Agnolotti

Sometimes out of boredom is born the desire to create!!! And that is exactly what happened today! While the boys were watching football, my daughter and I decided to use some girl time to putter in the kitchen. I had cut out a recipe a long time ago from a magazine on homemade agnolotti, a type of giant ravioli, which I wanted to try. And even though I didn't have the exact ingredients for the filling, the recipe gave me some good ideas of what type of filling was needed. So I raided my freezer and found the ingredients that turned out to be perfect for the filling. We used ground turkey and frozen spinach, along with pancetta and parmesan cheese and a couple of eggs to hold it all together...and voila!!! A delicious filling was created! After this we proceeded to make the fresh pasta sheets - as always, this was lots of fun. Once the sheets were made we placed generous round balls of filling in a neat row and added another pasta sheet on top. Using a bit of water to seal the edges, we used a special roller blade and cut out the agnolotti. They turned out beautifully - even though they aren't all even in size! Some bigger than others..but hey...that's the beauty of things homemade!

Unfortunately, nobody will be home tonight to enjoy these wonderful creations so I decided to freeze them for future dinners...once I try them, I will update this and let you know how they turned out :)

Homemade Pasta

Today, my husband and I decided to make some homemade pasta. It's always a bit of a messy ordeal, but the results are always so good. After many years of having my mom's homemade pasta, I figured it was time I learned to make it myself. So for Mother's Day this year, I asked for a hand-crank Pasta machine. My family was thrilled that they finally knew what to get me as a gift that I really wanted. So they ran out and bought one immediately.


Since then, I have used it several times, and each time it has been a real joy to make the pasta. When I make it, I make a lot so that I can dry it and then save it in the refrigerator for use when I need it. There is nothing like fresh pasta - especially because you know exactly what is in it :) Evidently every region of Italy has its own way of making the pasta dough: some use more eggs, less eggs, water, no water, and on and on. I use a basic recipe which I think is very versatile: 2 1/2 cups flour, 4-5 eggs, a little oil, a little salt, and a little water. That's it!!! It's incredible how simple the ingredients are! And voila...delicious pasta that melts in your mouth when you eat it!!