Handmade ravioli

[rodandalisonthompson]

I've never experimented much with making fresh pasta.....always felt a bit intimidated. Well, I've decided this weekend is a pasta making adventure.

I have some crawfish tails in the freezer and I'm going to make crawfish ravioli.
I have a recipe in mind, I've been doodling with it this week, and an idea for a sauce that won't be really overly rich or heavy to go with the pasta. I have
some goat cheese and andouille to add to the stuffing.

Any suggestions would be welcomed and I'll post the recipe and pics .....if all goes well and it's edible!!! ;-)

[sagar p]

ImStillMags wrote:

If your first time you might want to use wanton wrappers.
Then practice your pasta making on plain noodles.
When you are confident with both then put them together.

[th2n10s4u]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:35:34 -0800 (PST), ImStillMags
wrote:



I wish I had all those choices, so no suggestions... but please reset
your lines to 70-72!

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

[Bulls_Cheer]

On Fri, 11 Mar 2011 15:40:48 -0800 (PST), ImStillMags
wrote:


Sending pasta luck your way.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

[Wanderer Man]

Making pasta dough is easy; you can go to Food Network and find any
number of good pasta recipes. When I bought my Kitchen Aid Mixer a
few months back I purchased the Ravioli maker, which I did not care
for and learned to make them from hand. I used a knife to cut them
out in squares, but went to the dollar store and got a round cookie
cutter that works much easier. I browned some italian sausage with
finely diced onion and mixed it with ricotta cheese and Parmesan and
parsley and an egg to hold everything together and filled the Ravioli
with those and it was delicious. They freeze well also.

[etepsnewo]

"Omelet" wrote,


That brings back memories! Before my current set of pets, I used to do
that. Now, they eat'em as treats (good for them).

[joey boi]

"Omelet" wrote


Great! I've got adobo chicken going just now.


Heck no! too much fun to watch the cat get her favorite tidbits out then
dive bomb the waiting dogs with the rest from her perch.

I should get a video camera and do a youtube on it ;-)

PS Chat open! SF may join (if she's not mad at me or something) too.
Steve's fixing a virus offline and Christine is off packing for return to
NM.

[lesmislily]

On Mar 12, 3:30?am, Omelet wrote:


I'm using the liquid from the crawfish. I buy crawfish tail meat in
one pound packs. They are packed with their fat and liquid. I drain
the crawfish and squeeze em a bit to get the liquid and save it to use
for the sauce.

I'm in the process of everything now. I've got my dough made and
resting and the filling is made and cooling.
I've been taking pictures throughout the process and I'll post what I
did.

[Here I come]

On Mar 13, 2:57?am, Omelet wrote:

Well, it was a successful adventure. A very tasty dinner. I could
have done a better job getting the pasta dough a bit thinner for the
ravioli but other than that it was very good. It was a fun afternoon
in the kitchen, of course a glass of wine was on hand !

The pictures are here, just click on the next arrows to see the whole
series:

https://picasaweb.google.com/Sitara8...11319447752226


and here is the recipe and my methodology.....

Crawfish Ravioli With a Cajun Cream Sauce


Ravioli Filling

1 T Olive Oil
1/2 cup minced red onion
3 scallions minced
1 green bell pepper minced
2 cloves garlic minced
1 pound crawfish tail meat (drain and reserve liquid)
1 link andouille sausage diced
1/3 cup white wine
2 T fresh minced parsley
1 tsp dried marjoram
4 ounces goat cheese
1 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp Cajun seasoning (Tony Chachere's) more or less to taste
dash Tabasco

1. In cuisinart, chop crawfish tail meat till finely diced but not
mushy. Put in large bowl. Chop andouille till finely diced and
add to bowl.

2. Cut up onion, scallions garlic and bell pepper and pulse in
cuisinart till minced but not mushy. Saute in olive oil on medium
high heat till vegetables are softened.

Add in crawfish and andouille and saute. Add white wine, Cajun
seasoning and marjoram. Saute till liquid is pretty much gone from
the mixture but don't brown it. Taste for heat and add more Tabasco
if you like...or leave it out, up to you.

Set this mixture aside in the big bowl to cool. ( I stuck in in the
fridge for a bit)
When Cool, add cheeses and mix thoroughly ( I used my hand like
making meatloaf)


Cajun Cream Sauce

When I drained the crawfish tails, I put them in a strainer over a
bowl. I put about a half cup of water in the plastic bag to rinse it
out to get all the leftover juices and then poured that juicy water
over the crawfish to rinse them even a little more to get as much fat
and juice as I could from them. I pressed the crawfish in the
strainer to extract as much juice as I could.

To those juices I added 1/2 cup white wine and set aside.

1 shallot cut in chunks
1 cup sweet cherry tomatoes
2 large cloves garlic

Heat a cast iron skillet over medium high till hot. Put shallot,
cherry tomatoes and garlic in the skillet and shake them around until
they are starting to char and caramelize in spots all over....about 4
minutes or so.

Put them in the cuisinart and add the crawfish/wine liquid. Blend in
pulses till well combined but not smooth.

Put this mixture in the skillet I used to saute the crawfish and
vegetables and brought to a boil and then simmered till reduced by
about a third. Add Cajun seasoning to taste. More or less for
heat but don't over salt. (mine was a tiny bit salty, should have used
cayenne only to add more heat)

Whisk in one cup sour cream (or heavy cream if you prefer, I didn't
have heavy cream so I used sour cream, the heavy cream would have made
the sauce less tangy but the tangy was good)

Pour into a sauce pan (for depth) and puree with a stick blender to
finish the sauce to a smooth consistency. Keep just warm till
service. The sauce thickened with the sour cream and was just silky
but not too thick.

[Whittles]

On Mar 13, 10:31?am, ImStillMags wrote:

Oh, btw. The china in the final picture is from the Fairmont Hotel in
New Orleans. The executive chef was a friend when I lived there. I
had a bad back and was "down in my back" for about a week. He sent
dinner to my house. I kept the dishes. I really like those old
plates because they are deep and just perfect for saucy stuff.