Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Day 18 Local Eating Community Giveback

March 23, 2011

Breakfast
2 Eggs Sunny Up
w/ kraut and toast

Lunch
Swallowtail Yogurt
w/ Honey

Dinner
Porcini Ravioli

So making an all local pasta isn't something we are unfamilar with, however it is rather time consuming and we seem to wing it every time because all the "recipes" call for certain flours that are not available locally.  In the state of Maine we are very lucky to have a couple old mills that processes all of our wonderful flours.  Currently we have whole wheat, cornmeal, buckwheat and rye flourEvery time we make pasta I tend to explore a new combination of flour types to see how it holds up...

But before I get ahead of myself I should list the ingredients we needed for the whole recipe.
 
Cheese... chunks of Swallowtail Farm Parmesan, Ricotta & Mozzarella as well as some Sunset Acres Herbed Goat Cheese.1 whole bulb of Garlic and Red Shallots
Dried Porcini Mushrooms (soaked) from Oyster Creek Mushroom Company
 7 Fresh Eggs from Maine-ly Poultry
Whole Wheat Flour & Buckwheat Flour

 Ok with those ready to go... we start with sifting the flour...
 4 cups Whole Wheat / 2 cups Buckwheat
you'll notice the "hulls" collect in the sifter... discard and continue till you
cant pull any more out of the mixture...
 With the flour is ready... create a well and add your eggs into the well...
I pre-beat the eggs this time and it seemed to help with the mixing process !
 After thoroughly mixing the flour and egg and a small (1/4 cup-1/2 cup) amount of water...
Need the dough into manageable balls until the mixture is of an even consistency! 
 Let the balls rest for 10-20 minutes
From there comes the tedious process of running small chunks of the dough through
the pasta rollers... constantly folding the sheets in half and re pressing them through the rollers.
The more you roll out your pasta the more likely it will hold its form when you boil it. 
We usually pull every sheet through 6-10 times till it reaches the desired thickness.
With the pasta in sheets it was time to trim them up...
this step of trimming isn't quite as important when making things like
fettuccine or spaghetti but an even edge is what we needed for tonight's
ravioli dinner !
Now for the ravioli filling... we just combined all the cheeses in various amount... to taste, that way you get to eat a little during the cooking process...along with cheese we added half of the
hydrated porcini mushrooms as well as half of the garlic and shallots that I had previously sauteed in a little raw butter.
After the filling was complete... it was time to cut the pasta sheets into the ravioli size
we desired...
a heaping dab into the middle of each sheet...
encase it with a top and press the sides with a fork...
the meal is nearing completion... bring a big pot of water to a boil !
Not bad for our first Whole Wheat Ravioli !
Into the boiling water they go... while also sauteing a pan containing
the remaining shallots, garlic and mushrooms with a dab of butter.
I also hit it with a splash of red wine to enrich the flavor a little more...
Dinner is finally coming together after only 3 hours....
now I remember why this is such a treat !
And there is the final dish with a little more grated Parmesan to top it off
I think we were so excited to eat after such a long time preparing dinner that we never got a great picture of the final product... but I can tell you honestly that they were fantastic...
and we planned well for leftovers !
We cut the remains of the pasta sheet into a hearty Fettuccine that will
get us through the rest of the work week with a smile on our face !

Check back soon to see what we do with the fettuccine...


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