tortellini disaster part 2

Tortellini disaster, yes. The whole process of the pasta making went smooth, even with my 3 year old in her new “no nap today!” schedule. Okay, maybe disaster is a strong word. How about screw up?

I was on the ball. I made a tray of tortellini in under an hour.

I had a jar of my homemade sauce ready.

I made bruschetta. What went wrong?

What went wrong was a fly. A fly came into my home. My beloved pasta was air-drying and the fly came in… so, I placed my tray of pasta in the oven while I attempted my karate-kung-fu-crazy-mama fly hunt.

The fly was gone, however I left my tortellini in the oven.

I preheated the oven. Not a good idea.

baked ravioli. I didn’t even bother Googling it, to see if it was even edible. My hubby went out for pizzas for us, and I boiled up a few to test if they were salvageable.

A bit chewy, but still tasty. It will work. So, these will be our dinner tonight. I hope.

My hubby also said: “Why didn’t you just buy some?” After I told him they took 45 minutes to make.

My response? “Homemade is always better, and it would take me 45 minutes to go to the store anyway!”

You know- parking, car seats, kids, small talk with the cashier and bag boy, toy machines, saying hi to the lobsters in the seafood department, and red lights. Yes- a store run easily takes 45 minutes.

And, there is something nice about this. Creating things with your hands.

Helpers are good, too:

We’re (hopefully) having this meal tonight.

For now, I will share the filling recipe:

tortelinni & filling

This makes enough filling for 30 tortellini and a lasagna

Ingredients

20 oz ricotta cheese
2/3 c minced fresh basil
1/2 c frozen (thawed/drained) spinach
1 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c Parmesan cheese
mix well in a bowl, set aside.

Instructions

For the pasta dough:
c flour
tsp salt
eggs
tbs olive oil
Combine in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix for 4 min; or until a dough ball is formed.
Divide dough into 4 portions and flatten. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Pass a portion through the widest setting on a pasta machine, fold in half and repeat 7 times. (pass, fold,pass,repeat)
Pass dough through thinner settings without folding until dough is 1/16th” thick.
Using a 3″ circular cutter, cut circles in dough.
Place a teaspoon of filling in the center, and brush the edges with a beaten egg white.
Fold in half, and press edges to seal.
Form a half moon shape, and then fold again so the tips meet.
Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and air dry untill
no longer “sticky”
Bring 6 qt salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for 4-6 minutes.