turkey florentine raviolis

well, after breaking down and admitting that not EVERYTHING i touch turns into culinary gold, it is only appropriate that i should post culinary platinum. turkey florentine raviolis. i whipped up forty good-sized raviolis on sunday-- really, like biggish. maybe 3 inch squares. maybe bigger. or smaller. this is not a geometry blog, okay? you're going to have to settle for "biggish."


for this recipe, you NEED a pasta roller of some kind. i use the attachment for my fucking awesome small appliance of all trades: the standing mixer. maybe YOU can roll them by hand, but i don't have that kind of patience. so.


equipment:

• standing mixer (with flat beater & dough hook)
• pasta roller
• pastry brush

ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups of flour (plus extra for dusting)
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• about 1/8 cup of water (more or less as needed)
• 6 eggs
• about a pound of ground turkey (i used 1.2 cause that's how much was in the package)
• garlic (fresh or powder)
• basil (fresh or dried)
• fresh parsley, chopped finely (like... 1/4 cup. ish.)
• whatever other spices you like in your pasta
• sea salt
• grated parmesan (or whatever...)
• 1/2-1 cup of finely chopped frozen spinach, cooked
• 1/2-3/4 cup shredded mozzarella
• homemade or jarred red gravy of your choice

prep:

• saute turkey and spices together (this makes your filling harder to work with, but more flavorful. feel free to skip it if you want to sacrifice the awesome deliciousness or if your fine motor skills aren't up to par.)
• make sure your cheeses are shredded and your herbs are chopped

actual cooking:

• combine flour, four eggs, salt & water in mixer (or by hand) with a flat beater at low speed. you've got the right amount of water when a small bit of dough sticks together if pressed. it will look too crumbly if you're not squishing it. that's okay.
• knead with dough hook or by hand until all stuck together (if you're using a dough hook it may need a couple hand squishes)
• cut dough into quarters
• cover 3/4 of dough with damp cloth
• run dough through pasta roller at the lowest setting, fold in half and repeat (3 or 4 times)
• gradually increase the setting until the pasta is as thin as you like (i went with a 4 even though five or six is recommended for raviolis because i didn't want to deal with a very thin dough on my first try)
• when the first piece is done lay it flat, dust it with flour and flip it over to lay flour side down
• do the other 3 pieces, same as the first
• combine one raw egg, cheese, meat and herbs with a bit of sea salt to taste
• score a piece of dough in half (try folding it over vertically to get the center)
• score one side into raviolis (2 rows x however many you can fit)
• brush the scored side with beaten egg
• drop rounded spoonfuls of meat mixture into the center of each square
• fold over the other side VERY GENTLY
• press layers together from the center out (so you don't get air bubbles in your raviolis, which will pop in cooking)
• cut raviolis apart with a ravioli edger, CLEAN pinking shears or a knife
• do the other 3 the same way

the raviolis can either be cooked immediately or frozen in a single layer on a floured baking sheet. one frozen, they can be bagged for later use. this recipe made 40 raviolis for me and 30 were eaten that night. five were lunch the next day, and fiver remain in the freezer for my grandmother-- she likes to taste the wonderful things i make and tell me i'm just like her mother, and to be careful of the evil eye, which can be warded off by making that horn sign with your hands, but it's less conspicuous to tie a red ribbon on your bra. i can't even make this shit up.

serve them with a cheesy or creamy red gravy, salad and bread. and wine. definitely wine.

pie, pie, me oh my

okay. this is the ugly truth: not everything i cook comes out perfect. there. i admitted it. most things that come out wrong the first time are great the second time. some things... are not. like pie.

apparently, i can't bake a pie to save my life. oh, yes, it's true. PIE. my nemesis. i just popped my fourth apple crumb pie in as many weeks into the oven. and it's WRONG. let's break it up into its parts, shall we?

PIE CRUST: pie crust is deceptively simple. four ingredients (flour, fat, salt, water) are gently combined, rolled out beautifully, dropped into a pie plate, decoratively edged and bake up to flaky perfection. right? right. easy enough. i can't do it. i got a pastry blender. i tried it with ice-cold shortening, butter, room temperature shortening, ice water, cool water... every possible adjustment. i've followed the recipe to the letter and i've relied on my instincts. i've conjured up memories of my mother tossing pie crust together like it was nothing and i've stared at the frozen pie crust at trader joe's wondering if anyone would notice if i used one. the same batch of crust that was a perfect base to a pretty good pumpkin pie yesterday is a total crap base to yet another apple crumb pie today. did ya catch that?? THE SAME BATCH of pie crust is acting totally different today. i don't know what to do.

APPLE FILLING: my apple fillings ranged from sticky and squashy (when i forgot to cut in the butter!) to sour and crispy (pretty much every other time!) i'm trying to find rome apples, but so far i've been stuck with granny smith's. not. working.

CRUMB TOPPING: probably impossible to get WRONG, but still never quite RIGHT. there's no definition to my crumbs. but, seriously? sugar, butter, spice, flour. it's always delicious.

my fourth attempt at apple crumb pie is smelling delicious just now, almost half an hour into baking. i think the little bastard is lying-- just taunting me with it's perfect smell so that, later, after our guests enjoy the turkey, spinach and parmesan raviolis i made FROM INGREDIENTS, then can be shocked at appalled at how very, very BAD my pie is. but at least bill won't have to eat ANOTHER mediocre apple crumb pie all by himself.

veggie fried rice

this is a per-serving recipe. i can't think of any reason not to multiply the number of people (+ at least two, for safety) by the amount of each ingredient. if you have a big enough pan, that is.

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup leftover (or chilled) rice
• 1/2-3/4 cup mixed veggies, chopped (i used a frozen blend form trader joe's [organic foursome] 1/4 of a small onion and 3 asparagus spears)
• 1 egg
• canola oil (a spray is ideal)
• soy sauce

prep:

• cook your rice yesterday

actual cooking:

• spray a medium-sized frying pan (at medium-high heat) with canola oil
• add veggies, stir
• add rice, stir
• (spritz with oil)
• add a drizzle of soy sauce to taste
• cover and let the flavors blend (two minutes, tops, and make sure everything's well lubricated)
• push rice mixture to the sides of the pan (basically, make a very big well)
• spray pan with oil
• pour in scrambled egg
• scramble the egg alone until almost done, then pull in rice mixture

believe it or not, it is very important to salt your rice water, but not too much, or this dish is really bland-- even with the soy sauce. and a small note on veggies: the organic foursome is perfect with julienned carrots, corn, peas and chopped green beans, onion is pretty much a must and asparagus is just yummy. i've also enjoyed veggie fried rice with mung sprouts, brussel sprouts, broccoli and a bunch of other veggies i'm forgetting. be creative!

bagel-rolls

this was my second attempt at bagels. the first time, operating with very vague shaping instructions, i elected to cut the bagels out like biscuits and then cut out a hole in the center. it worked fine, but the hole was too big, and then i was stuck re-rising, re-rolling and re-cutting three times before i gave up and went ahead with the bagel-holes as if they were bagels too. i also had to throw out some dough. this time around i was smarter than the dough. another problem i had the first time around was that, owing to the VERY vague recipe, i didn't dissolve the yeast and sugar in warm enough water. thus, my bagels didn't rise quite right.

also: my instructions are for those working with a standing mixer (and dough hook!). if you're not... um, deal. i don't really know what to tell you. i guess you'll be kneading your dough.

ingredients:

• 1 package of active-dry yeast
• 1 1/2 cups of water at the temperature suggested on the yeast package (110?)
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 4 cups flour
• (toppings or flavor to be mixed in, if you like)

prep:

• dissolve yeast & sugar in water
• put your biggest pot on to boil
• preheat oven to 375 degrees
• sit around for 10 minutes

actual cooking:

• add flour & salt, mix until dough comes away from the edges pretty much completely and picks up most of the scraps (and whatever you want to flavor with: herbs, spices, garlic, bacon bits, whatever! [within reason])
• cover dough with a cloth and leave in a warm place until almost doubled (a while-- like, maybe 40 minutes to an hour)
• punch down dough and put it on a floured surface
• roll dough into a log about 3 inches in diameter
• cut into 8-12 pieces (8 gives you big rolls, 12 gives you dinner rolls) and hand shape into flatish circles
• place the dough on a floured baking sheet and cover with a cloth to rise about 30-40 minutes
• (don't panic if they're still small, they'll rise more in the next step)
• simmer the dough, uncovered, in small batches, for 7 minutes
• drain dough on a towel
• place dough on a greased baking sheet
• (put on any toppings, like sea salt, parmesan cheese, etc.)
• bake bagel-rolls for 30 minutes or until golden brown

and... that's it. don't eat them all in one sitting, i know it's tempting. oh! and one other thing. these last for ABOUT 18 hours. if you want them to last longer, freeze them.

so much to blog...

not enough time.

in the past four days i've made: bagel-rolls, a turkey-taco casserole, a 3rd apple pie (several posts on that, i think), rosemary-olive oil bread and the newly dubbed "autumnal equinox double cake" which i might keep under my hat until closer to thanksgiving.

later.

pilgrim's stew

when i was a kid, my mom always gave her casseroles names like "fireman's stew" or "cowboy stew" to make them sound cool, i guess, so we'd eat them. well, this is "pilgrim's stew." (by me, not my mom.)

ingredients:

• 3/4 poundish of your choice of short macaroni (i used fusili)
• brick of sharp cheddar
• 1/2 pound sliced american cheese
• 1 pound fresh asparagus
• pint of half and half (or milk, heavy cream, skim, whatever)
• 1/4 cup of butter
• 1/4 cup of flour
• package (i dunno how much it was...) ground turkey breast
• sea salt & fresh ground pepper

prep:

• chop asparagus in one inch chunks
• cube or shred cheddar
• cube or tear up american
• cook macaroni per package instructions, rinse in cold water
• cook turkey in nonstick skillet (with about a half cup of water in there you can cover it and not pay too much attention, then let the water boil off when it's done or near done)
• preheat oven to 400

actual cooking:

1. melt butter in medium saucepan
2. add flour and whisk until evenly combined
3. immediately add half and half and continue whisking until combined
4. (now is a good time to add ground pepper and a little salt to taste)
5. add cheese, stirring or whisking until smooth
6. combine cheese sauce, asparagus, macaroni and turkey in a casserole or baking dish
7. bake at about 400 degrees until you think it look browned (about 20 minutes for me)

this turned out to be SO MUCH more delicious than i'd expected. really, wonderful. obviously the base is your average mac and cheese, but the turkey and asparagus make very special.

cooking, bb (before blog): lisa's last birthday cake

i do the bulk of my cooking on the weekends, but just for fun i'm going to post now about a cake that has long since been devoured because i have a picture of it. good idea, right?

lisa may never have another birthday. she's twenty-four and holding. no, no, she's not terminally ill. why would i blog about that? she just doesn't want to get old, and who can blame her? so, for her massive, blow-out, last birthday EVER party, she had a fabulous luau (about three months ago). i got it into my head to bake her a birthday cake and make it SPECTACULAR.

my only ALONE cake-making experience up until then was molded lamb and bunny cakes last easter. they turned out okaaaaaaaaay. next year's will be better. so i enlisted the help of my fabulous friend meg, who can watch 4 kids, decorate a spectacular cake and carry on a serious-ish conversation all at the same time. in my book, that makes you a goddamned superhero. (yay meg!)

so, i told meg what i wanted to do (three tiers: ocean with floor, ocean with fishies, island with hula boy) and she sketched it out. i'm gonna repeat that, because it bears repeating, she sketched it out. then, through some kind of sorcery, she made fantastic yellow and orange fishies that you can EAT. and then she made frosting that coordinated and looked all pretty together. i, meanwhile, bought a wiggily dashboard hula boy from archie mcphee. glorious. i also bought 3 cake carriers in which to transport the three tiers of cake up to west bumble (no offense, lisa, but it is) where the party was. go me.

meg and i made plans to get together and DO IT on the sunday before the (friday) party. that morning i called meg and said something to the effect of, "uhduuuuuuuuuuuuur, whud r we doin wif dis here cake thinger today?" meg, very patiently, told me that we were decorating it. i? had not made the cake. so we made it out of mixes (eh.) and i watched while meg decorated it. things didn't QUITE work out as sketched because the mix cake didn't get tall like a real cake would have. my bad. but it DID turn out kind of amazing: