Homemade Ravioli

While I was in Italy, one thing that we learned to make in cooking class was homemade ravioli. This was our special meal for our last night there and it was highly anticipated and it definitely did not disappoint. I'm not a huge ravioli eater but this was absolutely amazing. A few weeks ago Krysta and I decided we should try and attempt to make this from the "recipe" we got from them to see how it went. I put recipe like that because when the grandma was cooking it was very general instructions we got and there was also a language barrier so sometimes for example in other recipes they would be saying one spice like marjoram but would be showing us basil so we kind of had to wing it.

These are from when they made them in Italy for us

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This is the general recipe, courtesy of note takers Leah and Krysta:
Makes enough for around 4 people

Take 300 grams of (very hot boiling) water and 500g of flour and add to a bowl slowly adding the flour so that it doesn't become sticky

o    Pour a bit of olive oil in (~25gm)

o    Plus a pinch of salt

o    Mix really well together with hands

-    Roll and kneed into a dough ball and add more flour until it is not sticky

-        Let it relax for a couple minutes (haha we don't really know what this means but we let it sit for a few minutes anyways)

    Will make ~4-6 sheets

Filling

o    Sheep cheese, parmesan, and ricotta 

o    Mix the cheeses all together (lots of sheep and ricotta (about 1:1), less Parmesan)-Krysta and I think we used about 250g of the sheep and ricotta cheese and then maybe ~100g of the Parmesan and this was for a double recipe of the dough

o    Add some fresh thyme and marjoram in and a dash of salt

o    Fold and mix with hands well

 Sheets of dough

o    Flour the surface

o    Cut dough ball into four

o    Roll thin paper ~one millimeter thick, and a big rectangular shape

-        Then take cheese mix and put little balls of filling every 5 cm; Balls should be ~size of nickel

-        Take another sheet of dough and drape over the first sheet and filling

-        Cut each one out with a shot glass

     Boil water and then add the ravioli. They are finished when they float to the top, which should only take around 3 minutes

 Sauce

o    Heat olive oil in the pan and fry the onion (we used about 1/4 of a small onion) then zucchini (about half of small zucchini) 

o    Cook until half cooked then put in prosciutto and cook really well

o    On the side mix heavy cream 250mL and 100g of parmesan

Then add the cream to the oil and veggies and cook on high heat for a  few mins until heavy cream gets thicker. Once the sauce is ready add the ravioli and then it is ready to serve!

It didn't end up looking like the ones in Italy but they were actually really tasty! This may be because we made them 3 months since the trip so we had forgotten how good the original homemade Italian ones were but that's okay as long as we think they taste good now. 

-A

Back to School

We are Back!

Mel and I have been horrible bloggers this entire summer... we were probably sad once we returned home that we wouldn't get to blog about our trips anymore :( but it was probably a good break for us since we are on our computers so much during the school year.

This summer wasn't super experimental for me in the cooking department because I was always rushing home from work and then off to events or to hang with friends, but one thing I did make was Eggplant Parmesana. We were shown very generally how to make this in Italy so I wanted to try and home and see if I could replicate it...at least to the best of my ability.

 First I cut up two eggplants and soaked them in salt water to get rid of the bitterness.

I can't remember how long I let it soak...I think at least an hour or so
Then you fry it up with a ton of olive oil, as the Italians would say. I never used to cook or fry with olive oil unless it was just salads because of the low boiling point but apparently as long as you cook it at medium temperature that is not high enough to cause problems. I will have to research more into this though. When in doubt use grapeseed oil!

Then while this was all going on I made a homemade fresh tomato sauce. I used fresh tomatoes and basil from the garden and poured in a lot of olive oil to get that amazing taste I was used to in Europe (of high fat foods).

While I was waiting for everything to cook, I grated some fresh parmesan and preheated the oven to 350 degrees Celsius.

Then you just layer it.

Then topped it with some Mozzarella

Cook it in the oven for 50 minutes and out comes this:

I'm not sure if it was good as the mom's cooking in Italy but it was still delicious and I was pretty happy with it, my family loved it and ate it all up.

-A

Firenze

The past two days, Patti and I have been in Florence. Our hotel is conveniently located by the Ponte Vecchio. When I was 14, we visted Florence on a cruise for a day so we saw all the main sites such as the Uffizi gallery, so this time around we were less stressed to get those all in and mostly explored the city and shopped! The first day we walked along the shops by our hotel towards the Ponte Vecchio, it was extremely windy and not very warm compared to the south of Italy. I gave quite the show for everyone on the Ponte Vecchio when my dress flew up and exposed my bare bum! An old lady walked by me and laughed with me and my mom and an old man were laughing from a distance. The rest of the day was annoying because I had to hold my dress extremely tight to my body. 

I love finding random art on walls. 

We walked these stairs to get a panoramic view of the city. I had to pay 1 euro to pee, which is something I have to say I do not love about Europe. 

We also stumbled upon the Piazza della Signoria, with the statue of David, which we have seen before but was still magnificant to see.

I really think more men these days should have butts like these. Maybe if they walked all these arches they might-says Patti (obviously still bitter about our long walk in Bologna).

Good motto to live by

Patti bargaining for her ink/watercolour painting, my eye colour got it down to a low price according to the seller

For dinner we went to Carrozze, which was pretty good but nothing compares to La Casereccia in Forio. I was mad because I wore my jumpsuit for the very first time and got olive oil on it! I went home and used powder and dish soap from the hotel and the next morning woke up with bleach stains on it! My one big purchase from Europe ruined. I found it in Florence today but it only came in blue, so I'm looking slightly like a janitor but that's okay I'm still going to love it out of principle! 

Today we went to the Mercato Centrale and did some bargaining for purses and visted the food market

It's hard to see but this place had an orgasmic sandwich. It was very tempting but we passed on it beacuse we were not sure what consituted orgasmic. 

Patti and I have been very good at hopping on English tours. We were lost for a bit finding the Market but deicded to hop on an tour because we thought they were maybe coming here. They ended up going to slow for me and I do not think they were even going to the market so I used my navigation skills and got us there myself. We also secretly hopped on another tour in the market that was explaining the different sandwiches and booths. 

Look at the second thing...it's a very hairy boar's leg

I should have put something beside this for comparison but this pasta is as long as my arm

Free yummy samples

We ate the tasty Fragoline

After the markets we looked at the Duomo

This little horsey was getting impatient and started stomping his hoof. Then the owner yelled at him and the horse started licking his face

We didn't have lunch today but we stopped by Venchi and had an amazing crepe, which was super rich (and a caffe latte since I've grown accustom to having that daily in class in Forio)

For dinner tonight we went to Il Guscio, which was really good but what we ordered was a little bit too seafoody for me. Mostly because Patti was afraid to order the rabbit ragu (even though I've eaten a full rabbit in Forio). It is off the tourist path but still very easy to find. 

Taryn will love my eye in this picture since she spent all trip trying to prevent the eye droop

I ordered some house wine so my mom could experience Italian wine (we drank the house wine every single night in Forio) It was delicious but her tolerance is not up there and she only had a few sips before getting a bit silly

Mom told me scampi is just like shrimp....but this is not just like a shrimp to me! I still tried it but it was a bit too sea water tasting for me

This was also a fished based sauce

Tomorrow is our last day in Florence and we only have about an hour to work the markets before we have to head to the airport

-A