Boys Are Back

Tuesday Night Dinner Club is back! Sorry to all of our loyal followers for our lack of communication over the last few weeks. The Red Sox had a magical playoff run, last week were the midterm elections and life sometimes can get in the way. It is always good to get the gang back together and tonight was no different. We wanted to challenge ourselves with a recipe we have made in the past, but have not perfected. Tonight on the menu were homemade ravioli. This was a from scratch effort and everything from the dough to the filling was handmade.

This meal was not only decadent, but light on the wallet for all of you on a tight budget. The market was a quick trip since I only needed to pick up whole wheat flour, eggs, ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, fresh sage, garlic, sweet potatoes and spinach. When you start off making homemade ravioli, you have to start with the dough. We combined 4 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 pinches of salt, 2 teaspoons of olive oil, 4 eggs and 3 cups of water. You want to make the flour into the shape of a volcano and then pour the rest of the ingredients in the middle. Knead the dough into a ball until it is smooth and then wrap in plastic wrap, placing it in the fridge for an hour. Once the hour is up, roll out the dough as thin as you possibly can. For the filling, we used a mixture of 16 ounces of ricotta cheese, spinach, sage, a cup of parmesan and 1 egg. Mix the mixture until there are no chunks and then fill the raviolis. Cut the homemade dough into 2 even halves, putting one half aside. On the other half place a spoonful of filling about half an inch from each other. When the filling is placed evenly, take the other half of the dough and place it over the half with the filling. Press tightly around each filling spot and then cut out the ravioli into your desired shape. Once cut out, use a fork to close the edges and boil for 8 minutes. We also had a sweet potato filling that included roasted mashed sweet potatoes, salt and pepper. After the 8 minute boil, place the ravioli on a paper towel for 2 minutes and then you are ready to eat! This time around we tried to be a little more generous on the body by using whole wheat flour.

The raviolis looked like they came straight out of an Italian kitchen. This time around we had no explosions while cooking because we ensured they were tightly sealed with a fork. Ravioli is a food I loved since I was a kid and continue to love it to this day. I am impressed that I was able to replicate one of my favorite childhood foods and do so better than what used to come out of the bag. Everything is going well with the men of TNDC. This weekend we are having our yearly Friendsgiving. We just wanted to thank all who served our country since this past weekend was Veteran’s Day. If you fight for our country you are a hero in our eyes. So thank you to all of the Veteran’s for making nights like this possible. Until next week…

MW

Smile

#wp