ravioli-oli-oli

so, i made homemade ravioli. like an italian grandma. seriously. it's very easy, tasty, and you can fill up the ravioli with whatever you want! (ours had ricotta, of course, and spinach.)

ravioli-oli-oli
1. mix 2 cups flour with 2 eggs and enough water to make it stick together. (i was following a recipe from an italian cookbook from 1967 but it didn't call for enough water to make it stick together.) i would start with a couple of tablespoons and keep adding until it sticks. also, i used my hands to mix it because my pastry blender was getting so messy.
2. roll out the dough REALLY thin. mine was a bit too thick, so some of the ravioli were too doughy.
3. put a teaspoon of your ricotta mixture (one cup ricotta, 1 egg, 1/3 bunch grated spinach, dab of salt, pepper, garlic powder) onto the dough.
4. cut enough dough around the mixture with enough dough available to be able to seal the mixture inside. i used my hands to seal it but it would be nice to have a pastry crimper.
5. boil for 20 minutes in salted water. at first, they stick to the bottom of the pot so you have stir them a bit. eventually, they will float.
6. top with sauce of your choice. (ours was a tomato sauce with fresh green bell peppers, onion, and garlic.)

really, food is so much better when you make it yourself. there are weird ingredients and preservatives in packaged food. ours was the real deal. yum.

i almost forgot.

last week, i made baked eggs. blake was especially skeptical of this dish because he's picky and really only likes his eggs scrambled. but, even blake liked them. and it was so very easy.

1. turn on the oven. i was making banana bread already so my oven was at 350. (the barefoot contessa, my favorite celebrity chef, says to do this in the broiler, but, again, i was already using the oven...)
2. take a small dish that can go in the oven (i used a 2-cup pyrex with a flat bottom, like the small ones seen here.) and put in a dab of butter, maybe 1/2 tbsp and about 2 tbsp milk or cream. put it in the oven until the butter/milk is hot and bubbly.
3. crack 2 eggs in a separate bowl and then pour the eggs into the pyrex.
4. sprinkle some chopped fresh garlic over the eggs. i also used rosemary and savory spices, but you can use whatever you like.
5. put it in the oven until the whites look cooked.

it's so good. i thought about it for days afterwards.

new year.

so, happy 2008.

i am ready for this year. ready for new things.

i am not really the resolution-writer, but i am promising to eat better this year. more GOOD food. i think michael pollan hit the nail on the head as he wrote, "eat food. not too much. mostly plants." i like this so much that i am thinking of painting it on my kitchen wall. we'll see. BUT it just makes so much sense. i try to eat food that makes sense. i want to be able to pronounce what it is in my food.

so i am thinking of cooking classes in the new year. new knives. someone to teach me how to hold a knife properly. maybe cooking classes in a foreign country. i want to see more countries. more of the world. i haven't been enough places yet.

AND i am turning 30. in a month. i am looking forward to 30, but it seems like a serious number. like it means something. i hope for incredible things... like more beer like blake brought home last night. a tasty way to start the year. so good. how do those belgians do it? and they are mostly monks. i guess they have plenty of time for the beer-brewing.

so happy 2008.