Crazy from the heat

Monday, June 09, 2008

Every once in a while I get these ideas in my head about making pasta dishes from scratch, pasta and all.  Most of the time I get distracted by some shiny, glittery object and forget all about it.  But yesterday it was just too hot to do anything outside, and I was got all motivated - so I made swiss chard and ricotta cannelloni.  Just about the only step I skipped was making the ricotta cheese by hand.  And I was happy to let that go since I’ve been wanting to try the goat ricotta from Shellbark Farms that the Fair Food Farmstand is now selling.

If you’ve never made pasta at home, it can seem like a pretty big production.  In truth, it only added about 15 minutes to the total time it took to make the cannelloni.  I use my KitchenAid mixer with the dough hook to make the dough, which takes no time at all.  The real issue with making pasta is getting the right dough consistency.  I’ve found that many recipes don’t include enough liquids to fully integrate the amount of flour called for.  You don’t want the dough to be too dry, the kind of stuff you have to press together to make it work.  You want it to be stretchy, but not too soft.  If it’s too dry, you can add a little bit more olive oil, or another egg if you’re sure it’s not too much egg.  Today I used three cups of flour, a little over a Tablespoon of olive oil, and four eggs.  In the end, I needed to add another egg, but it was a very small egg - just perfect.  Then just let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes wrapped up in a kitchen towel or plastic wrap.

Rolling pasta really can be a big pain if you’re using a rolling pin, simply because it’s hard to get a consistent thickness.  Years ago my husband bought me a hand crank Atlas pasta maker, and it’s been the gift that keeps on giving.  KitchenAid makes a pasta attachment that does the same thing, but I can’t bring myself to retire the Atlas.  It’s such a workhorse!  I rolled the dough out and cut into sheets roughly 5” by 6”.

The filling is mix of that goat ricotta, one egg, sauteed onion and red scallion, and wilted down thickly chiffonaded swiss chard.  I made a quick bechamel sauce, put down a layer, and started stuffing the cannelloni.  They go seam side down in a baking pan with a little more bechamel over top, and bake it for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.  Perfection.  And, for all that I made my own pasta, pretty quick and easy.

What really makes me happy is that I can count this as a One Local Summer meal for this week: except for salt, pepper, and olive oil, it’s all local.  No, really!

pasta
flour, Daisy Flour - 60 miles
eggs, Natural Acres - 100 miles

filling
goat ricotta - Shellbark Hollow Farm - 19 miles
onion, Landisdale Farm - 100 miles
red scallion, Landisdale Farm - 100 miles
swiss chard, Paradise Organics - 50 miles
egg, Natural Acres - 100 miles

sauce
milk, Kingfisher Diary - 99 miles
flour, Daisy Flour - 60 miles
butter, homemade from Dutch Way Dairy cream - 100 miles