I have been keeping a little secret, and I think it is time to confess.  Some have asked me why I haven’t posted about it yet… The truth, I wanted to save it for the right moment. This is my 50^th post, and to celebrate I want to talk about the wedding. Day and I decided to get married several months ago; everything is set for December. We have been extremely involved with the design of the whole thing. We are architects after all, and hope that our close friends and family will have a blast.

Day and I have been together for four and a half years. I am convinced that I lured him through his stomach. When we started dating, on our study aboard semester in Rome, I would make him really elaborate sandwiches, and pastas; we would drink lots of wine, and have a lot of fun. Rome was the perfect incubator. I even remember cooking him this rather complicated dish in my tiny apartment’s kitchen. The dish was called eggs with snow, made of pulverized egg yolks over a bed of rice… eek!  

While thinking of what to cook/bake for this post, I pondered on what was the one thing that would be most representative. There are so many memories that we have made over food and eating… sourdough from the Carriage House, Cinnamon bread fromFormaggio Kitchen, the NYC, Ithaca, and Cambridge Farmer’s Markets, and Three States of Hors d’Oeuvres.  It is almost impossible to put a finger on it. Is it an over the top cake, or his favorite pasta with a super simple cumin butter sauce.

While striving for perfection, I failed at making some pretty simple cookies, and failed at coconut macaroons (way to runny…). I finally decided on making ravioli, from scratch. It is a difficult to make simple meal. I made the dough, let it rest, rolled it out with difficulty, made a filling, cut the dough, cooked, and sauced. The whole thing took about an hour and a half to make, he ate most of them, quickly. I used spelt flour, which I think made them a bit tougher than white flour would have. I must say, they were not perfect; but what is anyways?

Spelt Ravioli Dough (approx. 10 ravioli)

• 1 cup spelt flour
• ½ cup all purpose flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. water (more if needed)
• 1 egg (for egg wash)

In a stand mixer beat eggs. Add flours, and knead with dough hook until a ball forms. Add water (1 tablespoon at a time) if needed. Transfer ball onto cutting board. Dust flour, wrap with cling wrap and let rest for a minimum of 30 minutes. If you are just making ten ravioli, cut ball in half and store the rest. Here comes the tricky part. If you have a pasta maker, this step is easy. Otherwise, with a little bit of patience, and some flour for dusting, stretch out the dough until paper-thin (1/8 of an inch). This will take a while….

Once stretched, using a small circular cup cut ravioli and set aside. I was able to cut about10.

Honey Ricotta Filling

• ½ cup ricotta, reduced fat
• juice of half a lemon
• 1 tsp. honey
• Pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients in a clean bowl. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if needed.

Assembly

Brush egg wash onto the ravioli. Place a teaspoon of filling into the center of each circle. Fold the dough over, and press edges together using a fork. The egg wash will seal the seam.

Bring a big pot with water to a boil. Add a couple tablespoons of salt. Dump ravioli gently into the pot and cook for about 5 minutes. The ravioli will float to the top when ready.

In another saucepan, heat butter and olive oil. Add garlic clove and cook for about five minutes in medium heat. Transfer cooked ravioli into saucepan. Cook for another five minutes. The ravioli will get a bit crispy in the olive oil butter. This adds another dimension to the whole dish. Serve immediately and devour! 

Pita Crisp

I had some extra dough, which I rolled out again and baked at 350 degrees Fahrenheit with olive oil and sea salt until crispy (around 7-10 minutes). Delicious!