Weekend Cooking Marathon

With the holidays fast approaching (where has this year gone?) ravioli making time came over the weekend. Homemade raviolis have been part of the Christmas Day menu since before I was born. When she was alive, my grandmother was the one to hand-make the raviolis (and her mother before her) from scratch every November to set aside and freeze for Christmas. It's a wonderful tradition that no one wanted to lose after Gramma died. The November after she passed away, the ladies in my family (including me!) got together, found the recipe, and carried on the tradition. It has become a right of passage, a time for sharing and bonding, as we make the filling and the dough and put it all together the same way that Gramma and Nonni did so lovingly year after year. Our first Christmas without her was a tear-filled but jubilant day as we ate our first (very delicious!!) batch of homemade ravioli and reminisced about Gramma.

This is the fourth year we've carried on the tradition, and we were joined by my cousin who turned 18 last month and came into her own as a woman of the family. She was very excited to be able to learn how to make raviolis, as she remembers Gramma's raviolis very well and has had the pleasure of eating ours for the past few Christmases. I know that this may seem very old-fashioned, but it's a special tradition and one that I hope to carry on for many years to come.

Raviolis are not easy to make. With our recipe, it's a process that takes three days. Unfortunately, I will not be posting the recipe since I consider it a family secret, but I'll give an overview of the process. The first day involves making the paste (the dough). It needs to be made early in order to allow it to rise a bit and the consistency is so much better if it's left to sit for a long while. The second day is the day we make the filling, roll out the dough, assemble the raviolis, and make the individual raviolis using a special rolling pin (shown in the picture at the beginning of this post). It took us about 2 1/2 hours with five people and a LOT of flour (ravioli paste is very sticky) to finish this part. After the raviolis are rolled out, they are taken to a back room in my parents' house and left on tables to dry before we cut them. On the third day, the raviolis are taken off the drying board and put into boxes with wax paper (and lots more flour!) and put into the freezer until Christmas.

And if all this cooking wasn't enough, Scooter and I made dinner for my parents Saturday night using a menu and recipes that I found in my Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (I'm really beginning to love this cookbook). The menu included a pear and walnut salad, pork loin, rice pilaf, herb-glazed carrots, goat cheese and grapes (I added this course on to the cookbook's menu), and a homemade applesauce cake that my mom contributed for dessert. I'm posting the rice pilaf recipe here, but please let me know in the comments if I should post the recipes for any of the other menu items in the future. So without further ado, here's the rice pilaf.

What you'll need:
1/2 c. basmati rice
1/4 c. wild rice
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 14-oz. can of chicken broth
1/4 c. dried golden raisins
1/4 c. shredded carrot
1/4 c. non-carbonated apple cider or apple juice
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning or Herb de Provence
1/2 c. green onion, sliced (about 4 onions)
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted
2 slices of bacon, crisp-cooked and crumbled

What you'll need to do:
1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the rices and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until the rice is a light brown (about 3 to 5 minutes).
2. Add the chicken broth, raisins, carrot, apple cider, and seasoning, stirring until all ingredients are well-mixed. Bring mixture to boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until the rice is tender and the liquid has all been absorbed (about 15 to 20 minutes).
3. Stir in the green onion, pine nuts, and bacon and serve hot.

The cookbook does offer a lot of suggestions for substitutions. 1 3/4 c. water and 1 1/2 tsp. instant chicken bouillon can be substituted for the can of chicken broth. Dried currants can be used instead of raisins. Red or green sweet pepper can be used instead of carrot. Dry white wine or water can be used instead of the apple cider. Basil or oregano can be used instead of the Italian seasoning. Toasted slivered almonds or chopped pecans can be used instead of the pine nuts. And 1/4 c. chopped cooked ham can be used instead of the bacon. I make note of them here to allow you to make the choice of which flavors to combine, but I highly recommend the recipe as I posted it here. It turned out very good.

If you're interested in finding more Better Homes and Gardens recipes, check their website. Enjoy!