Thursday, May 2, 2013

30 before 30: #24 - make a meal for my parents

Can you believe that I managed to strike two more 30 before 30 goals off my list last week and not manage to take a single photo of my accomplishments?! Terrible, I know.

Because of the lack of pictures, you're just going to have to believe me when I tell you that I cooked a pretty delish meal for the "parentals" - my first crack at *filled* pasta from scratch. Basically, I used my colourful pasta dough approach for the pasta, but instead of spinach, used heaps of basil picked straight from our garden. For the stuffing, I used fresh ricotta, button mushrooms and spinach and seasoned to taste. Our nifty little ravioli press (which looks pretty similar to the device below), rendered the creation of these delicious morsels extremely easy.


The filled pasta was topped with a simple sauce of olive oil, garlic, a handful of sun dried tomatoes, a punnet of kumatos, fresh chili and some more basil from the back yard. All in all, I was impressed not only at my ability to make a dish I've always assigned to the too-hard-basket, but also at how simple making ravioli really is. I wouldn't recommend making stuffed pasta varieties for a first-time pasta maker, but after a couple of attempts, it's not a very big leap to move to the filled variety. 

The parentals seemed to be impressed. The fatherland was more reserved with his opinion (my guess is because of the absence of meat). The mothership, on the other hand, was effusive with her praise, insisting that I make the meal for her again. My beloved now wants stuffed pasta every night. Carb loading much? 

4 comments:

  1. Parentals I've always loved, but fatherland and mothership is new to me. Must start incorporating into my own vocab! =)

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  2. You are just way too clever! I don't know if I will ever dare to make pasta myself. EEK!

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    1. Laura, I've no doubt you could make pasta very easily - it's actually much more simple than many of the things you've made on your blog - pinky swear! Obviously, you'd start off with something simple, like fettuccine, but I've no doubt you would master it very quickly! Here's the basic recipe I use - http://fabulousfoodandalittlefrolicking.blogspot.com.au/2011/11/pasta-from-scratch-simply-sensational.html - it's much easier if you have a pasta maker, but a rolling pin and knife work too (if you want to give your arms a workout!).

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    2. thank you so much! I am going to get the pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid soon, so I reckon I will give it a go then. Yaiks!

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