Spring Homecoming Feast

When my husband goes away for work and I no longer have the delightful responsibility of cooking for him, I loose all ability to take care of myself. I stay up way to late, I spend way too much time on the computer, and I pretty much stop eating real meals. So by the time he comes home my domestic & culinary skills are just begging to be put to good use.

When Nate was away in Portland for a couple of weeks, I planned an epic spring feast for his arrival back home. I have to say, of everything I cook & bake, Italian food takes the cake for my favorite type of cuisine. It's easy to do vegetarian while cooking Italian, and it's so versatile, not to mention I have a huge crush on Giada De Laurentiis! I've had my pasta machine for a while, and my friend Kate gave me a ravioli stamp for my bridal shower. I wanted to do something a little elaborate, and completely special so I decided to go big and make homemade ravioli from scratch.

I also wanted this homecoming meal to be an ode to Spring, since in the weeks he was away, Spring had suddenly sprung. So to get started I watched Youtube videos on how to make homemade ravioli, perused recipes and finally came up with my own: Spinach & Mushroom Ricotta Raviolis in and Mascarpone & Sun dried Tomato Sauce.  Yum. This would be the heart of our feast.

To make the pasta dough, I use 1/2 part All Purpose Flour and 1/2 part Semolina. Then for every 100 grams of flour you'll use 1 egg. You'll process this all together with a food processor adding a dash of salt & a little olive oil.

Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes or so. 

Now for the filling: 

Sautee mushrooms & spinach. Then food process mushrooms, spinach, ricotta, and parmesan. 

Using a pasta machine, roll out the dough into sheets. I pressed it though to a size 5. 

Using your ravioli stamp as a guide for size, put a dollop of the filling in rows. If possible, try to fit two rows one on top of the other. I discovered this halfway through and ended up wasting a ton of dough by only doing one row. Paint an egg wash around the filling (this serves as super glue), then place the second sheet of dough on top. Seal and stamp! 

This may or may not have taken me 2 hours... 

Woohooo!!! 

Fresh pasta only needs to cook in boiling water for about a minute. While it was cooking I sautéed shallots in white wine, then added a lot of mascapone cheese (yuuuum) and a bag of sun-dried tomatoes . Then I added the ravioli and sprinkled with parmesan and basil!

Going with the Italian & Springtime theme, I served Prosciutto y Melon - a simple appetizer I discovered in Florence when I studied abroad in college. Something about the sweet juicy melon and salty savory prosciutto makes this an excellent pair.

For dessert I served, according to Food & Wine magazine - the quintessential  spring-time dessert -  Strawberry Shortcake with homemade strawberry ice cream. 

I even did a little Spring decorating!

If you have the time, it's nice to put together a really special meal like this every once in a while. I love celebrating the small things even if it's just a change in season. We may not have money, but we still need to eat - and that's how I justify these meals.


To being home and springtime! :)