Ravioli

Lucy Bardessono

I grew up around amazing women!  My Mom tells me that at a young age I would get up on a chair to watch Noni (my Italian Grandmother) cook.  I don't remember her ever using a recipe, she cooked by touch.   I watched my mom as well.  As Mom tells it, while I watched her cook, I told her "That not the way Noni does it".   Apparently, I said something similar to Noni, "That's not the way Mom does it"!   Kids!

Everyone has their own technique.  I use recipes sometimes especially when I bake. Sometimes I do cook by touch, I guess watching Noni all those years rubbed off.   There is no right or wrong way when it comes to cooking amazing food.

The first thing that I remember making with Noni was ravioli, I must have been round 12.  My Aunt Pat, Aunt Mary and Mom wanted to learn the art of making ravioli.   Mom, Aunt Pat, cousin Martha, and I gathered together at Aunt Mary's home, who Noni lived with, ready to learn.  Knowing Noni did not have a recipe they pre-measured all the ingredients.  We started making the dough for the ravioli, flour, oil, eggs and water.   Noni created a mound of flour on a board and made a well in the middle.  Noni would then add her eggs, oil and water.  With her hands Noni began mixing in some of the flour from the sides of the well.   Gradually mixing more of the flour in and kneading until there was a smooth round ball of beautiful dough. The dough was covered and set aside to let it rest while we started on the filling.

I remember watching Noni retrieved left over pieces of meat, beef, chicken, and pork from the refrigerator, Noni wasted nothing.  She attached a meat grinder to the round oak kitchen table and inserted each piece of meat into the grinder.  Then Noni opened the fresh meat from the butcher paper, cow brains! A surprise to all of us.  The brains were ground as well and all the meat was mixed together.  To the meat we added, spinach, eggs, parmesan cheese, onion, garlic, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper to taste.  Again, no measuring Noni could tell by looking and touching if she needed another egg or more parmesan cheese.   No utensils were used either, Noni told me to put my hand in and mix.  Yuck!  I think I almost cried.  I have learned over the years that there is something special about someone's touch when they cook.  We learned the art of rolling out the dough, not too thick or thin.   As we mixed the filling my aunts and Mom were busy measuring the left-over ingredients to create a recipe.   

Over the years we have altered the recipe somewhat, I don't think any of us use cow brains anymore.  The ravioli is wonderful, but they will never be "Noni's Ravioli".  She was an amazing woman in and out of the kitchen.   Making ravioli has become a tradition in our homes.  We've passed on the art of making ravioli to our children, daughter and son in-laws. As is traction in our Italian family we usually have ravioli with our holiday dinners. Come November our families will gather to make ravioli and flood our Facebook pages with pictures.  Each time I make ravioli I remember that day so long ago in Aunt Mary's kitchen.  

  

Noni's Ravioli

Dough:

4 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup water

2 Large eggs

1 tsp salt

Filling:

1 lb. sausage

2 lbs. hamburger (4 cups ground meat)

       (we have cooked a roast and ground up in a food processor)

1 pound spinach squeeze until dry

1 tsp Italian seasoning

1 chopped clove garlic

1 chopped onion (sauce until soft)

2 Tablespoons parsley

1 teaspoon salt

Cool Meat before adding:

1 cup parmesan cheese

8 eggs

Roll out dough, spread out filling on half of the dough, fold over.  Using a ravioli pin, roll over the filled dough.  Cut out the squares, place on a well-floured cookie sheet.  Place a sheet of wax paper over the first layer of ravioli, dust wax paper with flour and layer more ravioli.  Freeze until firm then transfer into plastic freezer bags.

To Cook:

In a large pot bring salted water to a full boil, drop in the frozen ravioli.  When the ravioli begins to float cook for and additional 5 minutes.  In a shallow bowl or deep platter, place a small amount of sauce, ladle the cooked ravioli into the bowl.  Layer sauce and ravioli sprinkling with parmesan cheese.  

MANGA!  (LET'S EAT)