Italian cooking... amore mio (Term3 - Lesson 2)

Finally I could get a bit of time to write this post! I have to apologise for the delay in editing, but at the moment we are moving house so... we are sleeping on the floor and there are everywhere boxes... The laundry room is exploding and every morning each of us ... or better to say I have to do a tresure hunt for a pair of trousers, of socks... underwears... and so on... but my class is in my heart and during this weekend I kept on thinking that I had to edit these recipes so that they can enjoy them with their guests... thinking of me :-) .

Eggs fascinate me a lot... even if I am not really a fan of eggs... but their shape is a work of art and each time I look at them I see their perfection!

Ravioli with pumpkin (4 serves)

For the egg pasta dough. This mixture can also be used for the tagliatelle.
400g high grade flour
4 eggs
1 tbls salt

For the filling
About 300gr pumpkin
3 eggs
150gr grated cheese
1 tbls salt
pinch of pepper

Make a hole in the middle of the flour and break the eggs. Add the salt and start kneating.... and keep on kneating till you have a good consistency... flexible and soft.

At this time I screwed at the table my wonderful pasta machine ... brought from Italy... and we could realize the right thickness for our pasta sheets....

Then everybody could create his own ravioli...

Then we prepared a very simple sauce... butter and sage: fresh sage with about 25gr of butter per person. Don't let the butter burn! It must just melt and ...add a bit of black grounded pepper and... that's it! Savoury and simple as only the italian cousine can be!

Then we had the time to do another recipe!!!

Potatoes gnocchi (4 serves)

1kg Potatoes
300g High grade flour
1 or 2 eggs
1 tbls salt

Cook the potatoes in boiling water. Mash them and add salt, the eggs and the flour. Knead all the ingredients toghether till you reach the wished consistency... add some flour if they are too sticky and then cut them as big as you like... and then don't forget to use the fork to shape them so that the sauce can really stick on them...wow!

We served them with a fantastic tomatoes sauce... the simplest!

Use a can of crushed tomatoes, one onion, a celery stalk and a carrot and 3/4 spoons of olive oil. Let them soften all toghether and add the tomatoes... add a bit of oregano or basil (not parsley!) and adjust the salt. Let all the ingredients cook togheter for about 10 minutes...