Ya baccala!

This post is titled from an ::cough:: affectionate term my grandmom would throw around at anyone who was annoying her. Mostly the Phillies or family members who were being obnoxious. My cousins and I gradually embraced the term  and knew Gram meant business when she used it! We still laugh thinking about her throwing her arms at the TV when Utley would mess up a play. She'd lean forward in her armchair, throw her arm up and yell, "You baccala!", sit back, shake her head, purse her lips, and mutter to herself. Ah, grandmom :) I miss her a lot.

In honor of her, I'll post about Italian pasta recipes...from scratch! I started to make homemade pasta before she passed away, and she sounded very happy I was attempting it. My love for pasta (and carbs) began at her dining room table. Her homemade bread (which I'll attempt to make soon) and pasta are probably why I can't have meal without it containing some form of carbohydrate. Plain old salad doesn't do the trick. Even after eating HALF a loaf of the bread she would bake, she'd still say, "Is that all you're gonna eat??!" I would  love to walk into her house one more time and have the familiar smell of half a dozen loaves of bread sitting in the kitchen, fresh out of the oven. Instead, I'll try to continue the tradition. I bet she'll smell it all the way up there in Heaven!

From boiling to the sauce pan. Lots of cooking in shifts to get all of these done!

My first attempt at homemade pasta, I think, was a success!  It was fall of last year, and Hubby and I wanted to do something seasonal. I am NOT a fan of pumpkin flavored anything really. Beer maybe. BUT, Hubby convinced me if I diluted pumpkin with mascarpone (a delicious Italian cream cheese), then I would be able to make pumpkin filled ravioli and enjoy it. With my need to be festive, I went ahead and tried it. WOW! I was so happy because they turned out deeeeeelicious! I made the pasta with flour, egg yolk, and salt and ran it through my pasta machine. It's not hard, just tedious. Then I cut out the ravioli shapes with a biscuit cutter. My only issue was with my novice dough thicknesses. Some ravioli were real thin with a hefty amount of filling while others were thicker with less filling. Also, I wouldn't make a top and a bottom for each ravioli in the future, which is what I did this time. In another post, I'll share my pea pesto ravioli. Same recipe for the pasta, but I scooped the filling on a long pasta sheet, folded it over, and cut out squares with a pizza cutter, which gave them crimped edges. Much easier that way.

Don't forget the wine, peeps!

We chose a sage brown butter sauce with toasted pine nuts for the final product. Brown butter always sounded so yummy, but I assumed it took time and a lot of effort. Don't ask me why. Uhhh...no, not really. Put the butter in the pan with the sage (DON'T BURN THE BUTTER) but let it cook until it's melted and a toasty brown color. Throw the boiled ravioli in the butter, toss the pine nuts in, and there you go!

All in all, not a bad run for the first try. I have to say, these were pretty darn awesome. I found a way to incorporate seasonal pumpkin into dinner and actually liked it! I've learned I can take pumpkin in small, diluted increments. Nothing too strong. if the main ingredient is pumpkin, no thanks.

Thanks for the inspiration, Grandmom!