Monday, December 03, 2012

Little Gifts # 2

Yesterday, I, being a very considerate grandmother had a discussion with the little boys in my family:

I to Drew (age 3), what would you like for Christmas dinner?

Drew to me: (no hesitation), spaghetti and meatballs!

I to Drew: okay honey, great, no problem

I to Mr. Ryan (age 5), what would you like for Christmas dinner?

Mr Ryan to me:  (brief contemplation),  jellybeans and bananas

I to Mr. Ryan: okay honey, great, no problem

There will be multi-colored jelly beans for Christmas dinner, placed just so in an elegant bowl.

I will make spaghetti for Drew and my Mother's homemade raviolis for the grownups among us.

The ravioli's come out extra large and are one of a kind orgasmically fantastic.

They are surprisingly simple to make as long as you have a big enough table that won't mind flour all over it.

Compliments of my Mother, Rose: this makes 40--50 raviolis.

The filling:

Mix two pounds of ricotta cheese with four eggs

add 3/4 to one cup of grated Romano cheese and mix it all together until it doesn't run. Look for the mixture to stand up a bit 

The dough:

You will be eyeballing this: approximately 3 cups of flour and six eggs mixed together with a fork until all the flour is mixed in and doesn't stick to your hands. You don't want it too moist so add the 4th, 5th, 6th egg one at a time and stop when you have dough. Make it into a ball.

The creation:

Spread cornmeal around a cookie sheet (so the raviolis won't stick)

Generously spread flour all over your table

take a section of the dough (start with a quarter of it until you get the hang of it) and roll it out with a rolling pin. Keep using flour liberally so nothing sticks.

Roll thin enough.

Now comes the creative part and the hardest to tell not show: place a spoonful of the filling on the dough, spacing each spoonful about three inches from the edge of the dough and about three inches apart from each other.

Grab the edges of the dough and flip the dough over the mixture and kind of tuck it in.  You want the row of raviolis to be about about three or four inches wide and three or four inches long, in other words, so use the side of your hand and push down to  separate the mixture mounds from one another. you should have about four raviolis from each row when you do this.

With a pizza cutter or knife, cut into squares and then use a fork to press together the three sides of dough.

Place the cut raviolis on the cookie sheet and continue this process, row by row, mound by mound

I tell you true that flipping the dough over the mixture just right is a learned skill and the most fun.

You can refrigerate the raviolis even overnight. Cook in a large pot in boiling water for about 15 minutes or until the raviolis rise to the top of the pot

Have the spaghetti sauce and Parmesan cheese ready

It's obvious I will have no career writing cookbooks. But if you try this you will figure it out and I guarantee these raviolis will set your heart ablaze.

love
kj









19 comments:

  1. Sounds delicious! ESP the jellybeans

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    1. Jellybeans for the holidays! A new tradition!

      :-)

      Love
      kj

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  2. Now I'm very hungry. :) You are the best grandma in the world. Setting seeds in those little boys' hearts that will grow and bloom. I'm not sure I will ever actually try making the ravioli, but I loved reading how to make them. xox!

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    1. Thank you, Pam. I'm sure my directions are substandard but I figure any effort to make raviolis from stretch has got to be a hoot!

      Xoxo times 100, prudie1
      kj

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  3. what a dear grandma to make the favorite dishes. and to do the ravioli. i have always loved homemade pasta, made by someone else though. have fun.

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    1. Hi suki, I LOVE making memories for these little boys. Who knew?!

      Suki, I have a copy of human being's poetry book!

      Love
      kj

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  4. oh dang...can i come over to your place for dinner...spaghetti and jelly beans sounds like a great holiday dinner...smiles...and even though its 8:36 am...i am now starving...smiles.

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  5. Oh totally YUM!!! (this is where Anne would make a cardboard template to mark the dough....yeah, I'm *THAT* anal....actually, I think I have a little square ruler that size.....)
    I love a good Ravioli that can be made and served as a main dish. And this sounds like THAT TYPE.
    Will be noting this one KJ~~thanks!

    XXOO~~
    Anne

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    1. I will take pictures of the line up and flip over and send them to you.

      And yes, red sauce. My father'z recipe: sauteed onions, tomato sauce, tomato paste, crushed or puréed tomatoes, plenty of oregano and basil, and simmer a couple of hours.

      Ps I brown the meatballs and'/or sweet sausags and cook them in the sauce

      Pss ♥

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  6. Kj, I am loving your little gifts, they are not little, but huge.
    xoxo

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  7. This is killing me :)! I LOVE pasta and almost any Italian food I have ever tasted. Sadly, I am allergic to gluten. Ugh. Otherwise Jane and I would steal this menu. Much yummier than turkey!

    Thanks for the always sweet messages :)!

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    1. Amy, my daughter is allergic too but she won't admit it even though she avoids carbs. But she will suffer for my raviolis. They go back to when she was a little girl and my Mother made them. We'd count how many we each ate :-)

      You are most welcome for my comments :-)

      Love
      kj

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  8. spaghetti with meatballs, ravioli and jellybeans sounds like my kind of meal and the recipe looks utterly heavenly. i love the idea of the colorful jellybeans in a bowl on the table - i've taken in recent years to sprinkling hershey's kisses around my centerpiece - the silver and gold wrappers add to my color scheme and it's fun to grab a couple while you're waiting for dessert.

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    1. Ha! I do that with Hershey's kisses too, Amanda! I should have mentioned my daughter Jess will probably nix the jellybeans as an entree, but I plan to over rule her since I'm the cook :-)

      Happy holidays, Amanda xo

      Love
      kj

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  9. Raw red meat. *sigh* it has been so long. But not a pasta fan either so whatever is on the table, probably left overs.

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  10. Mark, I eat meat maybe twice a year.

    I wish I were not a fan of pasta! It packs the pounds!

    Love
    kj

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  11. It all sounds so wonderful. Especially the jelly beans. And pasta is always great. Too bad I'm hibernating; I'd love to come to your place for Christmas.

    Christmas blessings, and Bear hugs too (from the hibernating Bear). And a gentle cuddle for Chase.

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