Homemade Spinach and Cheese Ravioli

Homemade spinach and cheese ravioli do take a little time but making your own pasta dough is right up there on the satisfaction scale with baking bread. You know what’s in it. It’s fresh and the taste is far superior to store-bought. Best of all, it’s surprisingly easy.

You might notice, if you stopped by earlier, that I am posting twice today. And that’s because, despite my prior Sunday Supper commitment (I’m hosting for the very first time, guys! So excited about this week’s theme: Saving Summer!) I couldn’t turn down a request from my fellow blogger Colleen from Souffle Bombay to talk about cookbooks and what they mean to me.

I am a card-carrying, silver-plated, officially stamped, internationally certified member of The Cookbook Junkies. And that’s the truth. But today, at Colleen’s request, I am going to tell you about one special cookbook, in my case, it’s the Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook, 1980 edition. It was given to me and my husband for our very first married Christmas, back in 1986, by my mother-in-law.

My husband thumbed its pages more than I did that first year. He was working offshore so, on his time off, he was househusband, cooking meals and doing laundry while I was at work. I’d often get phone calls with random questions, like “What exactly is a Dutch oven and do we have one?” and I’d know he was planning dinner, hunched over that big book with its four-color photographs of Every Single Dish (no kidding) and making his shopping list. He made a pretty mean lasagna back in those days!

It was the only cookbook I took with me when we first moved overseas in 1987. In the days long before the internet and handy Google searches, it was my lifeline to classic recipes with tips on hostessing, how to fold fancy napkins or calculate food and drink amounts for party guests and, before too long, baby showers. With each move we have made over the years, and no matter how many cookbooks I’ve since collected, Old Faithful was the one cookbook that came in the suitcase. I didn’t dare put Good Housekeeping in the shipment! What if it went missing? And, of course, I’d need it before the shipment could arrive six weeks later anyway.

I have made recipes from its grease-stained leaves more times than I can count so it broke my heart when it started to fall apart. Its pages were spattered with dishes and desserts and gravies from family meals too numerous to count. Sticky baby fingerprints got ever increasingly bigger as our daughters grew into capable young women and became competent on their own in the kitchen. But far from outlasting its usefulness, and despite its own shattered spine, our Good Housekeeping still formed the backbone of the kitchen repertoire.

The great book was probably close to 20 years old when I first searched online for that same 1980 edition and bought a stranger’s less-used spare. I knew it was only a matter of time till the original would have to be retired.

And then it suddenly occurred to me that my daughters would need their own copies when they moved away from home! Otherwise, how would they make their daddy’s pancakes and waffles? Or our family’s apple pie? Not to mention the basic yellow cake that celebrated so many early birthdays! Boxed cake mix? Pfft. Couldn’t find those most places we’d lived, even if I'd wanted to. I found two more copies online and held them dear until it was time to write the inscriptions in the front covers and send them, and their girls, out into the world.

In due time, the original cookbook was indeed retired and is now up high in a safe cupboard, carefully inscribed newlywed Christmas message intact, its same edition stand-in doing the same remarkable job in my kitchen.

It’s still the only cookbook that comes in my suitcase when we move.

Homemade Spinach and Cheese Ravioli 

Whenever my daughters are home, we make ravioli with the fresh pasta recipe in our most dependable cookbook. If friends are around, everyone gets into the act. I took these photos a couple of years back and never have posted them or this recipe. But this seemed like the perfect time to share. Pasta making should be a group affair, dare I even say, celebration. Just try to ignore the cluttered counter, okay?

Ingredients
For the pasta dough:
2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups or 280- 315g flour (plus extra for rolling out the pasta)
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon olive oil or salad oil
1 teaspoon salt

For the ravioli filling:
3 oz or 85g grated mozzarella
3 oz or 85g cream cheese
1 3/4 oz or 50g freshly grated Parmesan
4 1/4 oz or 120g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 egg
Few grinds fresh black pepper

Method
In large bowl, combine 1 cup or 125g flour, 1/3 cup or 80ml water and remaining dough ingredients. With mixer at slow speed, beat for two minutes, occasionally scraping bowl with a rubber spatula.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of remaining flour to make a soft dough.

Turn out onto floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Wrap in cling film and let stand 30 minutes.

While the dough rests, we can get on to the ravioli filling. It couldn’t be simpler. Mix all the ingredients together well in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

Once the dough has rested, cut off a small piece about the size of a tennis ball or perhaps just a little smaller. Wrap the dough again with the cling film.

Flour it well and use a rolling pin or a pasta roller to roll it out quite thinly to the size of your ravioli plaque.

Flour your ravioli plaque liberally and lay the sheet of pasta on top. Fill each hole with about a teaspoon of the filling.

Cut another piece of dough off of the big ball and, following the same instructions, roll it out to the size of your ravioli plaque.

Use a pastry brush to wet the pasta on the plaque between the spoons of filling.

Carefully, starting at one end, lay the second sheet of pasta on top of the filled one, sticking the two sheets together and pressing out the air as you go along.

Turn the ravioli plaque over and let the filled pasta drop out onto your countertop. If it sticks, just gently pry it off.

Trim the ravioli around the edges and cut them apart.

Set them aside on a plate lined with cling film and flour.

Continue the process until all the ravioli are rolled out, filled and cut apart. If you can get an assembly line going, it goes much faster. And it's much more fun!

Bribe the workers, if you must.

The ravioli can be stored in the refrigerator, covered with cling film or even frozen until you are ready to boil them.

To cook, boil water with salt and a little olive oil in a large pot, as you would for regular pasta and lower the ravioli in gently. Fresh pasta only takes a few minutes to cook.

See that? It's my biggest Calphalon pot.

Serve with the sauce of your choice.

It is my pleasure to introduce you to my fellow Cookbooks & Calphalon bloggers who have chosen recipes from or inspired by a cookbook that means a lot to them and are sharing their food stories.

Baking

• Beirut Tahini Swirls – Pastry Chef Online
• Classic Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting – Urban Bakes
• Cookie Dough Fudge Brownies – Sugar Dish Me
• Peanut Butter Squares - Kelly Bakes
• Plum and Pluot Galette - Fork Vs Spoon
• Raspberry Swirl Pound Cake – The Redhead Baker
• Simple Apple Crisp – Real: The Kitchen and Beyond

Cooking

• Homemade Spinach and Cheese Ravioli - Food Lust People Love
• Lemon Basil Chicken Thighs - Mind Over Batter
• Pecan Encrusted Chicken with a Creamy Dijon Sauce - Souffle Bombay
• Pesto Pasta and Peas with Grilled Shrimp - The Suburban Soapbox
• Roasted Salmon with Peanut Sauce - Tiny Farmhouse
• Spaghetti Parmesan - Food Ramblings
• Tomato Jam – Healthy. Delicious.

Drinks

• Oat-chata – Healthy Slow Cooking

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Saving Summer Preview

The Sunday Supper Movement is dedicated to bringing back mealtime around the family table with great new recipes every single Sunday and quick and easy weekday suppers, Monday through Friday. This Sunday, we are celebrating the bounty of summer by sharing recipes and methods for ways to make the most of fresh seasonal vegetables and fruit and even extending their use into the next season. 

It has been my privilege to be a part of the Sunday Supper Movement for more than a year and a half. In fact, this week is my 50th post with the group! I am delighted to be co-hosting for the very first time with my friend, Tara, from Noshing with the Nolands.

Enjoying the bounty of each growing season used to be a given before the days of refrigerated trucks and airfreight. My grandfather grew many of the vegetables his family ate while my grandmother preserved what she could by blanching and canning or pickling the harvest shortly after each crop was picked. This was a way of life for them, despite owning and running their own full time business. It’s just what you did back then to feed your family as economically and as healthfully as you could.

Now we have many options for saving summer produce, including our handy home freezers and Sunday Supper is making the most of them all this week! I would be most appreciative if you would stop by again on Sunday to see all the wonderful recipes and instructions we’ll have for you.

But, meanwhile, here’s a sneak peak at the Sunday Supper Saving Summer link list:

Learn how to …

• Dry Fruit - No-Dehydrator-Needed from Take A Bite Out of Boca 
• Freeze Cherries from Pies and Plots
• Freeze Herbs from Rhubarb and Honey 
• Make Freezer Harvest Soup Kits from Cindy's Recipes and Writings 
• Make Pesto Cubes from The Not So Cheesy Kitchen 
• Make and Freeze Rosemary Butter from Momma's Meals 
• Make Ready to Blend Smoothie Packs for Your Freezer from The Educators’ Spin On It 
• Oven Dry Cherries from The Redhead Baker 

Sip sunny cocktails and smoothies

• Blueberry, Peaches and Cream Green Smoothies from Cupcakes & Kale Chips 
• Green Tea and Chocolate Saketini from Ninja Baking 
• Sangria from Confessions of a Culinary Diva 

Scoop up special salsas and sauces

• Classic Freezer Tomato Sauce from Noshing With The Nolands 
• Peach Salsa from The Texan New Yorker
• Pico de Gallo from Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen 
• Spicy Apple - Carrot Chutney from What Smells So Good? 
• Spring Conserve from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks 

Jump into jellies, jams and preserves

• Apricot Habanero Jam from Food Lust People Love 
• Corn Cob Jelly from Daily Dish Recipes 
• Hot Pepper Jelly from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures 
• No Pectin Apricot Jam from Curious Cuisiniere 
• Peach Preserves from Delaware Girl Eats 
• Pineapple Mango Moscato Jam from Seduction in the Kitchen 
• Raw Raspberry-Vanilla Chia Jam from Shockingly Delicious 
• Savory Fig and Sweet Onion Freezer Jam from Peaceful Cooking 
• Spicy Ginger Tomato Jam with Coconut Sugar from Sue's Nutrition Buzz
• Spicy Red Pepper Jam from The Wimpy Vegetarian

Pucker up for pickles

• Bread and Butter Pickles from That Skinny Chick Can Bake 
• Pickled Beets and Onions from Kudos Kitchen by Renée 
• Pickled Green Tomatoes from Culinary Adventures with Camilla 
• Refrigerator Pickled Jalapeños with Herbs from Magnolia Days 
• Refrigerator Pickled Radish and Turnips from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen 
• Refrigerator Pickles from Webicurean 
• Sweet Pickled Cauliflower from Because I Like Chocolate 

Slurp and spoon soup and a side dish

• Easy Garden Fresh Tomato Basil Soup from Neighborfood 
• Savory Summer Kimchi from A Mama, Baby & Shar-pei in the Kitchen 

Dive into divine desserts

• Easy (no machine) Cherry Cheesecake Ice Cream from Mama Bee Does
• Freeze 'em For Later Peach Berry Hand Pies from eating in instead
• Frozen Yogurt Covered Blueberries from Peanut Butter and Pepper
• Lemon and Blackberry Meringue Cakes from Happy Baking Days
• Lemon Curd Coffee Crumb Cake with Vanilla Drizzle from Wallflour Girl
• Vegan Strawberry Ice Cream from Killer Bunnies, Inc

Keema (Spicy Lamb Stuffed) Naan

Keema Naan - spicy lamb cooked with peas and carrots stuffed into soft dough and cooked in a non-stick pan - makes a wonderful starter or can even star in a meal rounded out by a crunchy side salad or cucumber raita.

This month’s Twelve Loaves challenge was to create a bread with herbs but I decided to take that one step farther along the herbaceous road and use cilantro in my dough AND in a stuffing, making a savory keema naan with ground lamb and curry spices. This is perfect summer food, cut into wedges as a starter for a party, or to take along for a picnic. I don’t have a tandoor – nor would I want to hover over one in this heat – but, though far from traditional, a non-stick pan with a tight-fitting lid works beautifully.

Many thanks to our host this month, the delightful Sherron of Simply Gourmet. If you haven’t met her yet, you need to stop on by. I love her honest life storytelling as much as I enjoy her beautiful recipes.

Note: I’ve given approximate weights for some of the ingredients in the filling, just to give you an idea of the size of my tomato, for example. Don’t dwell on this too much. A little more or a little less will not make a difference. It’s all going to cook down anyway.

Keema (Spicy Lamb Stuffed) Naan

Most folks are familiar with naan, a soft yeast dough traditionally brushed with butter or ghee and baked to brown-spotted perfection in a tandoor or cylindrical oven. A few charred bits are considered essential. Just as traditional but less well known in the western world are variations like keema naan, which is stuffed with seasoned ground meat, or Kashmiri naan, stuffed with nuts and raisins.

Ingredients
For the dough:
1 cup or 240ml tepid water
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
2 level teaspoons or one 7g sachet dried yeast
1/2 cup or 125g active natural yoghurt at room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup or 125g strong bread flour
3 cups or 375g plain white flour
Small bunch cilantro or fresh coriander (about 3/4 oz or 20g)

For the filling:
Olive oil
7 oz or 200g ground (minced) lamb (Beef can be substituted.)
1 thumb-sized knob of fresh ginger (about 1 oz or 30g)
6 garlic cloves
1 fresh hot red chili pepper
1 medium-sized tomato (about 3 1/2 oz or 100g)
1 small carrot (about 2 oz or 55g)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon curry powder
1/2 cup or 70g frozen peas, thawed
3/4 or 1 teaspoon salt or to taste
Small bunch cilantro or fresh coriander (about 3/4 oz or 20g)

To cook the keema naan:
4 tablespoons melted unsalted butter or ghee (clarified butter)

Method
Add the sugar and warm water into a big mixing bowl with the yeast and allow it to sit for a few minutes until it gets foamy. If it doesn’t get foamy, you need to start again with new yeast.

Cut the hard stems off of your cilantro and chop the leaves and tender stems finely.

When the yeast water is all foamy, add in the bread flour and stir well.

Add in the yogurt and salt and mix well again.

Now add in the chopped cilantro. And you know the drill: Mix well.

Add the rest of the flour, a little at a time until you have a nice medium firm dough. You should be able to poke a finger in like the Pillsbury Dough Boy commercial and it'll slowly puff back out. You may not use all of the regular flour.

Knead the dough for several minutes, either by hand or with a dough hook, until it is smooth and elastic. Set aside to rest for 30 minutes in a covered bowl, somewhere warm.

Meanwhile, peel and mince your garlic and ginger. Mince your red chili pepper. Dice your carrot into tiny cubes and chop your tomato. If your peas are still frozen, go ahead and take them out of the freezer to thaw.

As before, cut the hard stems off of your cilantro and chop the leaves and tender stems finely.

To make the filling, drizzle a little olive oil in the your pan and add the lamb. Cook it over a medium heat, breaking the lamb into tiny crumbly bits. If the pieces are too large, they will try to break through your naan when we get to the rolling out stage. Keep cooking the lamb until it is nicely browned and kind of crispy in places.

Add in the garlic, ginger and chili pepper. Cook until these soften, stirring often.

I kept mashing the meat, even at this stage, so the bits were smaller by the time this finished cooking.

Now add in the carrot and tomato, plus the cayenne and curry powder.

Cook for a few minutes and then add about a half a cup or 120ml water. Cover the pan and simmer this mixture for about 20-25 minutes. Stir the pan occasionally.

After the time is up, remove the lid and add the peas. Cook for a little while longer, until the peas are hot and all the moisture has evaporated.

Add in the salt and stir.

Mine seemed a little greasy so I drained the mixture on some paper towels. If your lamb wasn’t very fatty, you might not need this step.

Add the chopped cilantro to the mixture and stir well. I tipped mine off the paper towel and into a bowl to stir. Allow the mixture time to cool a little.

Your dough should be a nice puffy ball now! Knead it again and then divide it into four reasonably equal balls.

On a floured surface, flatten one of the balls and then roll it out into a circle of about five inches or 12cm across.

Spoon one quarter of the filling into the middle. Draw each side up to connect at the top, trying hard not to trap any air inside. Pinch the sides together and then set the ball aside, pinched side down, to rest.

Continue until all four balls are stuffed and resting. Sprinkle them with flour and cover with a tea cloth. Set your timer for 30 minutes and let them continue to rest.

When the time is up, melt your butter and start heating a non-stick skillet over a medium heat on the stove.

Gently roll out each ball to about 7 inches or 18cm in diameter. Brush lightly with the melted butter.

Place butter side down in the heated pan. Cook for just a couple of minutes until you see browning happen when you check the bottom side, then cover with a lid for a further few minutes.

Remove the lid and wipe the condensation dry with a towel.  Brush the top of the naan with melted butter. It should be puffy from the yeast dough rising in the heat.

Now turn the naan over. Cook uncovered for a few minutes or until you see that the bottom is browning again.

This was the first side down.

Pop the dry lid on and cook for a few more minutes until the naan is cooked through and golden on both sides. You can flip it back and forth if you need to. Keep drying the condensation off the inside of the lid so that the naan stays crispy on the outside. We want dry heat, not steaming, to go on in that pan.

This was the second side down.

Repeat the process for the other three balls. You can keep the finished naan warm in a slow oven until they are all done, but these are great at room temperature as well. In fact, I ate leftovers cold the next day, straight from the refrigerator. Divine.

Cut the keema naan into wedges for serving. Serve this with some cucumber raita. That would be a very good thing.

Enjoy!

If your garden is growing herbs like weeds this season, you’ll want to make a few of our wonderful herby breads! We have a great selection for you this month.

• Basil Buns by Rise of The Sourdough Preacher
• Gluten Free Basil Parmesan Popovers by Simply Gourmet
• Herbed Buttermilk Biscuits by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
• Herbed Skillet Cornbread by Magnolia Days
• Keema Naan by Food Lust People Love
• Pesto Bread by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Pesto Quick Bread by Rhubarb and Honey
• Pull-Apart Bread w/ Cheese, Herbs, & Seeds by All Roads Lead to the Kitchen
• Rosemary Grissini by Cake Duchess
• Thyme for Beer Bread by Kudos Kitchen by Renée

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