Eighth of an Acre Bounty

Now comes the time that I waffle on when to plant seeds for the fall garden. So many of our plants are still growing and producing I am loathe to pull em out before their prime. And very little of what is currently ready is preservable (mostly lettuce, fennel, green onions, etc). But I also already have 10 broccoli and cauliflower starts waiting for a home and two other flats of seeds sown. As I mentioned in a previous post, we have been enjoying arugula flowers for weeks now and I finally decided to clear the arugula row to make way for others waiting in the wings.

After pulling the remaining plants I was left with a huge bowl of the last arugula leaves and pondered how to use them. We already have an overabundance of salad greens, with 8 heads of butter lettuce mature and waiting in the garden and two gallon bags of picked and washed lambsquarter waiting in the fridge. Not to mention the kale-gone-wild, beet greens and swiss chard also patiently awaiting consumption.

Some non-salad solution was necessary for the last of the arugula. I also had a good sized container of ricotta in the fridge. Left over from yet another failed batch of mozzarella. My mozzarella making has been a trial lately, the first few batches came out wonderfully but I can’t get the curds to set correctly the last 3-4 times I have made it. This despite confirming that I am not using ultra-pasteurized milk (which I know causes problems) and changing milk brands on each attempt. My last attempt will be to try again using raw milk, but I haven’t found a source for raw milk here that doesn’t charge $10 per gallon. And I am having a hard time legitimizing paying $4 more a gallon for local organic raw milk that needs less processing than the local pasteurized organic milk. Whoops – sidetracked on cheese.

Back to the arugula question. I had ricotta that needed to be used and the big pile of arugula and I had a itching to attempt ravioli. For my birthday this year Gary (ever so sneakily) surprised me with a Kitchen Aid Mixer. An item I had been coveting for several years due to it’s multi-purpose potential, but would never buy for myself. My parents got me the pasta roller and grinder attachments so I have been experimenting with my own sausage, home-ground medium rare burgers (YUM!) and pasta since May. But I had yet to attempt to make ravioli. So I decided on an arugula-ricotta-sun dried tomato filling for my first attempt. The dried tomatoes are left over from last years harvest, we are still waiting for our first ripe tomato this year.

I made a quadruple batch so that I could freeze the majority of the ravioli for the dead of winter when the current overabundance of fresh greens will be a memory.

Arugula Ravioli with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Ricotta

For the Pasta Dough

• 4 cups flour
• 4 eggs (from the girls)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• Water

Beat Eggs together until the whites are well incorporated with the yolks. In a large bowl combine the flour and salt, then mix in the eggs until a crumbly mixture forms. Sprinkle in water, bit by bit until the dough sticks together when kneaded but is still somewhat dry and leathery feeling. Note that I made the dough a bit wetter than I usually would for cut noodles since I wanted the ravioli noodles to adhere to each other a bit more readily. Form dough into a ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Set aside to rest (30 minutes, give or take) while you make the filling.

For the ravioli filling

• 1 3/4 cup dry ricotta cheese (goat cheese would be tasty too)
• 3/4 cup julienned sun dried tomatoes (rehydrated in oil or water)
• 8-12 ounces washed arugula leaves
• Salt and pepper to taste

Bring a large pot of water to boil, large enough to completely submerge all of your arugula. Quickly blanch the arugula in the boiling water and remove to a colander or salad spinner, either squeezing or spinning out the residual water once cool enough to touch. Finely dice the blanched arugula (I threw it in the food processor for a couple spins). In a medium bowl combine the ricotta cheese, sun dried tomatoes and arugula. Mix thoroughly and season with salt and pepper to taste (go a little heavy on the seasoning side, keeping in mind that the filling will be compensating for somewhat bland noodles). Set filling aside and return to your pasta dough.

Split the pasta dough into 8 equal portions and flatten into rounds with the heel of your hand. Pull out one round at a time, keeping the others wrapped in plastic or a moist towel. Run the dough through your pasta roller on the lowest setting, folding into thirds between each run and feeding the raw end first. Once your dough has a uniform size and elasticity move up to the next setting on the roller and pass the dough through. Continue moving one notch up with each pass until you reach the desired thickness for your ravioli. I brought the pasta to “6” on my roller.

Lay out your sheet of pasta on a lightly floured counter or cutting board. Cut the sheet almost in half, making one of the sides 2-3 inches longer than the base sheet. I find this helps in making sure there is enough of the top sheet to accomidate the filling. Using a teaspoon, drop small mounds of the filling about 2 inches from each other along the shorter pasta sheet.

Take a pastry brush (or your finger) dipped in water and run it along the center lines and edges of your ravioli filling. Carefully drape the top sheet over the bottom, starting at one end and using the side of your hand to press the top sheet between the filling before moving on. Once fully laid down, return to the mounds of filling and gently press the top layer of pasta dough to the bottom layer around the filling, making sure you press out any air bubbles before fully sealing each ravioli. Use a big kitchen knife to cut between the ravioli and lay them on a floured baking sheet.

After air-drying a bit you could either cook em up right away, or do as I did and freeze them. I left them on the sheet pan and put them in the freezer for several hours. Once solid I transferred them to a gallon ziplock bag for easier storage and space saving.