For Christmas last year, my parents gave me a “gift certificate” to go shopping with my mom for something for the kitchen.  Although I used some of it a couple months ago (to get those low bowls in the picture, come to think of it) we hadn’t found time for me to use the rest of it, mostly because I had been indecisive about what I wanted to get.  Last week I was told that my “gift certificate” would expire after six months, so I needed to get to it!  We went to Williams Sonoma one night last week and I decided to buy this beautiful pasta maker.  Isn’t it a beauty?  I love that it’s bright red and shiny!

I was eager to put this baby to work, so I decided to make ravioli for some friends we were having over Saturday night.  (I’m in a little bit of trouble for breaking it in without letting Mom help, but I was just getting the kinks worked out.)  My only previous experience with making pasta was for the Daring Bakers lasagne a couple months back.  In that case, while it turned out very tasty, it was really a pain to roll out by hand (tearing, etc.) and I could never get it anywhere close to as thin as I wanted. (more…)

Matt made this for me for my (a few days delayed) birthday dinner. But he says “I don’t write,” so I’m describing the recipe for him. (His role on this blog is to get all the technical stuff working, and I get to do the fun part of writing up posts.) This was inspired but something Matt always orders at Madison and Fifth, a new-ish Italian restaurant in downtown Palo Alto. Their version uses orecchiette, but Matt decided he likes ravioli better. I made dessert — pomegranate-studded persimmon creme brulee; it was tasty but not the right consistency, so it needs a little work before I post a recipe.

Ingredients:

Olive oil
1 pkg. of cherry tomatoes
1 pkg. of artichoke cheese ravioli
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 bunch of broccolini, roughly chopped
1 lb. Italian sausage, chopped
1/4 c pine nuts (toasting these would be nice, though we didn’t)
1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated

1. Place tomatoes in a small pan and drizzle with olive oil. Roast at 375 F for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are slightly brown and they burst a bit.
2. Cook ravioli according to package instructions. Toss with a little bit of olive oil to keep them from sticking together and set aside.
3. Brown the sausage in a large skillet over medium-high heat until done. Remove from pan and set aside. Remove the grease from the pan.
4. Saute some garlic in the skillet, adding a little olive oil if necessary. Add the broccolini and cook until it wilts a bit.
5. Add the sausage and ravioli to the pan, and cook until heated through. Add the pine nuts and parmesan cheese, toss to combine.
6. Garnish with extra parmesan cheese.