In my on-going search for new and different foods to serve our guests, I have found that I need to develop cooking skills that I have never used before. Yesterday it was making ravioli. I have found that the thicker pasta used to make ravioli does not digest well in my smaller stomach. It tends to just sit there for what seems like a very long time, making me feel full and very uncomfortable. Since starches are not digested well in the stomach, their residence there can be lengthy. Starches are normally digested in the intestinal track where various digestive enzymes called carbohydrases work on breaking down the molecular structure of the starchy foods. This digestion turns the starches into simple sugars that are easily absorbed through the intestinal wall. So when I eat ravioli, I generally eat just one and reserve stomach space for proteins and other foods which are more easily digestible.
OK, back to making ravioli. Here in Italy, pasta making is a way of life. Virtually every house has a manual pasta machine and almost every Italian woman has been taught from an early age how to make the pasta from her region and othere regional specialties. There are basically two types of pasta, northern and southern. Pasta is simply a combination of flour, water, and sometimes an egg. Just combine the flour, water and egg to make the dough. The dough is kneaded until smooth to develop the gluten. The gluten is what gives pasta its texture. Allow the dough to rest before rolling into sheets with a rolling pin or pasta maker.
The traditional method of making and kneading the dough by hand has worked for centuries, although it is a slow method. It is, however, a Zen experience and if you have the time and muscle, do it. On the other hand you can use a food processor and cut the time down significantly, but then you don't get that Zen thing going on.
I put pasta into two categories, northern Italian and southern Italian. While it might be an oversimplification, it makes it easy to understand.
Traditional pasta from northern Italy is normally made with soft wheat (all purpose) flour, eggs and sometimes olive oil to form a tender dough. It is great for making long, flat noodles such as papardelle and tagliatelle as well as ravioli, tortellini and lasagna. Sauces used in the north are highly varied but include Bolognese (a meat sauce which sometimes includes milk as part of the tomato-based sauce), pesto (which is commonly a puree of basil, pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese), or cheese cream sauces which might include the local blue-veined cheese Gorgonzola. Gorgonzola is made in either a dolce (sweet form) or a piccante form (sharper and tangy).
The traditional pasta from southern Italy is often made with semolina flour, a flour made from durum wheat, the hardest of all wheats. It is mixed solely with water to form a stiff dough. To make a lighter dough, half semolina and half all purpose flour can be used. The dough is forced through dyes to create many different shapes including macaroni, penne, fusilli and spaghetti. The pasta sauces of the South are often spicier and use more tomato as in Puttanesca, Amatricana and Tomato. The Internet will direct you to all of these recipes easily.
I made my pasta dough in the northern style with only all purpose flour. I weighed out the flour and added one egg for every 100 grams of flour. This results in a more tender, softer pasta. I mix the eggs into the flour and then I kneaded the mixture into a smooth dough using my hands on a floured board. The dough changes texture as you push it along the board, the graininess gets less and less as the dough hydrates and incorporates the flour. It is simple yet it does require some experience. Try making some pasta dough some Saturday afternoon. Turn on some music you like, weigh out the flour, add the eggs and get to work. Feel how it changes. When it is smooth, wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator to rest for a few hours or even overnight.
When you are ready to work with the dough, let it warm a bit on the table before rolling it out. I use a pasta machine that kneads and rolls the dough into 6" wide strips and is the most common method employed in Italy. Historically in northern Italy women have rolled out the dough using long thin rolling pins. The rolled out dough can be 2-3 feet in diameter and is done on a very large floured board. It is not ready to use until it has been rolled to 2-3 mm in thickness. I watched a young woman roll out her dough very quickly using lots of flour. As the pasta dough got larger, it began slipping around on the board. Then I noticed that she tucked an edge of the pasta over the edge of the board and held it in place with her hip. She could then still used both hands to roll, but the pasta remained still. A neat trick (thanks, Francesca).
To make the ravioli, I need to put something inside it. So the filling becomes a significant element. Perfect ravioli is a combination of the pasta dough, the filling and the sauce. They need to complement each other. Classic fillings here in central Italy include potatoes with two cheeses (mozzarella and pecorino), ricotta with spinach, ricotta with lemon and anisette, and pumpkin with potatoes, spices, amaretto cookies, and Parmigiano-Reggiano or pecorino cheeses. The first three are generally served with a thick tomato and vegetable sauce while the pumpkin is more commonly served with melted butter and fresh sage. As I have explored the ravioli-filling world I have developed several different versions that I like. One was with smoked salmon, some mashed potatoes for structure, chopped spinach, parsley, and some lemon peel; in another I used smoked trout in place of the salmon and without the spinach. Both were great when served in a light butter sauce with a bit of cream and a splash of white wine.
Another filling I worked with was chopped spinach and mushrooms sauteed in butter, seasoned with salt, lots of pepper and Marsala, cooked and pureed. When the spinach was added, the whole became thick and easy to work with. It also had a much different flavor than spinach and ricotta (the classic filling). Yesterday I made the spinach and mushroom filling, a pumpkin filling, and a new one using pureed pears, diced pears, and fresh, soft pecorino cheese.
I had a couple of folks over to lunch and to act as tasters. I had some problems with the preparation of the pasta. It was quite soft and probably needed more flour. It also rolled out a bit thin making the ravioli difficult to fill without tearing. I will probably add more flour when I next make the pasta, and will roll it out a little thicker. The pumpkin ravioli were not all that popular as they did not have a punched-up flavor. I will need to work on that one. On the other hand, the spinach and mushroom pasta was great with a bit of thick tomato sugo under it and on top. I added a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and it was well received. The pear and pecorino ravioli was also very good. The addition of the chunks of pears took the filling to another level. I served it with a melted butter and sage. Two people liked that sauce, on the other hand my Italian friend was not thrilled with it. As foodies do, we discussed the shortcomings and decided that the ravioli was great but the sauce should have been a mixture of cream seasoned with salt and pepper and olive oil, with maybe some chopped, toasted walnuts on top.
I ate one of the spinach ravioli and one of the pear to see how they were; that was my lunch.
So you see that you can cook interesting exciting foods and serve them to friends, without the overwhelming need to eat them yourself. I think that my experience making pasta was a success and as I learned this new skill I was able to enjoy the process, have others enjoy the results and still keep focused on why I had my surgery in the first place.
From central Italy, the land of a thousand pastas and as many sauces, I bid you good cooking.
Ciao.
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