urban odds & ends

Gosh, I love this weather! :) It's real indian summer with bright blue sky and almost 25°C (felt). At the end of the week we're packing our bags and heading of to Firenze in Italy. I'm really excited to see the tuscan landscape and enjoying some nice vino with traditional italian food... and maybe some gelato, too... ha!


For this occsasion I'm sharing today a recipe I tried just yesterday. It's a pasta roll filled with butternut squash, ricotta and spinach. The roasted squash is really good and I ate it today on it's own - yum! It's a little on the time-consuming side but give it a try, it's really worth it.

Pastar Roll Filled with Squash, Spinach & Ricotta  
serves 4 - adapted from Jamie Oliver - Jamie's Italian

1 recipe fresh pasta dough (see recipe below)
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and deseeded - cut into big cubes
800g spinach, fresh or frozen
150g Ricotta
250g butter
50g freshly grated parmesan
1 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel seeds
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp dried majoram
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 dried red chilli (I used a whole one, I like it pretty hot)
2 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
20 fresh sage leaves
olive oil
salt & pepper

After preparing the dough heat up your oven to 220°C (430°F). To make the seasoning for the squash, grind the coriander seeds, fennel seeds, the dried chili with some coarse sea salt and black pepper in a mortar or food processor. Place the squash cubes in a ovenproof baking dish and give it a rub with some olive oil and the prepared seasoning. Cover with some moistened parchment paper and bake in the oven around 30 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes until golden. Meanwhile heat up a pot over medium heat and add the olive oil, garlic, majoram and oregano. When the spices are sizzeling heat up to high heat and add the spinach. Cook until no liquid remains. Season with the nutmeg, salt, pepper and add 1-2 tbsp of butter. Set aside and let cool down a little.

Take your prepared dough and roll with a rolling pin into a rectangle in the size of a clean kitchen towl. Now place it carefully on a kitchen towl and turn so the longer side is facing you. Place the squash in a line on the lower rim. Sprinkle the spinach over the remaining dough, leaving a free space approx. 5cm to the upper rim. Scoop the ricotta over the spinach and sprinkle with parmesan. Brush the upper rim of the dough with water and form a roll starting with the lower side, wrapping the role in the towel and secure both ends with kitchen yarn.
Place in a large pot with boiling salted water and make sure that the whole roll is covered with water. Cook for 25 minutes.

Put the butter in a ovenproof bowl and melt in the oven at 80°C (175°F)  around 10-15 minutes. Discard the white flakes on top and spoon the clear butter into a clean bowl. Discard the white remains at the bottom of the bowl. Take 5 tbsp of the clarified butter and heat it to high heat in a small pot.  Fry the sage leaves until crisp.

Remove the pasta roll from the pot, unwrap and cut into slices. Arrange on plates, spoon over some sage butter and top with the crispy sage leaves and some more grated parmesan.

Pasta Dough

600g flour (Tipo '00' is recommended, I used 450)
6 eggs

Grab a large bowl and add flour and eggs. Whisk together with a fork, then kneed it with your hand until a silky smooth ball forms. Wrap in cling film and chill at least 30 minutes.

Wow, this weekend was hot! The temperatures climbed up to almost 40°C! This makes even normal breathing to a sweaty event. We spent our weekend barbeque-ing with our friends, watching the World Cup (Schland!) and enjoying some boozy drinks (two-finger wide Liquer 43 with milk - yum!).

Today I'd like to share this basic recipe for homemade pasta and a ravioli variation with a tomato sauce. Preparing the dough in the pasta machine is actually kinda relaxing. Maybe I should write a book "Modern Meditation: The Pasta Effect"... sorry, this has to be the heat outside... ;)

Basic Pasta Dough serves 4

330g flour, preferably '00' pasta flour
3 medium eggs
3 tbsp olive oil

In a bowl combine the flour, eggs and olive oil. Knead the dough until it has come together and is smooth with a silky glow, if it's too wet add more flour and the other way round, if it's to crumbly add a little more oil. Divide it into 4 blocks, wrap it into cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes (or up to 2 days).


Dust your work surface with flour and set your pasta machine to the widest setting. Take one piece of the dough and flatten it on the floured surface with a rolling pin. Pass the dough through the pasta machine, fold it one time and repeat at the same setting. Now narrow the setting and repeat. Go on until you get to the lowest setting. When each sheet is rolled, keep it under a moist towel so it won't dry out.


For ravioli it's the best to make the dough as thin as possible, because the filling is the main character. Of course you can shape with this basic pasta dough every other shape you like. For thin spaghetti or tagliatelle I would stop a little earlier (maybe 7 from 9 possible settings).



Ravioli with Spinach Ricotta Filling & Tomato Sauce serves 4

prepared pasta dough
400g tomatoes, canned and whole - pierced with a fork
200g ricotta
200g spinach, frozen
2 handful of grated parmesan
1 handful of basil, roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
1 red onion, finely diced
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 egg white, beaten
salt & pepper
oil

Heat a large pan over medium high heat and add the oil and garlic slices of one glove while still cool. So the oil has time to infuse with garlic flavor. Add the frozen spinach and cook until defrosted and the water is fully evaporated for around 10 minutes. Set aside and let it cool down a little. Transfer to a board and chop the spinach roughly. In a separate bowl combine the ricotta, 1 handful of parmesan and spinach, season to taste with salt and pepper.

Transfer the prepared dough to a generously floured work surface. Use a pastry cutter or the rim of a glass (~ 6cm in diameter) to stamp out discs. Place a heaped teaspoon of filling in the centre of disc, brush the border with a little egg white and place the other pasta disc on top. Gently press out any air as you seal the edges together firmly, unless the ravioli will burst in the cooking water. As they are made, place the ravioli on a tray or plate sprinkled with plenty of semolina. Leave it to dry for around 15 minutes. The ravioli can be stored covered with cling film up to a day in the fridge.

In the meantime prepare the tomato sauce, see recipe below.

Heat in a large pot salted water to the boil. Cook the pasta for 2-3 minutes or until al dente. Drain and retain some of the cooking water.

Tomato Sauce

Heat a pan over medium heat, add the oil and onions and cook until the onions are translucent. In the last minute add the sliced garlic. Add the tomatoes and let it simmer around 30 minutes until the sauce is rather thick and very aromatic. Remove from heat and stir in the remaining parmesan and the basil. Season to taste, then stir in the cooked ravioli carefully. At this point you can adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding spoon by spoon of the reserved cooking water until preferred sauciness ;) Divide among the plates and serve with plenty of parmesan on top!