Pasta Perfection!

I’m going to share 2 recipes with you today, both from our Easter Feast. First, our Intermezzo course, a very simple Italian Granita. I like to serve Granita when doing a big, fancy dinner. It acts as a palate cleanser and gives folks a chance to rest a bit between courses.

1/4 cup sugar

My favorite course at Easter dinner this year was the Il Primo.

Making pasta is fun!

My husband, Jerry, very happy with his result!

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 eggs
Pinch of salt
Water (to moisten)

Chef Marta starts incorporating the egg to make the pasta.

Marta’s is perfect, but she has made this a few times!

Preparation:
Mound flour on a board or directly on your counter. Make a large well and drop the 2 eggs into it. Stir the eggs with a fork and as you stir gradually start incorporating the flour into the egg. Add water as needed to keep dough soft and together. Knead until smooth and elastic; about 5 minutes. The dough should feel very smooth and silky. Let dough sit for 10 minutes. Cut the dough into 2 portions and press on the dough to thin it down enough to fit into your pasta machine. Start rolling it out on the widest setting and keep folding and rolling until you are down to the #8 setting. Continue folding each time you run the pasta through. When finished you will almost be able to see through the pasta. Cut into ravioli shape. Add about 1 Tbsp. of the cheese filling. Top with a second ravioli. Moisten your fingers and crimp the edges together thoroughly so the raviolis don’t lose their filling while cooking. I also pressed a fork around the edges of the raviolis to ensure the filling stayed inside. Cover a large cookie sheet with waxed or parchment paper. Top with a fairly thick coating of flour. Rest the raviolis on top of the flour uncovered for about 2 hours.
To cook:
Add raviolis to gently boiling water that has about 1 tsp. of salt and a splash of olive oil. Cook until just al dente; about 3-4 minutes. Remove carefully with a slotted spoon.
To make brown butter:
Heat a stick of butter in a frying pan over medium high heat until the butter becomes brown and bubbly.
To fry sage leaves:
Heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a small pan until hot, but not smoking. Drop in sage leaves and fry, turning once. Drain on a paper towel.

FOUR CHEESE FILLING:
3/4 cup Ricotta Cheese
2/3 cup Parmesan
2/3 cup Asiago
2/3 cup Pecorino Romano
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Salt/Pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients together. As with most recipes there are endless variations to the filling (add garlic, herbs, different cheeses, etc.), but I wanted to keep fairly simple since it was only the first course of a big meal!

If you don’t have a pasta machine try making this pasta as we did in Italy, simply by rolling it out with a rolling pin. It will be a little inconsistent and not as thin as using a machine, but that is the charm!