Making Ravioli: Because Italians Should Know How

So, I'm Italian.  People are never sure.  Here in the south, some are easily confused by anyone who isn't blonde with blue-eyes, so I hear a lot of things.  Are you: Greek, Egyptian, Spanish, Mexican, Arab...?  Or my favorite, "Where are you from?"  New York.  "Yes, but where are you from?"  It's a major pet peeve of mine.  Home on Long Island, this never happens.  I blend in with the rest of the Italian population, and if someone's blonde, people assume it's not natural.  When I went to Italy several years ago, my identity crisis came to an end.  I looked like EVERYONE else and it was amazing, that sense of not being out of place.  The people were so much fun, I mean, they had exuberant joy and smiled and said "Ciao, bella!" and gave us free wine and pasta.  Ah, pasta.  Which brings us to today.  Being Italian, it seems wrong to not at least try making my own pasta every now and then, and let me tell you, it has been a blast. 

There is a man named Bill who I met in Italian class.  The recipe that I used for Asparagus Ravioli is his, which you can also learn how to make if you attend one of his classes.  Bill is going to Italy for the month of July to teach Americans how to cook.  That's right, an American is going over to Italy to teach other Americans how to cook Italian food.  Following this stint of bliss in Tuscany, Bill will return to Franklin and begin teaching cooking classes to us non-Mediterranean locals under the moniker of "The Cook." His first class will take place on August 10th at Stoney Creek Farm in Franklin, TN.  For more information on upcoming classes, you can email Bill at Bill@The-Cook.me. 

To get started I mixed some flour, semolina, and salt to make a well for some eggs which would all be blended to form the dough for the pasta.

Ok, so the well was a little shallow, but we fixed it.

Rob helped me out.  We had a blast!  It was a party with some whiskey and ginger to help things along.

While the dough sat in the fridge for a while getting all gluten-y, we prepared the filling, which consisted of asparagus, onion, ricotta, other Italian cheeses, and some nutmeg.

Tools on hand included a ravioli maker and a lovely pink Kitchenaid mixer with a pasta roller attached.   Ladies, this is why you get all the appliances before you get married.

I was terribly excited to realize that the pasta attachments for the Kitchenaid mixers are made in Italy!  I mean, why not go to the experts when creating a product?  The dough goes through the rollers to form thin sheets which serve as the top and bottom layers of the ravioli.

The filling was added to a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off for easy filling of the little cheese wells.

Another sheet of pasta was added to the top of the filled ravioli.  Here you can see manly Rob expertly using the pretty pink Kitchenaid.  

The top layer is added and a rolling pin is used to press the dough into the mold to form the shape of the ravioli.

This is what we ended up with.  Don't they look professional?!

We made a simple butter-cream sauce with the remaining asparagus spears and boiled the pasta for about 5 minutes until it was tender.

Buon appetite!  These were absolutely delicious in every way.  When we were finished Rob looked down at his plate forlornly and said, "I'm so sad that's over."  Me too.  Until the next pasta adventure...

From June Gloom To June Bloom

In June, as many as a dozen species may burst their buds on a single day.  No man can heed all of these anniversaries; no man can ignore all of them.  ~Aldo Leopold

I had to go to Los Angeles the first week of June for work, which meant an entire week of no gardening.  This is the weird time of year the Californians refer to as "June Gloom" thanks to hazy mornings that take hours to transition into sunshine.  I was able to see some friends and take a hike with my cousin up to the Griffith Observatory which is total nerd heaven.

 
The observatory houses a science museum with a Tesla Coil, a pendulum that moves with the earth's rotation (eerily similar to the one in LOST), and lots of scales that show you how much you weigh on other planets (great for the self esteem).  

 

I am still recovering from the measly two hour time difference that has completely messed with my inner clock, and I have yet to get my hands dirty.  This weekend, the plan was to get some dirt under the fingernails.  One week can make a tremendous difference in the life of a spring garden.  When I returned, the tomatoes were stretching well outside their cages, the giant squash leaves were already peeking over the fence, the cucumbers had a couple of little cukes on the vines, the peppers were blooming, and the beans formed a carpet of leaves and tiny white blooms in the center of the plot.  I grabbed some Velcro ties and got the tomatoes secured to the bamboo tripods and dumped some 10-10-10 fertilizer in there before crashing on my couch in total exhaustion.

I am hoping I get a ton of tomatoes this year.  I am skeptical due to past years of rotten luck with them, but there are a few on the vine that look like they might pull through.

The color of the squash blossom is a deep tangerine.  I keep debating whether or not to cut some of these blossoms off to try frying them in a batter.  I will never forget the first time I ate a squash blossom.  It was like a piece of Heaven melted in my mouth.  Perhaps after some zucchini have come in, I'll see if there's any extra for some culinary experimenting!

The cucumbers are really trailing all over the place and trying to climb the fence, so I decided to do something I've never done before, make some sort of trellis for them.  Since the tomatoes seem to be doing ok on the tripods, I made some quadpods for the cukes, and secured them with ties.  Now there is so much more room on the ground and the watermelon plants will have room to roam.  I had no idea I'd run out of space so quickly!

The flower beds are also coming along.  My roses look like absolute crap thanks to tons of ugly caterpillars having a chompfest on the leaves before the flowers faded.  The swiss-cheesed hosta are recovering from a slug brigade.  I made a trap with a container full of beer and they drowned happy deaths.  I'm not sorry to see their nasty sticky trails disappear.  

I bought a shabby looking plant at Lowe's earlier in the season called Rock Purslane (Calandrinia) because I was so taken with the color of the flowers.  It's finally starting to settle into its new home and has begun blooming again.  This is a tender perennial, so I'm hoping it can survive the winter and come back next year.  

Every morning just before I leave for work, I do a quick walk around to look at all the new buds, new blooms, and new fruit showing up around the yard.  It's so exciting and so gratifying to see all the hard work of spring pay off with a colorful show in summer.  There is still much to do: dig a space along the fence for more daylilies, figure out a better way to water the side garden, fight off the squirrels who are mangling my sweet pea planter.  

I can feel myself slowing down as the days get hotter, but hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can manage to finish everything I need to before worrying about harvesting all the veggies.

 

LIGHT: Bruce Munro At Cheekwood Botanical Gardens

Tonight was officially the second night the Bruce Munro light exhibit was open at Cheekwood and we were dazzled.  I brought Rob down there with me, we sprayed a healthy dose of bug spray on ourselves, and walked into a wonderland of light.  This is only the second time this installation is being shown in the U.S.  The first time was at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania, another place near and dear to my plant-loving heart.

Vogue named the Light exhibit at Cheekwood #2 on its list From Memorial Day to Labor Day, 31 Ways to Make the Most of Summer.  An impressive feat for our little city!  This is the largest installation the garden has had since Chihuly came a few years ago and blew us all away with the sheer awesomeness of his nature and glass exhibit.  You can find more information about British artist, Bruce Munro, here. 

Please know, I wanted to give you an idea of what this looks like so you will go visit, but these pictures can't possibly do justice to the magic of being there in person.  And I just renewed my membership so I can take two guests every time I go.  Hit me up, people!

As you walk into the gardens, you happen upon the water towers, made of 10,000 bottles of water all laced with fiber optic lights.  They looked amazing when the dark closed in.  Ethereal music was floating through the speakers in each tower and added such a cool vibe, I was sad to leave.  If they had been able to pipe that music through the entire garden, it would have made the whole experience completely epic.

Then we headed to the Japanese garden where the bamboo forest was lit with dozens of fiber optic filament lights from the below.  The effect made it seem like fairies could be flitting in amongst the tall bamboo.  I could have stayed in this one spot all night.

The Zen garden had one feature, a blue moon that shifted between shades of white, green, and deepest indigo.  The effect was very peaceful and could bring a person to a trance-like state if they stared for too long.  The pavilion was flanked with lit candles on both sides, which added a softer, more natural light that clashed pleasantly with the fiber optics happening everywhere else.

As we headed across the field to the pond, the tipi lights were flashing so fast it was hard to concentrate on them for long.  The effect with the reflection on the water was really stunning though.  They were definitely the party lights of the garden, except no EDM music was playing over there.  Sad.  The information plate said they were meant to invoke memories of our history.

The shallow pool is always a favorite spot of mine to sit when I'm at Cheekwood.  The water is so quiet, so tranquil, and the simplicity of the orbs was a perfect accompaniment to the space.  The still water gave a mirror effect that made it look like you could step right out and skate around those orbs.

We headed up to the house where there were some ceiling chandeliers to die for.  The one in the solarium felt like a shower of falling stars and the one beside the winding staircase looked like small bells hanging from silken threads.

Back outside the house was the most incredible display of thousands of tiny suspended lights all over the property.  Every inch of green space was covered in these lights.  They looked like internally lit lollipops or glowing tulips with colors that shifted and changed.  It looked like the wind was blowing through them, causing the colors to glow and fade like embers.  These were probably the most impressive and beautiful part of the exhibit, but also the trickiest to actually get a picture of.  This is where the "you had to be there" part comes in.

Overall, Cheekwood is decked out in a finery of lights.  It took us a little over an hour to go through the place, and would have taken longer if we'd stopped to look at the art in the house (which I'd already seen) and perhaps grabbed a glass of wine at the bar before heading out.  I will definitely be visiting this place many times (and bringing friends) as this exhibit continues through November.

The exhibit is only open at night on Wednesday-Friday, not Saturday, so be sure to plan accordingly.  Admission is $15 for adults ($5 if you are member, or if you are with a member who has guest passes, like me).  Other visit details are listed here.  Be sure to support Cheekwood while this wonderful installation is here.  We need this botanical garden to thrive and bring more incredible art exhibits to the city!