Category Archives: Pasta

Homemade Russian Pelmeni – Updated

March 23, 2025 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Back in 2011 I posted a recipe for one of my favorite dumpling recipes – pelmeni. This was back before I had all the recipe-writing knowledge I have today, so I wanted to update this recipe for anyone wanting to make these delicious dumplings at home.

It’s super helpful to have a pelmeni mold, but you can always make them using a small glass as a dough cutter and folding them into half moon shapes.

Russian Pelmeni

Makes about 60 dumplings

Ingredients for the dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 eggs
About 260-270 grams AP or 00 flour, plus more for dusting

Ingredients for the meat filling:
1/2 medium onion, chopped very finely (I recommend using a small food processor)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground pork
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pepper, to taste

For the topping:
Butter
Rice vinegar
Curry powder
Sriracha
Fresh cilantro
Sour cream

Directions:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg and water. Incorporate flour till you have a soft, stretchy dough that isn’t sticky to the touch. Knead on a floured surface for five minutes, incorporating flour if it’s still too sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a pan with the oil over medium-high. Add the onions and sauté until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Turn the heat to medium, add the curry powder and garlic, and cook for 1 more minute. Let this cool off the stove while you combine the beef, pork, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Once onions are mostly cooled, add to the meat and combine well. Cook a small sample in your frying pan to sample, if you like, then adjust for salt. Once the meat mixture is seasoned to your liking, place it in a gallon sized zip top bag and cut a small hole in one of the bottom corners.

If you have a pelmeni mold, use 1/4 of the dough and roll out a large, thin, round sheet of dough, incorporating flour if needed so it doesn’t stick. Sprinkle flour over the mold and drape the dough on top. If you don’t have a mold, use a biscuit cutter or the edge of a glass and cut circles out of the dough.

Using your makeshift piping bag, add about a teaspoon of filling to each divot in the pelmeni mold. If the dough seems too dry, you may want to lightly spritz the whole sheet with a water sprayer because you want the other sheet of dough to stick. Roll out another 1/4 of the dough into a large, round sheet and place it on top of the filled mold. Using your rolling pin, gently roll back and forth along the dough side of the mold until the mold starts to pierce through the edges of each pelmeni. Lightly dust a counter with flour and turn the mold upside down to shake/poke the pelmeni out of the mold.

Repeat with the remaining dough to make one more set of pelmeni with the mold.

If not using a mold, add about 1 teaspoon of filling to each cut circle. Crimp closed with your fingers. The dough should be sticky enough to stay closed on its own without additional moisture.

Set each finished pelmeni on a flour-lined baking sheet.

From here you could either boil the dumplings right away or place them in the freezer for later. If you freeze them, make sure to freeze them on the baking sheet before putting them in a zip top bag or container, otherwise they will stick together.

To prepare, bring a big pot of salted water to a boil. Add the dumplings and return to a boil. Cook until dumplings float — about 5 minutes (7 minutes if frozen).

Use a slotted spoon to remove dumplings and place them in bowls. Top with butter, vinegar, curry powder, Sriracha, cilantro and sour cream.

Cooking, Italian, Pasta

Colcannon Ravioli

March 17, 2024 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

It’s St. Patrick’s Day and although I don’t really have much of a connection to this day, I thought it would be fun to serve something festive for dinner.

I’ve made colcannon in the past, which is a traditional Irish potato dish with cabbage, and as I was leafing through an Alice Waters cookbook I saw a recipe for potato and spinach ravioli and I thought it would be the perfect dish for St. Patrick’s Day. I didn’t follow her recipe, but made up my own and after boiling the ravioli I sautéd them like pierogis.

Spinach and Potato ravioli in a garlicky cream sauce

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the pasta dough:

225 grams 00 flour
75 grams fine semolina flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon olive oil

For the filling:

1 pound potatoes, any variety (I used a combination of russet, new potatoes and fingerling)
8 ounces frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup cream, divided
salt and pepper, to taste

For the sauce:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup cream
salt and pepper, to taste
zest of 1 lemon

Special supplies:

Small food processor or immersion blender
Potato ricer (you could use a potato masher but it won’t be as smooth)
KitchenAid pasta roller adapter (or a hand cranked version would work too)
Ravioli cutter (or a pizza cutter would work)
Shot glass
Large spider strainer (a slotted spoon would work)

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or on a clean, dry countertop, combine the flours. Make a well in the center and add the eggs and olive oil. Whisk the eggs and oil till scrambled, slowly incorporating the flour. Mix into a rough ball and knead for 10 minutes. Wrap in plastic wrap and set aside for at least 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut them into roughly the same sized pieces. Boil in salted water until tender, about 10-15 minutes. Place the squeezed spinach and 2 tablespoons of cream in a food processor and run it till the spinach is puréed. You may need to add a little more cream to get it going. When the potatoes are done, drain them and press through a potato ricer into a medium mixing bowl. Add the spinach, Parmesan, butter, remaining cream and salt and pepper. This should be a relatively homogenous consistency. Add more cream if necessary to make it smooth. Place mixture in a gallon zip top bag and refrigerate until cool.

3. Time to assemble the ravioli. Tear a small handful of dough away from your pasta ball and flatten it with your hand. Set the pasta roller on the largest setting and run the dough through. It’s ok if it tears apart a little. Roughly fold the dough into thirds and run it through again on the same setting. Repeat this three or four times until your dough is smooth.

4. Adjust the roller to the next thinnest setting and run the dough through once. Repeat this step making the roller thinner each time until you’ve run it through the thinnest setting.

5. Place the sheet of dough on a clean counter top. With a ravioli or pizza cutter, cut the sheet in half, across the width, not the length.

6. Cut a hole in the corner of the bag containing the filling and place about 1 teaspoon of filling on one half of the pasta sheet. Repeat so you have them evenly spaced on the dough, about 6-8 on the sheet. Place the other half of the dough on top and gently press the air out between the sheets without smashing down the filling. Use a shot glass to center the filling and lightly press down (don’t cut through the dough with the shot glass). This makes the ravioli look more uniform.

7. Use your ravioli cutter to cut out 6-8 ravioli. Pick up each ravioli and make sure the edges are sealed. Pinch any areas that look separated. Place on a semolina lined tray. Cover with foil.

8. Repeat steps 3-7 with the remaining dough and filling.

9. Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil. Just before the water is boiling, place a large sauté pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil and butter. Add the garlic and cook till fragrant, turning down the heat to prevent the garlic from burning, about 1 minute. Add the cream, stir, and turn off the heat while you cook the ravioli.

10. Add the ravioli to the boiling water, gently stirring with a spider strainer. Boil the ravioli for 3-5 minutes, until al dente. Remove one ravioli and cut off a corner to see if the dough is cooked to your liking.

11. Heat the sauté pan again over medium-low heat. Remove the ravioli from the water using the spider strainer, give it a good shake to remove excess water, and place into the sauté pan. Gently toss the ravioli till they are all coated with the sauce. Add salt, pepper and lemon zest to taste. You could either serve right away or continue cooking the ravioli until they ever so lightly brown, like pierogis.

12. Serve the ravioli with a drizzle of cream and a grind of pepper.

Cooking, Italian, Pasta

Quick Weeknight Pasta with Broccoli and Buttered Bread Crumbs

February 25, 2024 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Sometimes I want pasta and I don’t have a lot of energy to cook. Last night I threw together a simple pasta dish with broccoli bits and buttered fresh bread crumbs. It came together in about 15 minutes and was everything I wanted. I happened to have a bag of brown rice macaroni, which ended up being really delicious. You could use any kind of small pasta shape.

Quick Weeknight Pasta with Broccoli and Buttered Bread Crumbs

Serves 2-3
Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1-2 slices good quality white sandwich bread (to make about 1/2 cup of bread crumbs)
5 ounces small pasta (about 1 1/4 cup)
3 ounces fresh broccoli, chopped into small bits (about 1 cup)
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon sun dried tomato oil
1 teaspoon good quality olive oil
1 tablespoon sun dried tomatoes, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
Freshly grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Instructions:

Bring a salted pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, tear up your bread into chunks and place in a food processor. Process until they are crumbs, but not too fine. Set aside.

When water is boiling, add your pasta and stir occasionally. Set a timer and cook until al dente. Meanwhile, heat butter in a sauté pan over medium heat. Add bread crumbs, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper to taste. Turn down heat a little and stir frequently until crumbs are golden brown. Set this mixture aside.

When there are 4 minutes left on your timer, add the broccoli bits to the pasta. When pasta is cooked to your preference, drain.

Wipe out the sauté pan with a paper towel and add the sun dried tomato and olive oils. Heat over medium and add the garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Cook for about a minute, stirring, until garlic is fragrant. Add the drained pasta and broccoli and the parsley. Stir until everything is combined. Adjust for salt.

Plate the pasta and sprinkle each serving with grated parmesan cheese and the toasted breadcrumbs. Serve immediately.

Cooking, Pasta, soup

Totally Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

June 16, 2019 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

It’s been a really busy summer. My floral endeavors have pretty much taken over my creative life and I have very little room for blogging.

After four weddings this weekend and barely cooking for my family, I finally had time to prepare a home-cooked meal.

I started by making a really rich chicken stock. After simmering it for about six hours I strained it and then decided to make chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles.

It was a hit!

Here’s how I made it from start to finish.

Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves 6 or so

I’ve divided up this recipe into to parts: the stock and then the soup. You can of course start with store-bought chicken stock, but there is something so satisfying about creating your own opaque chicken stock. Plus it’s way more flavorful than anything found at the store.

Ingredients for the stock:

2-3 chicken carcasses
1-2 onions, roughly chopped
3 celery ribs, roughly chopped
3 carrots, roughly chopped
1/4 cup parsley, roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon whole peppercorns
2 bay leaves

Directions for the stock:

Using pliers, crack the bones of your chicken carcasses. I actually do this after eating a chicken and freeze it until I have two or three. I also had some frozen skin-on chicken thighs that I added as well just to use them up.

Add the carcass – bones, skin and all – to a large stock pot. Add the onions, celery, carrots, parsley, peppercorns and bay leaves. Fill the pot with water. You don’t need to be exact here at all. Just fill the pot, whatever size it is.

Cover and set over high flame. Bring to a boil, turn heat to low, and simmer for several hours. I think I let mine simmer for six hours while I cleaned the house and made flowers for an elopement tomorrow.

Turn off the heat and let cool for 30 minutes or so.

Place a fine-mesh sieve over a large liquid measuring cup and start ladling the stock into the sieve. Use the back of the ladle to mash up the solids so as much liquid as possible comes out.

Toss the solids and pour the stock into jars. Repeat until you’ve strained all the stock. Store the stock in the fridge for a couple of weeks or freeze for several months.

Ingredients for the noodle soup:

2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 onion, chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 pound chicken – if you have leftover chicken that works, but raw chicken is good too
8 cups chicken stock
1 cup frozen green beans, thawed
Salt and pepper to taste

For the noodles:

150 g 00 flour
50 g semolina flour
2 eggs

Directions:

For the noodles, mix the flours together in a bowl. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Whisk up the eggs with a fork until they are combined. Pour them into the flour well and whisk with a fork, slowly incorporating the flour, until a shaggy dough forms. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and not sticky.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a heavy soup pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. I had three skin-on chicken thighs so I fried those up to render the fat instead of adding oil.

Add the onions and celery. Sprinkle on some salt. Sauté until onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Pour in the stock and add the chicken. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add the carrots and continue to simmer while you make the noodles.

After the dough has rested for 30 minutes or so, cut it into two pieces. Place one piece in the fridge for fresh pasta tomorrow.

Cut the remaining dough into three equal pieces. Cover two with plastic wrap while you roll out the first ball.

Add the pasta rolling adaptor to your Kitchen Aid (or use the old-fashioned version). Flatten the piece of dough with your hands and flour on both sides. Run it through the largest setting. Fold the dough in half and run it through again. Repeat about six times and flour again on both sides if it’s feeling tacky. It should feel smooth.

Run the pasta sheet through the next setting just once. Repeat until setting 6 or until the desired thickness. I typically go to setting 8 on my Kitchen Aid but that’s for delicate pasta like vermicelli. For this dish I wanted something sturdier.

Hang the sheet of dough on a pasta rack (I find a laundry drying rack to be super useful for this). Repeat with other two balls of dough. Let the dough air dry for about 15 minutes. This makes it easier to cut.

In the meantime, remove the chicken from the pot and break it up with the whisk adaptor of your Kitchen Aid (or a fork would do). Place it back in the pot along with the green beans. Bring the soup back to a simmer.

Flour each sheet of dough and cut it into your desired noodle shape. You could run it through the fettuccini roller but I prefer hand-cut wide noodles.

Add your noodles to the pot and cover to bring it back to a boil. Simmer, stirring frequently, for about 3 minutes or until noodles are cooked through. Typically I prefer al dente, but for soup I let them cook a little longer.

Serve in bowls with freshly grated pepper.

Cooking, Pasta, recipes

Poor Man’s Pesto

March 17, 2019 alaskaknitnat 1 Comment

Pesto was a staple in our household growing up. I had a love for garlic at an early age and there was no better dinner than linguine with pesto.

My dad is a pesto purist, as you can read on his verbose website entry on the matter. I followed in my dad’s footsteps – basil and pine nuts was the ONLY way – until I started paying my own bills and realizing how expensive pine nuts and real Parmesan cheese are.

Years ago I started using pistachios instead of pine nuts for my basil-only pesto recipe, which I had adapted from Marcella Hazan’s blender pesto. I really can’t tell the difference. I realized last year that I’m not alone with this thought. Maya Wilson of Alaska From Scratch also uses pistachios instead of pine nuts for her pesto recipe.

Then last summer, Julia O’Malley invited me over to test out an Alaska greens super pesto. It was then that I realized you don’t have to stick to only fresh basil to achieve that delicious pesto-y flavor.

Enter the giant Costco bag of spinach. You know the one – it’s like $4 and you tell yourself you’re totally going to get through the whole thing before it gets slimy? My husband fell for it again this week and bought the gigantic bag of greens and it’s my mission to get through it before it goes bad.

Last night I decided to try pesto using what I had on hand: a giant bag of spinach, pistachios, pecorino Romano cheese, lemon and the other usual pesto cast of characters. What I discovered is basil doesn’t matter a bit to me when it comes to pesto. It’s the garlic, cheese and olive oil that my tastebuds crave.

This recipe was everything I wanted and so much cheaper than the recipe I grew up with. Adding melted butter makes up for the oils in the pine nuts that the pistachios lack. And including fresh lemon juice brightens up the pesto in a similar way the basil does.

I eyeballed all the ingredients, but this is a good place to start. Follow your tastebuds. If the mixture is too thick, add more olive oil. If it doesn’t have enough bite, add some more lemon juice or salt. If it’s too thin, add more cheese. You could also reserve some of the pasta water to thin out the sauce.

Spinach and Pistachio Pesto – a less expensive way to enjoy pesto bliss

Enough sauce for 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1/3 cup good olive oil (plus more if needed)
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 big handfuls fresh spinach, coarsely chopped (about 3.5-4 oz.)
3/4 cups pecorino Romano cheese, grated
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon melted butter, cooled
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a small food processor or blender, purée the pistachios, olive oil and garlic until smooth. Add in the spinach and blend until everything is evenly blended – about 20-30 seconds.

Place contents into a medium mixing bowl and add the cheese, lemon juice and butter. Stir until well combined. Season with salt and pepper. If pesto is too thin, add more cheese. If it’s too thick, add more olive oil. Serve with long thin pasta cooked al dente.

Cooking, Pasta, recipes, seafood

Pasta and shrimp in a paprika chili sauce

February 10, 2019 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

A couple of weeks ago I posted a recipe for a Spanish-style shrimp appetizer. I am pretty sure I’ve eaten my weight in shrimp since posting it. One of my favorite parts of the dish is sopping up the flavorful garlic paprika oil with a piece of rustic bread.

The other day I didn’t have any crusty bread, so I decided to toss some linguine in the leftover oil. It was fantastic.

So I turned my tasty app into an entree. This is a wonderful way to impress your guests with a colorful, flavorful dish that takes very little time to make. It’s really easy! I eyeballed the oil and the pasta so these are approximate measurements. Feel free to play around with it!

Pasta with shrimp in a paprika chili sauce

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1-2 dried guajillo or New Mexico chilis
16 raw shrimp, deveined and peeled
1 1/2 teaspoons sweet Spanish paprika (Hungarian will do)
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (optional)
1/3 cup olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Splash of white wine (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
1/2 pound pasta

Directions:

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, cut the dried pepper into rings and place in a small bowl. When water is boiling, remove 1/2 cup and pour over the dried peppers. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.

Cook the pasta until it’s al dente. Drain and set aside. While pasta is boiling, toss the shrimp with the paprika and set aside.

Heat the oil in a small frying pan over medium. Add the garlic and softened chili and cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.

Add the shrimp and any remaining paprika. Turn down heat if needs be to avoid burning the garlic. Cook until shrimp is pink, turning halfway, about 4 minutes.

Salt to taste. Add a glug of white wine and let it bubble away for a few seconds. Add the pasta and toss until thoroughly coated. Sprinkle in the parsley.

asian, Cooking, Pasta, recipes

Cold Sesame Ginger Noodle Salad

July 30, 2018 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Last Saturday my husband and I decided to spend date night shopping around Costco, which was surprisingly mellow at 6 p.m. I came across a package of millet and brown rice ramen noodles that looked like it might fulfill my never-ending craving for pasta while not being totally unhealthy.

I came up with this cold noodle salad that is perfect for a weekday lunch.

Cold Asian Noodle Salad

Ingredients:

2 bricks of millet and brown rice ramen (or regular cheap ramen would do fine, just toss out the spice packet)
6 mini bell peppers, julienned
3 green onions, chopped fine
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
1/2 cup diced English cucumber

For the dressing:

1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 garlic clove, minced
freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions:

Boil the noodles according the package directions. In the meantime, whisk together the dressing ingredients in a small bowl or jar.

Drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to stop them from cooking. Toss noodles, bell peppers, green onion, cilantro and cucumber in a mixing bowl. Pour dressing over the noodles and toss well. Serve right away or refrigerate until lunch time.

Cooking, Italian, Pasta, recipes

Fresh Fettuccine with Hooligan Marinara Sauce

March 14, 2018 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

My local library was showcasing their newest cookbooks last week. I checked out “Passione: Gennaro Contaldo’s Italian Cookbook” because it looked authentic and, let’s face it, I liked the font. When I saw his simple recipe for pasta dough, I had to try it. Flour, semolina and eggs. It sounded more authentic than pasta dough recipes I’ve made in the past. That he provided the gram weight of the flours made me think it was going to turn out perfectly. And it did.

My friend Ivan came over with a jar of smoked hooligans he and a friend had caught and canned last summer. They tasted a little like anchovies so my thought was to make a simple marinara with the umami flavor of the hooligans in the background. After simmering the sauce for a few minutes I tasted it and knew it needed one special ingredient to make it just perfect – capers. The sauce instantly became a bright, flavorful combination that reminded me of my dad’s puttanesca sauce.

Combine that with the best homemade pasta I’ve ever created and we had a heavenly dish that I think Gennaro Contaldo would be proud of.

Fresh fettuccine with a hooligan caper marinara

Serves 4-6

Ingredients for pasta dough adapted from “Passione: Gennaro Contaldo’s Italian Cookbook”:

300 grams (or 2 cups) all-purpose flour
100 grams (or 2/3 cup) semolina flour
4 eggs

For the sauce:

2 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1, 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 smoked hooligans, chopped (sub anchovies)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons capers
handful of fresh basil, chopped

Directions for pasta dough:

In a Kitchen Aid mixer, combine the flour and semolina. Make a well in the center and add the eggs. Using the paddle attachment, mix the ingredients till combined and a shaggy dough forms. Turn onto a counter and knead for 3-5 minutes until a smooth ball forms. It should be firm and not sticky. Dust with flour and continue kneading if it’s too sticky. Divide into two balls. cover in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

For the sauce:

In a large skillet, add the oil and heat over medium. Add the garlic and sauté until garlic is soft and fragrant, about two minutes. Be careful not to let it burn. Add the tomatoes, sugar, salt and pepper, hooligans and capers. Bring to a simmer. Let simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, while you make the pasta.

Place a large pot of salted water to boil.

Using either a hand-crank pasta roller or a Kitchen Aid pasta roller, begin to make your pasta. Divide each ball of dough into four equal balls, covering the ones you aren’t working with. Flatten the ball with your palm. Run it through the largest setting on the pasta roller. Fold the piece into thirds and roll it through again. Do this about five times till the piece is evenly shaped and smooth. If it’s too sticky dust each side lightly with flour.

Move the roller to the next setting and run the dough through once. Continue running the dough through each smaller setting till it’s the thinnest it can possibly be. On the Kitchen Aid roller it’s setting 8. Drape the sheet of pasta on a laundry drying rack while you continue rolling out the remaining balls of dough.

When all the dough is rolled out, switch to the fettuccine roller. Roll all the sheets onto a tray dusted lightly with semolina. Boil the pasta for just a couple of minutes, until al dente. If your pot isn’t large enough you may need to boil in two batches. Reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water and add it to the sauce along with the chopped basil.

Drain the pasta and toss with a little bit of the sauce to keep the noodles from sticking. Grate some fresh pecorino Romano cheese over your pasta and serve with a simple salad.

Cooking, Italian, Pasta, recipes

Squash and Spinach Ravioli

October 17, 2017 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Sometimes a dish is too good to blog. I’m so busy eating it I don’t think to photograph it. But then some dishes are so good that I have to make them two days in a row just to blog about it.

Last night a friend came over so I could show him how to make ravioli. I winged the filling by using ingredients I already had: delicata squash, frozen chopped spinach, cottage cheese and pecorino Romano cheese.

These tender, flavorful morsels were so good, I just had to make them a day later and share them with my best friend, Kelly.

Squash and spinach ravioli

You will want/need a pasta rolling machine for this recipe – or a wine bottle and a lot of patience.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients for the dough:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 eggs + 1 yolk
2 tablespoons milk
pinch of salt

Ingredients for the filling:

1 medium delicata squash (sub pretty much any other kind of squash here)
1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/2 cup cottage cheese (sub ricotta if you’d like)
1/2 cup grated pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 clove of garlic, minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut the squash in half lengthwise. Cut each half in half. Scoop out the seeds and rub all over with olive oil. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 45 minutes or until flesh is pierced easily with a fork. Remove from oven and cool.

While squash is cooling, make the dough. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Add the eggs, milk and salt to the well and whisk together, slowly incorporating the flour until a shaggy dough forms.

Remove from bowl and knead on a floured surface for a couple of minutes. The dough should be smooth and elastic. If it is too wet, add more flour. If it’s too dry, add a little more milk. Continue to knead for a few more minutes, then wrap the dough ball in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Heat a small pan with the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Place into a medium mixing bowl. Squeeze as much of the liquid out of the spinach as you can and add to the bowl. Scrape the squash into the bowl and add the rest of the filling ingredients. Mix with a fork until well combined. Set aside.

Set up your pasta roller and put it on the biggest setting. Take a palm-sized piece of dough and pat it flat. Run it through the pasta roller one time. It may be tough but it’s ok to press it through unevenly. You’ll be using this largest setting to knead the dough for you.

After the first time through, fold the dough in half and run it through again. Continue folding the dough and running it through four or five more times. Now advance your pasta roller to the next setting and run the dough through once.

Continue narrowing the roller and running the dough through once each time until it’s your desired thickness. Each pasta maker is a little different. With my KitchenAid roller I go to setting 6.

Lay your dough on a lightly floured surface or drape it on a bamboo clothes drying rack while you finish the other pieces of dough.

Now it’s time to assemble your ravioli. First, put a salted pot of water on to boil. Take one strip of pasta and place 1 teaspoon of filling across the bottom of one side, about one inch apart with a 1/2-inch space from the edge.

Fold the long side of the dough in half over the filling and start pressing lightly all around, pushing out air as you go. Press around all the filling so the pasta sticks to itself.

Using a pastry scraper or pizza cutter, cut your dough into individual ravioli. Be sure to cut the long edge because the cutting actually seals the pasta.

Boil your ravioli in two batches. Once the pot returns to a boil, simmer the pasta for just a few minutes until it’s al dente. I like to take a ravioli out of the pot and cut off a corner to test the doneness.

Use a large slotted spoon or spider to remove the ravioli from the pot. Place into shallow serving bowls. Top with a little butter, good olive oil, more pecorino Romano cheese, and a generous amount of freshly ground pepper. Serve with green beans and Italian sausage.

Cooking, Pasta, recipes

Chicken lasagna with artichokes and white sauce

January 29, 2017 alaskaknitnat Leave a comment

Every once in a while I have the wherewithal to make lasagna with homemade noodles. This evening I decided to try something different. Instead of traditional red sauce and ricotta I made a creamy béchamel sauce and layered the spinach noodles with shredded chicken and marinated artichoke hearts. The marinade from the artichokes added a tangy flavor to the dish and the creamy sauce was pure deliciousness. You can of course use store-bought noodles, but there’s something fancy about fresh pasta.