Carbohydrate Crisis - Gnocchi, Ravioli, Fettuccine

I received a hand-crank pasta maker for Christmas. This could have been a wonderful boon to get me in touch with my Italian culinary roots, a machine that might forever destroy my relationship to boxed pasta!

Well, as it turns out, I am not the culinary scion of the family, so I can still enjoy the ease of cheap spaghetti. My pasta adventure was not complete failure, but the ravioli tasted more like spring rolls and the fettuccine felt like rice noodles - maybe I was just yearning for Thai food? In any case, the gnocchi were delectable, but they were also the only recipe that did NOT involve the crank!

I enlisted the help of my good friend Nina who patiently watched as I slowly became a walking white mass of flour. So, let's get this mess started!

Delicious Potato Dumplings of Goodness otherwise known as Gnocchi

Ingredients:
4 big potatoes
2 C Flour (Bread or wheat flour is good)
dash of salt

This is the easiest recipe in the world. You will never have frozen gnocchi again!

• Bake the potatoes in the microwave or in the oven.
• As soon as they are done, peel them with a knife (they basically fall apart) but watch your fingers!
• Use a food grinder to mash up the potatoes.
• Place the mashed potatoes onto a floured surface and sprinkle some of the flour onto of the potatoes. Add your dash of salt.
  
• Knead together.Keep adding flour until it acquires a doughy consistency.
• Roll out the dough into long strips with hands.
• Cut strips into 1.5" pieces. You can press them with a fork if desired.
  
• Place the cut gnocchi in boiling water until they float.
• Savor!

Now the difficulties ensue, but all-in-all our creations were delicious!

Cashew-Tofu-Ricotta-Sun-dried-Tomato Filled Ravioli and Fettuccine

Filling:
1 package extra-firm tofu pressed
1/3 C semi-re-hydrated sun-dried tomatoes (soak them in boiling h20 for 15 min)
1/2 C raw cashews
olive oil

Ravioli and Pasta dough:
1 C Flour
2 C Semolina Flour
3/4 C water
olive oil
1 tsp salt

Filling:

• Place tomatoes, cashews and a drizzle of olive oil into a food processor. Process until a paste is formed.
  
• Crumble tofu into the mix and process until smooth adding a bit more olive oil.
  

Ravioli:

• Mix the flours, water, olive oil and salt together in a bowl. Mix/knead until an elastic dough forms.
  
• Let the dough sit for a half-hour in a slightly oiled bowl covered by a towel.
• Cut the dough into threes, take one piece, return the others to the covered bowl.
• Lightly flour the small piece of dough and form into a rectangle. Run through the thickest setting of the pasta maker.
  
• Fold the sides in and repeat on the thickest setting. Do this three of four times.
• Reduce thickness and crank the dough through one time, and repeat thinning the dough with each new setting until desired thickness is reached. I went too thin and would suggest that the third to last is best for ravioli.
  
• When the dough is to your liking, cut rectangle sheets to use for both fettuccine and ravioli.

Ravioli:

• Place small spoonfuls of the filling close to one side of a dough sheet. Fold the sheet over filling and press down.
• Use a ravioli cutter (or teacup in my case) to cut out the ravioli form.
• Use the tines of a fork to seal the edges.
• Place finished ravioli in boiling water until tender.

Fettuccine:

• Basically you just need to run the sheet through the fettuccine cutter of the machine, make pasta nests and sprinkle with flour until ready to use.
  
  
• Cook for only about three minutes until the noodles separate.