasagnes, je prends quand meme.  Plus que les raviolis en fait.

…Veggies from my garden:  summer squash, Hungarian wax papers, and red onions. Veggies from the farmer’s market:  organic wax beans, bought from a farmer who smilingly and lovingly gives all the left-over stuff away at the close of the market.  Seems like he’d rather you have it than see it wilt.

I paid for the beans before closing time, but it was that weekly attitude of his that made me check his stand out first among the many to chose from.

Grilled on the porch/deck, with frequent spoonfuls of olive oil drizzled over it to flame the grill, and a stick chucked in the corner of the grill to let the lid close only half-way, for that smoky effect:

…and served over (sorry to bore you with this stuff, but it’s one of my favorites) fresh mascarpone raviolis:

I was pleasantly surprised that the simple marinade of vinegar, olive oil and tamari, applied a mere 15 minutes before grilling, added so much flavor!

Today’s post is definitely more complicated and time consuming than what I usually present here. PLEASE DONT GET SCARED OFF.  In the video I’ll show you how to make the raviolis themselves, how to cook them, and then finish the sauce. The video was filmed by my friend Collin Siemer who was visiting from London. I first met Collin when I did five episodes of the Chef du Jour show on Food Network back in 2000. Collin was the producer for those shows and we have remained great friends ever since. So I thought it would be fun to have him jump in and recreate one of the dishes I did on that show. Thank you Collin!!

I am presenting the recipe as I make it in the restaurant where I have lots of hands to help with labor. For those of you that want to recreate that dish you have the template. But I bet most of you will take some shorcuts to make it more manageable. You can find my suggestions below the recipe.

And even if you dont want to make your own raviolis you MUST try making the sauce – it would be great with even the most basic store-bought raviolis! One more suggestion: Try involving your dinner guests in the making of the raviolis. It can be a great pre-dinner group activity for your guests. And it’s relatively unmessy if you use the gyoza skins because you dont need flour all over your workbench.

The recipe is on the Food Network website and there is a link to that page in the section of my blog titled “Links to My Recipes on the Web”. But I am reposting it below so you can refer to the original recipe when deciding which substitutions to make.

Ca y est, je suis arrivée jeudi à 18 h à Botcol, ferme bio dans un hameau dans le Morbihan, entre Le faouet et Gourin, à 30 km au Nord de Lorient. La ferme est habitée par des femmes, italienne, allemande, de Suisse. Des woofeuses sont aussi là..

A peine arrivée, je participais à la fabrication des raviolis maison, nous étions coachés par Rafaela, italienne : ça a pris 2 heures mais le résultat valait l’attente :

La farce des raviolis, c’est du fromage de la ferme et des chénopodes, plante sauvage qu’on trouve partout :

Chénopode, un peu le gout des épinards

Dans la pâte, de la farine bio et des oeufs des poules de la ferme, celles qu’on voit à côté de ma caravane (c’est là que je dors)

mes voisines les plus proches, les jolies poules

On coupe des tranches de pâte, et on les passe dans la machine à pate : on doit passer du 0 à 5, à chaque fois, c’est plus fin.

On étale une cuiller de farce sur une bande de pate, faut laisser la place pour le doigt.

la belle farce

parce qu’on mouille le doigt et la pate autour de la farce, pour coller l’autre bande de pate par dessus (la, j’ai pas de photo).

Faut pas laisser de bulles d’air, dixit Rafaela, sinon les raviolis explosent à la cuisson, on coupe les raviolis, on colle et on ecrase a la fourchette les bords, ça donne ça :

Raviolis finis

on les cuit avec beaucoup d’eau, et on les enleve à la passoire pour ne pas les abimer.

et voila, l’assiette enfin pleine, un peu de parmesan et je ne sais pas quoi vous dire tellement c’est bon.

pourquoi est ce si bon quand on l

On a aussi fait des raviolis sucrés avec de la confiture maison, et ça se cuit à la poele ;

raviolis sucrés frits

ne me dites pas que je vais grossir, je viens de faire 600 km de velo, donc je peux manger.

So “Plan A” was to try to make raviolis out of a mushroom I found.

But I couldn’t find my flour, which of course shot that plan all to hell.

So I did the next best (and way easier) thing and cooked some good, freshly made store-bought units:

(These being of the Roasted-Red-Pepper-and-Smoked-Mozzarella variety)

Then sautéd the first fruits of my garden into a sauce built around the afore-mentioned mushroom.

I got a little red onion and a handful of basil on the board, then minced half a bulb of fresh garlic:

Then I toasted the ’shroom and garlic in a thin slick of Extra-V olive oil, mostly ’cause I can, and added the red/green onion a bit later. As the mixture danced on the razor’s edge of carbonization, I splashed in a couple ounces of white wine, full-throttling the heat ’till it all exploded in a cloud of spicy steam and pan-bound sugars.

“I dream of caramel, and long for you…”

Yes, dream on, I’m not quite done.

Out with the veggies, in with the cream, and deglaze ’till it’s a done deal, the bubbling reduction containing every atom of its original incarnation, but now transformed into sugars and a thick sauce, into which the veggies return, are tossed, and are ladled onto the waiting raviolis:

Toasted Wild Mushroom (of unspecified genus) in a White Wine/Cream Sauce on The Raviolis of Your Dreams.

Enjoy it while you can.

New Japanese canteen in the PARIS Japanese area. The boss (a woman ?) had a good idea : to put just behind the shop window, a big pot of soap bouillon with many vegetables and meats.

Miso soap was really good, but too small for me !

Raviolis fried in a special machine with timer, were perfect.

Spicy tofu with rice and meal. Perhaps a little insipid. Not enough tasty.

Food’s good but for hungry people like a Nournours, the quantities were a little insufficient.
The boss should know French people eat more than Japanese people.

Go there and talk with her !

TAISHO KEN
40 rue Sainte Anne
75002 PARIS
Tél. : + 33 1 42 61 11 59

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