Ravioli...

The latest cooking adventure was last night's homemade ravioli. The Mom had tried out Giada's recipe for ravioli caprese and highly recommended it so we gave it a go. The dough is simply 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour mixed with one cup of water. We mixed it in the kitchenaid (using the dough hook) and then let it set up (covered with saran wrap for 10 minutes). After the ten minutes are up you cut the dough ball into 4 parts and roll out each one separately. Giada gives you specific dimensions in her recipe but I just rolled it out into basically a rectangle as thin as I could (without making the dough split). For the filling the Mom had advised to use one small container of ricotta, salt, pepper, one egg, chopped fresh parsley and parmesan cheese... I also added some pecorino romano as I had some in the fridge. Mind that you don't over stuff the ravis and be sure to add a good bit of salt to the water when you boil them. The Mom recommended boiling them for 5 minutes. The Husband said he would have preferred them a bit more al dente (but I'm a soggy pasta lover so they were perfect for me). I paired them with a light tomato basil sauce and they were very fresh, light and tasty. If you have any trouble forming traditional ravioli shapes I would suggest trying agnolotti (pardon my masacre of proper Italian spelling...)

ps. with this I also tried this new artisan frozen demi baguette from Pepperidge Farm. You pop it in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 (or thereabouts) and it was really good-- a great item to stick in the freezer for those nights when you haven't had the chance to go out and buy a fresh loaf of bread!!