Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Lisa,

The reason why the trays up your casualty rate is that you can't get all the air out, necessarily.

Alina - I've never done an online cooking class, so I would be interested in how that works. Do you know if it is "live" a group thing, with a different task each day or week, where if several people signed up together we could compare notes? Or is it just download, read and do?

Becky - That is great news, I am going to try them at some point, when I get to where I can make regular ravioli predictably.

This thread has inspired me. Today I am making some goat milk ricotta. I will try Amy's dough recipe with a spinach ricotta filling. I'll still be cutting with my regular circle cutter and rolling out the dough by hand. Fortunately, you can't get the KitchenAid attachment locally or I would probably have a $70 impulse purchase on my hands. (I can get it at Macy's but it is $120 and the price difference is too much to swallow!)

--Lisa

Lisa,

If you have a fluted cutter, I'd use that. This is a very soft dough, so be aware.

Amy

Hi Amy,

I have one of these traditional cutters which I think is 1 1/2" in diameter, and I have this large spring loaded press I mentioned earlier (3 1/2"). I am actually fine with using either. Do you have a recommendation between the two for a ravioli novice?

I am hoping the softness of the dough will help it to roll out more thinly by hand. It is resting now, and the ricotta is draining.

Thanks,

--Lisa

Lisa, I have not done one of this either, but from the ad it seems you can do it at your own pace and go back as many times as you want.

When I got my KA -pasta attachments, I just googled the name of the two sets I wanted with "best price". I ended up getting each from a different place, but substantially less than I would have paid locally. I happened to hit a sale at Sears with free shipping and can't remember the other place, though it is were I got my last Exopat parchment I think. Its been a while. Once you pick an online place, don't forget to look in Retailmenot.com and/or Ebates for extra discounts (e.g., I went to Sears through Ebates, so I got cash back in addition to the discount price.)

Lisa,

You may want to try both and see how they work for you. I've not used either, although I simply use a fluted pastry cutter which is similar to the first one you posted. Bon chance!

Amy

Thanks for all the feedback all. I'll take the plunge and let you know how I do. If I get spinach cheese soup again I will stick to tagliatelle.

--Lisa

You are all amazing. I made my first successful ravioli tonight! I used the traditional open cutter. I probably over did it on the pressing together. I cooked 21 pieces, and although I had at least two I could see an air bubble in, I think the gentle simmer kept them from bursting. I believe that part of my problem in the past was cooking them at too hard a boil. Not a single failure!

For the sauce I used some browned butter, the last couple of tablespoons of filling and a touch of heavy cream.

A few lessons learned:
I made a mistake with the dough. I left it to rest several hours wrapped on the counter while I did some chores and it got a bit greasy (lesson: rest butter doughs in the fridge in August in Florida).
A second lesson learned is to completely chill the filling. The filling was a bit too loose and made patting around it harder than anticipated.

I have a handful of dough left that was as tight as a rubber band after being rolled twice. I've wrapped it and put it in the fridge and I will try to cut some rough tagliatelle from it for a side dish later in the week. If it doesn't work out, no loss since it is scrap.

So, thanks to Darcie for staring this thread and to Amy for her dough recipe. And thanks to the rest of you for good ideas and advice. I feel so accomplished tonight.



Thanks again,

--Lisa

PS - the other half of the batch is already in the freezer. Mmmm

Lisa,

Goat ricotta? Do you have a recipe for that?

Lisa, one word. Beautiful!

fitzie