Ravioli III: Guilt-free + Global

It's always a good sign when I'm not blogging because it means I'm doing some real writing. But lately I've gotten some compliments on this blog and it turns out I like compliments more than productivity. So here we are!

I have about 1200 favorite foods. But the food that is my favorite for the most reasons is Ethiopian red lentils with injera bread. Ethiopian red lentils, particularly at Rosalind's, my fav spot, are insanely flavorful. I love sour-savory flavor combos, so the spongy sourdough bread used as both plate and utensil is the perfect way for me to eat this amazing food. My mouth is watering for this dish and I essentially JUST ATE IT. What's more, unlike my other favorite foods, lentils are insanely good for you. They're pretty much all fiber and protein, and extra starch can be rinsed or soaked out. A huge portion, the way I cook them, is still only about 275 calories. When I eat lentils, I feel full for like 9 hours, which happens with no other food. If you're skeptical, I get it. Usually, I can't eat more than a few bites of a lentil salad or soup because its boringness offends me. Not so when you make them Ethiopian style.

full AF now

I was always intimidated to try making this dish (rightfully so in the case of injera because I couldn't get teff so it turned out quite poorly). Berbere, the spice blend at the core of Ethiopian cuisine, was tough to find, as were recipes. But a few months ago I gave it another shot. Now, berbere can be ordered on Amazon and is also stocked at Whole Foods 365. It's probably always been at regular Whole Foods, but I can't go in there because it makes me bleed money. I bought Marcus Samuelsson's African cookbook, "Soul of a New Cuisine" but was disappointed to find only one recipe for Ethiopian lentils, and it didn't specify red ones. I've since tried my red lentil recipe with green lentils, and it turns out sweeter and less flavorful. I was also disappointed in his injera bread recipe that claims you don't need teff because I made it and it was not injera bread. Marcus, come on, man! I combined a few recipes I found online with Samuelsson's (you can find my bastardized recipe at the bottom of this post), and now make this dish constantly. Instead of injera, I have it with basmati rice or sourdough baguette. I've even topped avocado toast with some and it ruled. But the reason you're reading about this on a pasta blog is that I thought, "Wait a minute... a carb and mushy dish? I SHOULD MAKE RAVIOLI."

So I did. This is a recipe for guilt-free pasta. Most of what you are eating in this dish is protein, fiber and good fat. So what difference will a tiny little pasta wrapper make other than in deliciousness?

Sourdough pasta recipes all require a sourdough starter, which I do not have, so instead of doing that as an injera substitute, I added berbere to my pasta dough and made a nice, sour lemon romesco to get that flavor punch. Romesco sauce is so easy and good and can go on everything and keeps for a week in the fridge. There are a million recipes out there, but any recipe that's even close to traditional uses roasted red peppers. You can buy a jar, or do it yourself. I normally love the lazy route, but in this case, I had no jar but I did have peppers. So! First, you roast some sliced red peppers (or red and yellow, if that's what you got) with 3-5 whole cloves of garlic. Toss it all in olive oil, salt, pepper and paprika and bake for about 20-25 minutes at 475 degrees.

the fox approves

While that was roasting, I made my dough. Berbere is a mix of twelve spices that become a magical one when combined. It's spicy and fragrant and brick red, so it added beautiful color and flavor to my dough. I've been eyeballing my flour-egg ratio lately, and was heavy-handed with my use of berbere, but if you substitute two teaspoons of berbere for two of flour in your pasta dough recipe of choice, you should be good.

While my dough rested in a tight lil plastic wrap ball in the fridge, I made my romesco sauce. There are a billion recipes for this, so I improvised. Combine your cooled red peppers and garlic with raw almonds, lemon juice, lemon zest, smoked paprika, salt and olive oil and food process the hell out of it. Taste, adjust according to your likes, and you're good.

 

Now, ravioli time. I stirred in some panko breadcrumbs to my cold, leftover lentils, just enough to make sure there wasn't moisture in my filling that would soak through my pasta. And then I treated the pasta dough and filling like normal. My hearty, favorite lentil stew, instead of being served over rice or with bread, went perfectly into pasta! I glossed up a plate with olive oil to prevent sticking, plopped some sauce in the middle, and cooked my raviolis like normal.

 

 

HEAVENLY. Except I always forget how rich and filling romesco sauce is, so this is what my plate looked like after:

It's ok, I saved it for the raviolis in the freezer

My experiment was a success, and now I feel like I have a guilt-free, protein-rich, totally unique meal in my back pocket. Next up, maybe a curried lentil ravioli in a coconut broth. Or a soy and mirin cooked lentil in a miso broth. Or a Swedish meatball ravioli in a bowl of furniture!! Ravioli are anything you want them to be.

PS. If you work for a lentil company, I am available to be your spokesmodel

Ethiopian Red Lentils a la Ali recipe

serves: 1 single girl for like 5 days

Ingredients:

1 yellow onion, peeled and cut into 8 pieces

1-2 inches ginger, peeled and cut into 6 chunks

4-6 cloves garlic, peeled

3 tablespoons ghee, plus extra on hand in case aromatics stick (butter or grapeseed oil can be substituted, but ghee is traditional and ideal)

Berbere (I go crazy and use like a third of a jar. A couple tablespoons should suffice)

2 cups red lentils

1 lemon

Salt

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, finely chop the onion, ginger and garlic until it's like a wet paste. Yum! Paste!

2. In a large pot, melt the ghee. Add the berbere and combine.

3. When the butter and berbere gets fragrant and starts to bubble, add the onion, ginger & garlic mixture, including any liquid they gave off when chopped. Cook until the sharpness of the onion goes away, stirring frequently. Basically, cook until cooked, not raw. About 5 minutes is good.

4. Add the lentils and as much water as the package suggests. The first bag I got used a 2:1 ratio of water to lentils, the ones from Whole Foods 365 are a 4:1 ratio. Squeeze the juice of the lemon in. Mix everything up and cover.

5. Do your dishes, go grab your mail, call your mom. Just keep an eye on lentils to make sure they don't boil over but otherwise just leave them alone. 

6. When the lentils start to really absorb the water, stir occasionally so that the ones on the bottom don't stick there. You can also taste your lentils when most but not all of the water is absorbed. They will definitely need salt to bring out the flavor, cause they are fiber queens, so sprinkle in a little at a time and taste. If you oversalt or just really like sour-savory like me, add more lemon juice and/or berbere.

7. Lentils are done with the moisture is absorbed completely, or you get hungry and decide soup is fine. Basically, whenever you feel like it. The photo toward the top of this post is one of the instances where I got impatient, hence the soupiness.

8. Serve with rice or bread (ideally injera or sourdough), or treat like stew and top with sour cream/greek yogurt, avocado, crispy things, whatever your heart desires.

Ravioli II: Cruise Control

After my declaration that I would certainly post more, I immediately proved myself a liar. I'd like to blame the fascinating political landscape or brave, gripping eczema portrayal on "The Night Of" (which is, like me, a liar, cause on episode two it was already the next day), but really I made these raviolis weeks ago and got lazy/forgetful. FUGGEDABOUDIT. I did.

But seriously, look at these bad boys:

Arugula and my usual cherry tomato garlic on the stove combo, plus plenty of parm

I wanted to try my hand at making meat ravioli. I did my usual thing of looking at a few different recipes and seeing the common threads, then going rogue. Most recipes called for ground pork, but Trader Joe is secretly Jewish, so this he did not carry. Rather than go on a hunt and also get proscuitto and the other suggested meats, I did something brilliant. I bought Italian chicken sausage, cut off the casings, and cooked the ground meat as suggested, in BUTTER, BABY.

Then, because I'm a gorgeous genius, I saved the butter and excess fat and cooked my halved cherry tomatoes with garlic in it. POW.

as previously stated, pow.

For the filling, I let the cooked ground chicken sausage cool, then put it in the food processor with TJ's canned artichokes (not in the jar, the ones in the cans are not vinegary), some panko breadcrumbs, shaved parmesan and a generous drizzle of olive oil to get it all to stick together. I did not add salt, as the sausage seemed to have a good amount in it. As mentioned in the last post, the leftover filling was basically pate, and I ate it as such for the next couple days. But first! I filled up my fresh pasta dough with these glorious meat ambrosia and cooked it up!

I rarely eat vegetables, so I created a crafty trick aimed at myself:

You know the old saying: vegetables are literally poison without cheese!

Ravioli: Part I

Pasta is the best. Stuff? Also great. Ergo, pasta with stuff inside it? NUMBER ONE.

I received two ravioli makers for my birthday, making me feel extremely known. I got a Kitchen Aid one that stamps em out in a huge row if you do everything right, and makes a mess of your life if you don't, from my mom, a woman who has always believed in me, even when it comes to mastering the Kitchen Aid ravioli maker, which I now sort of have!

K, a few mistakes, but many beauties

Girl in action

I also got a classic plaque style ravioli maker from my pasta guru Lillian, which makes larger, fuller ravioli simpler but slower. I like to get 'em both going. Old and new style are pictured together in the top photo.

As you can see, I keep at least two Trader Joe's basil plants going at once on my counter always. So my first few times making ravioli (including when I made Sarah and Julia cut out circles with mason jars and fold them by hand. Sorry baes!), I made variations on goat cheese and basil ravioli. 

After improvising with my food processor and just goat cheese, basil, some salt and olive oil for smoothness, I consulted some actual recipes. Looks like you can cut this sorta ravioli filling with ricotta to make a lighter, smoother, less sticky filling. I also added defrosted frozen chopped spinach (as used in my green pasta) and tossed that in, too. Bonus veg! Now, a lot of recipes (okay, all of em) call for a raw egg to bind the filling. I prefer using olive oil, and it's not always necessary. That way I can taste without fear, and keep leftover filling in the fridge to make gorgeous tartines, serve up as a dip, or toss with cooked dried pasta as a cheese sauce. In the next entry, I venture into meat filling, and my extra filling is basically pate, and it rules. Being able to store and snack on filling is a blessing.

That's not to say I didn't use up as much filling as I could. Ravioli freeze GREAT. Spread flour on a baking sheet, place ravioli in a single layer and put it in a freezer. Once they're frozen, you can stack em up in a tupperware without them sticking together and cook them whenever, so fast. This is a great quick dinner: ravioli cooked then tossed in oilive oil and parm and maybe some arugula or basil? Oh hell yes.

Pasta + Procrastination

I am not a fan of Facebook. It's just too cluttered. It's like a wikipedia spiral that never ends and yields no cool serial killer facts. But one thing Facebook is great for is keeping me accountable when I start a blog. Not that I do it often. Probably because of Facebook accountability, or because blogs are usually awful. When I started my lil wine venture, I waited until I'd accumulated a few posts before even dipping my toe in the Facebook publicity waters, let alone updating my status with each entry. But this time around, I was all hubristic, and shouted about my blog on Facebook the first entry out. Never mind that writing about a beverage you drink frequently and casually is different from writing about a food whose preparation takes up hours of your day. No, no, why should that be a factor? I told myself I'd keep up regularly.

I dropped the ball. However!

I had a good reason! Many of them, actually. These are they:

1. I made other, non-pasta foods.

Ooooohsushi!

Does risotto count as pasta? Maybe when I run out of entries it will!

2. I was making pasta, but didn't write about it yet. These are coy, hiding pastas and they are made more desirable by my withholding.

These will be gnocchi. You'll see. You'll all see!!!!!

3. Wedding!!!!!! It was fun. I didn't get married but I did try to look artsy in a CVS and DID NOT SUCCEED

Love

Ali, stop.

Melissa, go.

Not my hands, far too delicate

4. I made a bunch of pasta w my friends last weekend but I was too into pasta making to photograph it. Which is the purest form of pasta making, perhaps. I also didn't help clean up at all because I was obnoxiously dancing and I'll probably feel guilt about that until like mid-February 2019.

Giulia made a tart and hosted us and it was the best dessert and hosting I have known.

I wore a swim cap and Sheela looked like a smart n slutty divorcee

5. I got pretty busy w some solid puzzles

Alexis brought mini champagnes and her A game

7. Vegan beer fest w faces!

Nick + Laura have nice teeth

7. Selfies :( :( :(((((((( :(

Oh, stop trying to look sheepish ya vain bitch 

I won't make any promises, although I could, because I don't think I have any fans who would hold me to them. But I'm gonna make a solid effort to keep up the once a week posts. Namaste, carb-lettes

Pasta + Creativity

I am slowly building self esteem through carbohydrates. Here's a riddle: would you rather lose ten pounds or feel good about your current weight? I think the answer is the latter which is why shapewear exists and I once skipped a kickboxing class to go purchase some. Sadly, I am too weak for the flesh and organ-shifting necessary to make me look slightly thinner, that shit is hot and uncomfortable and I returned my future-corset after deciding I'm pretty much done with bras (would you rather pay money for bras that make your tits look great or feel good for zero dollars? Uh, duh)(everyone in this air conditioned library can probably see my nipples).

So perhaps the expense and time and sweat and potential chubbiness of making pasta is worth it for the pride. Because now I'm not just playing around with different dough textures, finding the right one for me as if I were dating looking for the one except less sad and more possible. Oh no. Now, I'm fucking with sauces.

On the night I decided to fuck with sauces, I made a gorgeous batch of fettucine.

I mean, come on.

Martha Stewart's pasta recipe is so easy it might be insider trading?

Having decided earlier that I would fuck with sauces, I walked down the hill to get a bottle of white wine for the base. While doing that and returning a library book, I high fived a man carrying a pizza in the middle of a dangerous crosswalk. Side note: if you know this man, please propose marriage to him on my behalf. Back up the hill, I treated myself to a La Croix to quench my hill-thirst and got to work chopping.

For vegetables/aromatics, I went with carrot, shallots, garlic and... lemongrass! Oh yeah, I was getting creative. I love bright, herby lemongrass in Thai food, so why not here? I sauteed those up, then added saffron threads, white wine and some old Parmesan rinds I had for richness. When the alcohol had cooked off, + butter and lemon. Finally, I had defrosted some langoustine tails from Trader Joe's, so I warmed those up (they're precooked) in the sauce right before I cooked my pasta.

My aromatics! 

As any creative person knows, self-editing is difficult, but crucial. While my pasta sauce was awesome, I think it would be way more awesome if, after cooking, I blended everything except the langoustines together to make it saucier instead of the warm salad I had going on. Maybe a touch of cream to help it stick together? But I will definitely be saucing without a recipe again soon, as it was surprisingly easy and way too much fun. Just like not wearing a bra!

Pasta + Lipstick

I am thirty! Behold my radiating wisdom, my sudden certainty, my unambiguous confidence that will never again tremble like a sad leaf upon seeing an offensively hot fitness instructor! All of my problems have been solved now that I am no longer a twenty-something, but rather a thirty-person.

To celebrate the last night of my twenties, I enjoyed an evening of wine, pasta and forced lipstick application with a tremendous group of women. If you've never turned thirty, tried Maybelline's Vivid Liquid Matte lip colors or dined at Alimento, I highly recommend doing all three. Also, look how cuuuuute:

Alimento's pasta is on another level. It is, it's perfectly al dente, it's draped in layered, creative, delicious sauces. Their tortellini en brodo al contrario is the famous menu item, and it's basically a tortellini soup dumpling. My favorites were the gnoc and the radiatori, two meat-sauce pastas that were both luscious in their own distinct ways.

I will never, ever make pasta this good. But I will make more of it! I received two different ravioli makers for my birthday (and have since used them both). I felt very known. But as I step into my thirties, there's a natural instinct to assess my life and compare it to others, or even to certain benchmarks. I'm single, unemployed and will never, ever make pasta like Zach Pollack (age 32) (and married) (to a light-eyed Jewess named Ali who, in a cruel twist of fate, IS NOT ME).

wishing to have a Freaky Friday with that other Ali

I compare myself to other people all the time, so the whole turning 30 thing just gave me another excuse. But in an effort to slightly remedy this, I'm going to leave other people out of the equation and just compare myself to past me. Here are some ways I am much, much better than past me:

-I am way more confident wearing lipstick.

-I can make more things without using a recipe.

-When I go over to someone's house and they have a cat, I don't make a thing about it anymore, since I almost always carry allergy medicine.

-I still bite my nails, but less severely.

-I have fully accepted that I hate running.

-My skin's been pretty good lately, and I'm gonna give myself credit for that one cause I've been pretty good about washing my face.

-This list is making me less sad than I think it would have a few years ago.

Pasta + Going Green

I'm not that big on vegetables. When my family would eat salad, I would eat just plain tomatoes or a chunk of a cucumber, both of which are fruits and both of which are great. I'll still eat a tomato like an apple and tongue a cucumber all on its own, no sex workshop or anything. Basically, I think most vegetable dishes are lies. People act so appalled that french fries were once considered a vegetable (source needed), yet your precious brussels sprouts are only delicious because they are fried beyond recognition and then tossed with a generous helping of bacon. Salads are wet vehicles for the fat farm that is dressing, plus they leave you in need of a snack approximately ten minutes after consuming them. I eat kale the same way everyone else does: by trickery. Some people put it in a smoothie, I treat it, along with some quinoa, like fried rice, sauteeing with soy sauce, sesame oil and garlic and only looking at my plate of food sideways so I don't really have to acknowledge it. 

Though spinach has fallen out of fashion, it was once the kale, the brussels sprout, the, if you will, wheatgrass (remember??) of its day. And so it was subject to wildly unhealthy preparations. Creamed spinach, as well as salads full of bad shit that was somehow mitigated by its spinachy presence. It also gave us a family of health-adjacent green things, like wraps, and of course, green pasta dough. Now that is a vegetable I can fuck with.

Though I usually see pictures of uniformly green pasta dough, I don't think this is achievable without vitamixing your spinach (chopped, frozen from Trader Joe's. There is no reason to use anything else) to death. My dough looked like this:

I split this bad boy in half. Not on purpose, I just got fed up making raviolis with it so I turned the rest into pappardelle. The raviolis were a stress reducer, something to do with my hands while waiting to hear the results of a job interview (which I did not hear for another week and a half and I didn't get it, so... it worked! What am I talking about again?). I was recreating a dish I'd made a few weeks back with some friends, little half moon raviolis (perfect circles thanks to my super advanced cutting device, a jam jar) filled with goat cheese and basil, smoothed out in the food processor with salt and olive oil. In fact, the stuffing of the raviolis took so long that I forgot to take pictures of the actually very pretty finished product, which I arranged on a slate tray on a bed of flour, and asked for a ravioli maker for my birthday. I ended up getting two!!!

I'm getting better at understanding dough feel, so that's good. It wasn't too scary for me to navigate the extra flour to compensate for the moisture in the spinach (as usual, the recipe called for way less than I needed). I also made the pappardelle thicker (6 setting on the crank) and cooked them only slightly, so they had a bite. The ravioli make it easy, like the gnocchi: they float when done. My confidence in cooking times grows! Then, because my "vegetable" was so pretty, I took the time to freshly grate some parm, and, of course, made a sauce out of my favorite fruit, the tomato. For that I simply sauteed cherry tomatoes, chopped garlic and chopped anchovies, then upended a thing of two buck Chuck Pinot Grigio in there, let the alcohol burn off and bam! Sauce for both my pastas. The pappardelle result looks like mush, but tasted way better than any vegetable I've had in a long time. How healthy am I?