Ricotta and parsley ravioli

Serves 6:

To make the pasta:

4 large eggs400g 00 flour
pinch salt
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
For the filling:
350g fresh ricotta
1 large egg
75 – 100g parmigiano, grated
1/4 tsp nutmeg powder
grated rind of one lemon
1/2 bunch fresh parsely, leaves picked and finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
For the sauce:
100g unsalted butter
24 fresh sage leaves
grated parmigiano to serve

Make the filling whilst the pasta dough is resting and before rolling it out. To make the filling, simply mix together all the ingredients using a fork until the mixture is homogeneous. Adjust for salt and add pepper if you like. As there is a lot of pasta in this recipe, you should roll out a quarter of the pasta at a time, keeping the remainder wrapped in cling wrap. Make one batch of ravioli as per the instructions and then repeat.

To make the ravioli, place a teaspoon of filling on one half of a rectangle of pasta (our rectangles were about 5cm by 10 cm). Dip a finger in water, wetting the pasta around the filling. Now close the rectangle of pasta like a book so that the filling is enclosed, pressing well around the edges so the raviolo is sealed and there is no air trapped in the filling. Dust the pasta lightly with flour and place on the bench under a tea towel so the pasta does not dry out. Repeat with remaining pasta and filling.

To cook, heat a large pot of salted water until boiling and cook the ravioli for 5 to 7 minutes, until cooked. Whilst they are cooking, make the burnt butter by heating up the butter in a medium sized frypan, until the butter melts and add the sage leaves. Cook for a few minutes until it starts to turn brown. Drain the ravioli and spoon on the burnt butter sauce, decorating with a few crispy sage leaves. Some grated parmigiano is lovely on top of this as well.

Pear Ravioli with Parma Ham and Prosecco Sauce

Serves 4 as an entree (makes 18 ravioli, at 8cm diameter)

for the pasta:

200g 00 durum wheat flour
2 large eggs

for the filling:
2 ripe pears (230g peeled and cored)
10g unsalted butter
125g creamy blue cheese or taleggio (sweet Gorgonzola)
salt and pepper to taste
semolina flour for dusting
100g unsalted butter (for the sauce)
extra freshly ground pepper

For the sauce:
One tablespoon butter
100g Parma ham
1 cup cream
1 cup Prosecco
1/3 cup crushed walnuts
Salt & Black pepper

To make the pasta, put the flour in a mound on your work surface and make a well in the centre. Break open the two eggs into it and either using your finger tips or a fork, gradually incorporate the flour until it is all mixed in to the eggs. Knead until smooth (around 5 minutes). Form a ball with the dough, wrap in cling film and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes (a couple of hours is fine).

In the meantime, make the filling. Peel and core the pears, chopping them into small dice. Place them with 10g butter in a small pan and cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes until soft. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.

Mix the Gorgonzola in a bowl until smooth and add the cooled pears, fold through until homogeneous and add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

Divide the dough in two, keeping one piece wrapped in cling film while you work on the other one. Make the pasta by running it through your pasta machine until it is the desired thickness (I ran it through to the fourth thinnest setting “6” on a Marcato pasta machine).

I used an 8 cm diameter ravioli cutter to make my ravioli. Place heaped teaspoons of filling on your pasta sheet. Wet your finger with water and run it around the filling before folding the pasta onto itself so that the little mounds of filling are completely covered by pasta. Push down around the filling so that the pasta is well sealed, taking care not to trap air into the raviolo. Use your ravioli cutter to make circle around the filling where you have sealed the pasta. Lightly dust the ravioli  with semolina flour. Repeat, keeping the prepared ravioli covered by a clean teatowel as you make others so they do not dry out.

Place a large pot of well-salted water on the stove and bring to the boil. Drop in the ravioli when the water boils and cook until al dente (mine took 6-7 minutes).

Whilst the ravioli are cooking, put butter in the pan and then add the Parma ham cut in pieces, let cook until brown and combine the prosecco. When the prosecco evaporates add the walnuts, cream, Salt & pepper and mix the ravioli with the sauce.

Tortellini di Valeggio

 Each region of Italy has its own pasta shapes and pasta recipes. Valeggio sul Mincio, a town near Lago di Garda and the city of Verona, is famous for its Tortellini di Valeggio, tortellini made of pasta as thin as a veil with a filling of beef, chicken, and pork. To make them extra delicate, the pasta dough is made with part of the eggs replaced by water. 

 The tortellini are cooked in a meat stock. You could also serve them in the stock, or with butter and sage like I did. You can then use the leftover stock to make risotto. This does mean that you can’t use as much salt in the stock as you would for cooking the tortellini in water, so in this case it is a good idea to add salt to the pasta dough. For additional flavor, I made the filling with fat from the stock (that floats on top) instead of olive oil.

For the filling

100 grams (3.5 oz) boneless and skinless chicken thigh, cubed

100 grams (3.5 oz) pork shoulder, cubed

100 grams (3.5 oz) stewing beef, such as chuck, cubed

50 grams (1.75 oz) prosciutto, cut into strips

50 grams (1.75 oz) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

25 grams (1 oz) stale bread, cubed

1 clove

80 ml (1/3 cup) Bardolino (red wine)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 egg yolk

1/2 Tbsp rosemary needles

dash of freshly grated nutmeg

1/2 onion, minced

2 Tbsp olive oil (or substitute with the fat from making the stock)

For the pasta dough

2 eggs

300 grams (2 cups) Italian 00 flour

about 50 ml (1/4 cup) water

For cooking and serving

2 litres (2 quarts) meat stock (made from chicken, beef, and pork)

50 grams (4 Tbsp) butter

2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage

freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

Heat the olive oil (or fat from stock) in a casserole. Add the onion and sauté over medium heat until the onion is translucent.

Add the pork, chicken, and beef, and sauté over medium high heat until the meat has lost its raw color on all sides. Add the rosemary.

Deglaze with the Bardolino.

Scrape with a wooden spatula to include the browned bits into the sauce.Add the clove, nutmeg, and season with salt and pepper.Cover and reduce the heat to low.Allow to simmer over low heat until the meat is tender, about 1 hour. Add a bit of meat stock if it becomes too dry.At the end of the cooking time (it is not very important that the meat is tender, as it will be ground anyway), remove the clove.Transfer the contents of the casserole to the food processor, including all the juices. Allow to cool somewhat (so the egg yolk won’t be cooked when you add it).Add the prosciutto, bread, and egg yolk as well as the cheese.Process with the ‘pulse’ until the mixture is homogeneous, but not pureed. It is nice to have some texture. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Remember that the filling of tortellini and ravioli should always be slightly over-seasoned to avoid that your tortellini will end up tasting bland.Transfer the filling to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour to firm up.Make pasta dough and roll it out as thinly as you can. Cut the pasta dough into 5 cm (2 inch) squares, and put a small ball of filling (about 1/2 teaspoon) on each square.Fold each square into a triangle, and seal the edges without trapping any air inside.Fold the tortellini around your finger, then fold it backwards. (That last step is not really needed.)

Arrange the tortellini on a surface sprinkled with semolina flour in a single layer.

To cook, bring the stock to a boil. Melt the butter in a non-stick frying pan and add the sage. When the stock boils, add the tortellini and cook them for a couple of minutes (depending on how much you dried them).

Transfer them to the butter and sage with a slotted spoon.Toss the tortellini in the butter and sage to coat them on all sides.

Serve on preheated plates, sprinkled with freshly grated Parmigiano.

Wine pairing

This is great with a Bardolino, the local red wine that is also used to make the filling. Bardolino is a light red wine that is best when slightly chilled (15ºC/59ºF

Filled pastas

Ravioli filled with Asiago, served with baked cherry tomatoes sauce

Parsley and cheese ravioli

Ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach served with vodka sauce

Tortellini di Valeggio

Ravioli with pear and gorgonzola

Green sausage ravioli

Buckwheat ravioli

Beets ravioli

Pumpkin Capelacci with tomatoes and sausage sauce

Pumpkin Fagotini

Pumpkin ravioli with butter sage and pine nuts 

Ravioli filled with ricotta and spinach

For the dough

• 
  4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or “00” flour, or a combination

  

  You can also close the ravioli using a fork.

• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
  
  Dump the flour in a pile on a work surface. Make a deep, wide well in the center and pour in the eggs, olive oil, and salt. Begin mixing the eggs with a fork, staying in the center and being careful that the eggs don’t breach the wall. Little by little, mix in flour from the sides until the dough starts to move as a unit and is too stiff to mix with a fork. Continue mixing by hand, incorporating more flour to stiffen the dough. When it doesn’t easily absorb more flour (one signal is floury, dried bits of dough flaking off the mass), set the dough aside; scrape up all the remaining flour and pass it through a sieve to sift out any dried-up bits. Discard the bits and keep the cup or two of sifted flour on the work surface to use during kneading if necessary.
  
  Wash and dry your hands. Knead the dough on the lightly floured surface until it’s a smooth, homogenous ball of dough, firm but resilient, neither too dry nor too soft, about 5 minutes; it should no longer stick to the surface. Poke it and it should spring right back; press your finger into the center and it should feel just a bit tacky. If it’s very sticky, knead in more flour.
  When the dough is sufficiently kneaded, a finger dent will bounce back.
  
  Wrap the dough loosely in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
  
  for the stuffing:
  

  
  • 8 oz (225 gr) ricotta cheese 
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup (25 gr) of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon of grated nutmeg grated
  • salt
  • 10 oz (280 gr) of cooked spinach
    Chop the spinach and add to a large bowl, with the ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese, nutmeg and a bit of salt. Mix well.
    
    Cut ravioli sheets with a ravioli cutter. Using a brush, brush with egg yolk around each ravioli. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center, close to expelling the air, sealing the edges properly.
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    
    

Ravioli filled with Asiago served with cherry tomatoes sauce

For the dough

• 
  4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour or “00” flour, or a combination

  

  You can also close the ravioli using a fork.

• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
  
  Dump the flour in a pile on a work surface. Make a deep, wide well in the center and pour in the eggs, olive oil, and salt. Begin mixing the eggs with a fork, staying in the center and being careful that the eggs don’t breach the wall. Little by little, mix in flour from the sides until the dough starts to move as a unit and is too stiff to mix with a fork. Continue mixing by hand, incorporating more flour to stiffen the dough. When it doesn’t easily absorb more flour (one signal is floury, dried bits of dough flaking off the mass), set the dough aside; scrape up all the remaining flour and pass it through a sieve to sift out any dried-up bits. Discard the bits and keep the cup or two of sifted flour on the work surface to use during kneading if necessary.
  
  Wash and dry your hands. Knead the dough on the lightly floured surface until it’s a smooth, homogenous ball of dough, firm but resilient, neither too dry nor too soft, about 5 minutes; it should no longer stick to the surface. Poke it and it should spring right back; press your finger into the center and it should feel just a bit tacky. If it’s very sticky, knead in more flour.
  When the dough is sufficiently kneaded, a finger dent will bounce back.
  Wrap the dough loosely in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or up to 8 hours.
  
  For the Filling
  
  1 cup ricotta
  

  

  
  1 cup asiago mezzano (grated)
  1 pinch nutmeg
  1 pinch black pepper
  Salt to taste
  
  Mix with a fork the ricotta and the grated Asiago. Season with the salt, pepper and nutmeg.
  In a ramekin, mix egg yolk with a little water. Cut ravioli sheets with a ravioli cutter. Using a brush, brush with egg yolk around each ravioli. Place 1 teaspoon filling in the center, close to expelling the air, sealing the edges properly. 
  
  
• Cherry tomato sauce Recipe
  
  500g / 1lb cherry tomatoes, cut in half
  1 cup chopped raw almonds
  4 garlic cloves chopped
  A bunch of basil leafs
  Oregano
  Salt & Pepper
  A good pouring of olive oil
  1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
  
  In a baking tray, add all the ingredients together except the basil. Bake everything for about 25 minutes in the convection oven on for 180C or 360F.
  When the raviolis are cooked, mix the sauce and add the fresh basil. Serve with your favorite cheese on the top. My favourite for this recipe is smoked ricotta.

Bigoli with walnuts and gorgonzola

100g/2oz walnuts 
2 tbsp freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano 1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped 
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
150ml/5fl oz double cream 
50g/2oz Gorgonzola (preferably dolce, the softer milder variety) 
300g/10oz Bigoli

 Crack the walnuts, remove the nuts from their shells and pound with a pestle and mortar until they are in small pieces. Sprinkle over the Parmesan and add the garlic. Season with plenty of black pepper and a small amount of salt. Pour in the cream and stir well to combine.

While the pasta is cooking, gently warm the sauce in a small saucepan. Add the Gorgonzola and stir continuously while the cheese melts. Now drain the pasta and dress with a generous knob of butter, spoon over the sauce and toss to combine. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Bigoli alla Montanara

Bigoli alla Montanara

500g / 1lb Italian sausages (in Italy, Salsiccia sfusa that means 'Regular Sausage')

1 chopped onion
4 cloves of garlic

1 cup  Kale/Swiss chard chopped on big pieces
1/2 cup walnuts

1 cup red wine

1 cup tomato pure

1 tbsp oregano

Olive oil

Salt & Pepper

500 grams Bigoli

Smoked ricotta

Start with a good pouring of olive oil on the pan, fry the onions and garlic. Add the sausages, when the sausages are
brown add the wine and let reduce in half. Add the tomato sauce and oregano and let cook for 10 minutes. Add Salt and Pepper.
Turn off the fire and add the Swiss chard or Kale.

Sauté the pasta with the sauce and add walnuts and smoked ricotta to serve.

Bigoli in Squid Ink Sauce

Bigoli in Squid Ink Sauce
4 squids 
2 bags of squid ink 
4 ripe tomatoes or 1 can chopped tomatoes1 cup white wine
1 medium onion (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
500gr Bigoli
1 Lemon
A bunch of parsley 
Quality flaked red peppers
Squids are members of the baggy animal kingdom. Their whole body is organised in bags, which the cook needs to extract one by one by putting his fingers into the beast and remove them. Then you have to find the transparent 'bone' that keeps the bag straight and remove it too. You can then cut 0.5''/1cm rings and set them aside. 

In a big frying pan, fry the onions and garlic until brown. Add the squid and fry for not more than 2 minutes than add wine and let evaporate, then add tomato sauce. Cook for about 10 minutes in medium heat. After the 10 minutes passed add the squid ink and the peppers and cook for more 5 minutes in medium high. Just before mixing the bigoli, squeeze the lemons and add the parsley.

Bigoli recipes

Bigoli dough

Duck Sauce

                                   

Squid Ink Sauce

Bigoli alla Montanara

Walnuts and Gorgonzola sauce

Bigoli served with lemony meatballs

Bigoli alla Carbonara

Spiced ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and pepper tea

 Here are the tea benefits:
*Anti-inflamatory
*Anti-depressant
*Helps Arthritis
*Pain Killer
*Anti-coagulant *High anti-oxidant
*Helps your hearth
*Helps with stop craving for sweets
*Helps your brain
*Reduces chances of cancer
*Fight infections and virus
*Fresh your breath
*Can help to prevent Candida infection
*Helps your skin
*Improves your metabolism
*Higher immunity system
*Prevent diabetes
*Fresh your breath and kill bad bacteria in your mouth

Recipe for the Turmeric tea

Spiced ginger, turmeric, cinnamon and pepper tea

1/2 cup powder ginger1/2 cup cinnamon sticks
1/2 cup turmeric
1/3 cup black pepper
30 caffeine pills

 Using a mixer or pesto mortar, just add caffeine pills, cinnamon and the black pepper and transform them into a powder. Mix very well all the ingredients with the ginger and the turmeric.
 For making the tea, just add half tea spoon of this tea with hot water and if you like to drink tea with a little bit of milk like me add a little bit of milk with it.

The text below comes from the website: http://www.turmericforhealth.com

Health Benefits Of Black Pepper And Turmeric

Health benefits of any food or herb is based on its key active ingredients.

Piperine is the key chemical in black pepper. It is similar to capsaicin a chemical in chili and offers many health benefits. Curcumin which is a polyphenol plays the same role in turmeric.

Both these compounds have been studied to examine the potential health benefits they can offer individually or together.   Here are some of their benefits:

1. Black pepper enhances bioavailability of Turmeric

One important question which must be popping in your mind right now would be why among so many spices are we talking about black pepper?

The answer is really interesting too. One problem with curcumin is its low levels of bioavailability.

Most of the curcumin that is ingested gets metabolized before it can get absorbed. Piperine is said to help make curcumin more bioavailable.

This could be because it could inhibit certain intestinal digestive enzymes. This increases the amount of any drug or supplement that can be absorbed by the body. They also do not get degraded quickly.

Hence, there are studies to test if co-administering curcumin with piperine could improve the bioavailability of the former.

These studies have been conducted on humans and laboratory animals.

One study found that when even 2g of curcumin was ingested, its serum levels were very low. However, when 20mg piperine was added to curcumin the bioavailability increased by 2000%.

The bioavailability, serum levels and levels of absorption of curcumin all improved dramatically.

What it means: Thus, if one takes turmeric, most of it is unutilized unless supplemented by addons such as black pepper.

2. Help in reducing pain

Piperine in black pepper can trigger TRPV1 (transient receptor potential vanilloid type-1) in the body. This triggering can reduce pain.

Piperine is also used as an analgesic cream that can be applied topically on the skin to relieve pain.

Some studies have focused on using piperine as a new way to kill chronic pain – especially neuropathic pain which is untreatable.

3. Is Anti-inflammatory

Curcumin has been studied for its anti-inflammatory capabilities especially in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis and other inflammatory conditions.

Laboratory studies were conducted on the way curcumin can be used as an anti-arthritic agent. An animal model of rheumatoid arthritis was used and 3 curcuminoids were studied.

The curcuminoids were administered before and not after inflammation set in. It was found that oil-depleted turmeric fraction was not as effective as a commercial composition that contained 94% combination of the 3 curcuminoids in combating inflammatory conditions.

Non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are usually used to treat all inflammatory conditions.

However, long term use can cause serious side effects. Hence, safer alternatives like curcumin are being studied for their potential anti-inflammatory benefits that can be used long term without any side effects.

4. Cancer benefits

Dietary polyphenols like piperine and curcumin have been studied for their effect on prevention of breast cancer. Mammosphere formation, which is a marker of breast stem cells were studied.

Early progenitor cells, normal stem cells and healthy breast epithelial cells were examined after control, piperine and curcumin treatment was administered.

Turmeric and black pepper compounds both inhibited mammosphere formation. They also did not cause any toxicity, therefore showing that they could be possible cancer preventive agents.

Current breast cancer treatments are often ineffective and very often even after chemotherapy and other treatment, the cancer cells reappear. According to new studies, this could be because cancer stem cells still remain and could cause tumors to recur after a period.

Hence, new research is trying to find possible ways to target stem cells. Studies have found that turmeric and black pepper combined could target breast stem cells.

In a University of Michigan study, cancer cells were injected with a potent solution of piperine and curcumin that was at least 20 times stronger that what is normally consumed through food.

Breast stem cell markers were studied. The self-renewal process of breast stem cells that is the hallmark of initiating cancer was interrupted.

This is considered a significant development. Further both compounds did not affect normal breast tissue. Sometimes women who are susceptible to breast cancer maybe advised to take medications like tamoxifen. However, these can be toxic.

Natural compounds, which offer similar benefits and are non-toxic, could be a safe alternative therapy. Another benefit is that piperine and curcumin target self-renewal of all stem cells and not just those that are estrogen sensitive like tamoxifen.

This theory offers hope to all women who develop breast cancer not just the estrogen driven kind.

5. Controlling Obesity

Turmeric and black pepper could be combined to fight high cholesterol levels, obesity and diabetes. Diet induced bodily changes to blood glucose, body weight, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or bad cholesterol and triglyceride could be affected by CPQ. CPQ is an acronym for the combination of curcumin, piperine and quercetin (got from onion skin).

Presence of flavonoids in CPQ is possibly responsible for many of the reactions like decrease in glucose transport. These studies were conducted on laboratory rats.

6. Other benefits:

When combined together, turmeric and black pepper could help relieve gastric mucosal damage caused by peptic ulcers.

This is due to the capacity of curcumin to prevent growth of Helicobacter pylori bacteria which causes peptic ulcers and the protective capability of piperine.

Both also have antioxidant benefits.

Hence, they can benefit in improving memory loss and protect people from cognitive impairment from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s.

Curcumin has anti-amyloid ability that can reduce amyloid pathway in Alzheimer’s. Both low and high doses of curcumin fed to laboratory mice seemed to reduce age-related memory loss.

Dosage

The dosage of turmeric varies depending on the medical condition. As with most herbal supplements turmeric has no specific dosage guidelines.

The usually dosage dried  turmeric powder is 1-3 gms per day. For supplements – 400 – 600 mg, thrice daily .

As I keep saying again and again, I am not in favor of turmeric supplements and support using turmeric in your diet. Use supplements only in cases when you cannot do so.

My detailed article on turmeric dosage can be read here.

Black pepper too can be easily added in your diet in curries, salads and dressing.

A great way to have turmeric and black pepper together is Golden paste. Get its recipe here.

Precautions

Black pepper must not be consumed in excess of 1 tsp a day when certain medications like digoxin or phenytoin are being taken.

The rate at which these medications are cleared by the liver could slow down when black pepper is consumed in excess.

Turmeric as spice is considered to be very safe. Turmeric supplements must not be consumed in excess and for long periods. This could cause indigestion, dizziness, nausea or diarrhea.

Those who are pregnant and breastfeeding are advised to avoid all types of herbal supplements. Diabetic patients, those due for surgery and those with gallbladder problems must also stop using turmeric supplements.

While both turmeric and black pepper are considered very safe and have been used since thousands of years, if you suffer from some specific medical problems and are not sure about using them, please consult your doctor.