… And This Little Piggy Went In The Ravioli

Inspiration From A Night Of Frivolity And A Few Too Many Drinks

Menu:

Pork Ravioli with Butter Herb Sauce

Beet Salad with Frisee and Toasted Almonds

Chocolate Decadence Cake with Raspberry Sauce and Whipped Cream

Drinks:

French 75

Tonights dinner began when we went out shopping, and after many drinks decided to go to this amazing restaurant in Oakland called Boot and Shoe. We ordered a pork ragu, which in our somewhat buzzed minds tasted like heaven in a bowl. The pork was soft and seasoned to perfection and the pasta sauce was simple, light and fresh. We decided the next day or possibly that night (who can remember) to recreate what we had had for our Monday night meal. We, of course, had no recipes for the dinner, we could only guess what the components were. Granted it turned out amazing and the flavors were exceptional, but it was our first time jumping into creating our own recipes and sort of fudging with recipes we were following. 

The main event of the evening was the pork that was in the Ravioli. We decided to do ravioli because we thought it would be easier to fill something? (Another not necessarily thought out brilliant idea.) Molly one spent five hours Sunday night roasting the pork shoulder so we could put it in the ravioli. It took much longer than she thought it was going to take and she fell asleep while it was in the oven, but it still tasted amazing and fell off the bone as it was supposed to. Unfortunately though because she feel asleep she couldn't have it on the nachos she made that night. (tear)

This was the second time we attempted to make pasta. We did not use whole wheat flour because the last time we did, it didn't turn out so well. This time the pasta was made with unbleached flour and would have been great had we cooked it longer. We thought that when ravioli floated to the top it meant it was done, but apparently this rule doesn't apply to thicker homemade pasta. The dough itself still tasted good and we were happy with the outcome.

For the ravioli sauce Molly 1 made it up. A whole stick of unsalted butter combined with white wine, chives and parsley and salt. What could be better? 

The salad was beets with frisee, which looks like sea anemones, but is really lettuce. We toasted some almonds as well and put them on top. Molly 2 under cooked some of the beets though (how hard is it to boil a beet and stick a fork in it?), so they ended up slightly al dente, and even though that works for pasta, it does't necessarily make a good beet. The dressing was a simple vinaigrette that Molly 1 knocked out of the park and everyone loved. 

For dessert Molly 2 made a chocolate decadence cake. It was more like a fudge or a pudding because there were only 2 tablespoons of flour in it to 16 ounces of chocolate and 5 ounces of butter, but it was so good. The center didn't cook all the way through, but we ate the edges, which were so rich and chocolatey. The raspberry sauce was made from fresh raspberries that were macerated and then pressed through a sieve and the whipped cream was a cup of manufacturing cream with 2 teaspoons of sugar. Delicious!

The drink tonight was a French 75. It was named after a gun because it had such a kick. The combo was champagne and gin and lemon juice with sugar. Molly 2 was supposed to bring the ginger simple syrup from the candied ginger she had made the week before, but forgot. (What else is new) They were good, but would have been better with the simple syrup. 

The dinner was fun to make; all the pasta rolling and waiting for the pork to finish. No sarcasm really. The pork we would definitely make again, everything we would make again… of course with some alterations.

Links:
Roasted Pork Shoulder
Ravioli Dough
Vinaigrette
Chocolate Decadence Cake
French 75

Ragu Ragu

Italian Comfort Food

Menu:
Ragu Sauce
Hand Made Pasta
Fresh Baguettes 
Arugula Salad with Beets

Tonight's dinner was all about warmth. We wanted to make something that reflected the cold weather and warmed us up inside. (Something besides the wine.) Originally we thought stew, which we'll probably make in the future, but then Molly 1 found this amazing Ragu recipe so we decided to give it a go. After all, Ragu is traditionally, in a sense, an Italian stew.

For this meal the Molly's shelled out some dough for a pasta maker. Usually we don't advocate buying kitchen supplies since were financially unstable... but this seemed like a useful investment. Molly 1 was in charge of making the pasta and ragu. 
The ragu was so simple. Literally chop the veggies, brown the meat and then let it simmer while you prepare the rest of the meal. The pasta however, was a nightmare. Molly 1 doesn't have a large food processor so she had to alternate between mixing in the smoothie blender and a Cuisinart food processor from 1989 (not even kidding). The next steps were very simple to follow and the pasta maker was easy to assemble and use (we got ours from Bed Bath and Beyond). The only advice we give is to make sure you have a large food processor and to use regular flour instead of wheat flour.


Molly 2 made the baguettes, which, unfortunately, turned out more like baseball bats. The recipe was easy enough to follow, but for some reason, they were not light and fluffy like described, but dense and doughy. The flavor was fine, and once drenched in stew you couldn't tell that they were as hard as hockey pucks, but in the future we would recommend using a more complicated sourdough recipe for baguettes, rather than trying to make them in one day. It's probably well worth the effort. 

Regardless of the missteps, the meal was exactly what we wanted, warm and cosy.