Some things are more fun when done with pals. Ravioli making is one of them. Just ask Chgo John. Luckily my lovely neighbour Denise was willing to give up a few hours of her time and we had an evening of ravioli making and eating in the garden.
We made four kinds of fillings.
Potato with caramelised onion and parmesan, mixed mushrooms with spinach and nutmeg, ricotta with lemon zest and coriander and mascarpone with rocket and sun-dried tomatoes.
No quantities except to say we made pasta with 500g of flour and 5 eggs. This made about 70 ravioli (with some leftover dough too), although we didn’t manage to eat them all. We did give it our best shot though!
We were well lubricated with wine as I believe it is actually illegal to make ravioli without a glass or two to hand.
We served some with tomato sauce and others more simply with olive oil and parmesan.
Summer cooking, summer eating. Everything tastes better eaten outdoors on a hot summer’s night don’t you think?!
(I know they’re not the best shots in the world but they were “working” snaps and it got darker and darker as the evening went on – naturally – I hope you enjoy the atmosphere of the evening as much as we did despite this!)
Chica Andaluza 
Excellent – it’s most definitely illegal to make ravioli without a glass of wine 😉
What are you doing up at this time (oh yes, but you’re an hour earlier)? Too hot to sleep yet here! I think any type of cooking is illegal without wine except maybe breakfast…but then a carajillo or a glass of champagne (depending on the day) is perfectly acceptable 🙂
Ha ha – sadly I’m on antibiotics for the week and they warned me I’d be violently ill if I drank 😦
It’s no big deal, just a minor gum infection 🙂
Eek – I (almost) feel your pain. Big Man had a molar removed last week and he too had an infection so it’s been scrambled eggs and soft food round here for a while. Hope you feel better soon!
Bravo! Such fun.
🙂
Oh how lovely!! I have never tried homemade ravioli but this is so inspiring….
It was good fun and not complicated, just takes a little while but it’s so worth it!
That looked like tasty fun! And loved it that all your four fillings came from the vegetable family: am writing them down to copy! Not that I usually make my own dough with my perennial lack of time, but wonton wrappers sort’of fill the void 🙂 !
Yes, we kept to veggie versions and they were all so tasty. Chgo John also does a post on ravioli made with wonton wrappers http://fromthebartolinikitchens.com/2013/05/15/where-east-meets-west-wonton-wrapper-pastas/
Uhuh!! I know: he’s one of my favourite guys in the States! But methinks, living in Australia with its strong SE Asian food culture, I beat him to it 😀 ! But thanks!!!!
Love the SE Asian Food Culture in Oz – the food in your country is so diverse, amazing!
This looks like so much fun and so much fun to eat, too. I just procured a pasta maker and John is encouraging me to use it. I can’t wait to try it out and ravioli is first up on my list. Thanks for the inspiration!
Go for It – but it’s definitely easier if you have someone to turn the handle and another to feed the pasta through!
Yes that looks fun making them and even better eating them. I think this is the kind of cooking I need to work on–team cooking.
In my family we call it “co-op cooking” – mostly we’re co-operative with each other! Seriously though, if you want to build confidence in the kitchen get a pal who enjoys cooking to work with (as long as it’s not a bossy Gordon Ramsay type person – that’s just scary). Make sure you have plenty of beer or wine to hand and you’ll have fun!
Sounds like a fun evening 🙂
Thoroughly enjoyable 🙂
It looks like a whole lot of fun to me :). We had a brief fling with ravioli that ended in most of them falling apart in the cooking water and sort of pasta water filled mushy ravioli…we haven’t tried since. What with the great ravioli disaster of 2010 and the gnocchi incedent, it might be best if we stick with the basics 😉
It sounds like you and anything related to the pasta family are best kept apart 😦 I guess you can make vegan pasta using just water and a little oil instead of egg though? Maybe one more try….!
I fear I would be like when Mrs Doyles friend left her husband at home alone and he went to make a cup of tea and lost a leg…
Go on, go on, go on….
Would you like a fererro Rocher Mrs Chica Andaluza? Are you sure now? 😉
🙂 Brilliant! Mind you – I expect some folk have no idea what this conversation is all about!
Then they are plebeian’s and should watch Father Ted IMMEDIATELY! While you are at it you uneducated lot, you are really missing out…go and take the time to watch as many U.K. good sit coms as you can. Get Red Dwarf, (the earlier series) and then get hold of Black Books and thank me later!
Now *that’s* my kind of party!
The grands and I eat lunch outside, but the bugs are too bad to eat out in the evenings…love the thought of you guys and your al fresco raviolis!
Luckily we don’t get mosquitos here but sometimes it’s cooler to eat indoors than out!
I love those fillings – just delicious. The first picture is a cracker and sets the scene for summer outdoor cooking. Lovely post.
I had another shot with the wine bottle in it…but you could see the mess in the garden too, so I left it out!
What a fabulous evening. Pity we aren’t neighbours. I could have brought extra wine.
Have a beautiful afternoon.
🙂 Mandy xo
Extra wine is always welcome – but you would have been the most welcome!
Very good suggestion!
Thank you so much!
My parents used to (many *many* years ago) have blintz making parties with another couple. My dad and the other guy’s wife would make batches of blintzes (like crepes) and my mom and the other husband wold make gallons of ricotta filling. Then they’d roll ’em up and freeze them and the other couple would take half home. Thanks for reminding me!!! I was just a kid (a little kid) back then but I remember… I remember… mmmmmm!!
Sounds like great fun – and then you all got to enjoy the blintzes…yum!
Yay, Tanya! Your ravioli look so good! Love the 3 fillings. You’re much more ambitious than we ever were. We make ravioli with one filling all afternoon and freeze most of it. Zia would think me mad if I suggested 2 fillings, let alone 4. You’re so right that it’s better to work with someone. S/he helps to finish the bottle of wine. WIthout that kind of help, the ravioli may never get made! 🙂
That was very kind of you to mention me, Tanya. Thank you.
We did go a bit mad with the fillings but we’d talked about having a “session” for a while, so we made it a worthwhile one! The only problem is…we couldn’t decide which one we liked best!
So how many hands do you have… with a glass or two in hand…. or does that mean you hold two glass in one hand while making ravioli with the other?
Ok, I’ll get my coat ….
🙂
Now Claire, you know that when it comes to eating and drinking we can multi task! Hope all is good with you. Should be over some time after 16th August 🙂
Yaay! Looking forward to catching up with you both 🙂
That just looks like the most perfect evening. 🙂
It was fun to make and fun to eat!
Ha, I think I could have used some company last time I tried to make ravioli (the last and only time). I got in such a rage with the pasta that the lump of unwieldy dough ended up thrown into the garbage with great force, and the filling I’d made was transformed into a pasta sauce :D.
Definitely easier when you work as a team on this one!
There’s nothing I loooove more than going outside on hot summer evenings! Tried to drag the kids out last night, they were glued to the computer screen and I didn’t succeed. Argh! Modern day kids!
I guess in a lot of ways we were luckier when we were younger as we were forced to entertain ourselves – imaginary games, playing with pals, out in the garden. And now we have all the wonderful memories!
Cooking with friends is always fun. Love the sound of the fillings you used. I would have loved to have tried one of each.
We couldn’t decide which was our favourite!
Lovely! I have a post on homemade ravioli too! It’s so fun and fresh! We have such similar tastes!
We do indeed seem to enjoy the same things!
Cooking with my best friends (and my mum!) is one of the things I miss most from back home! There’s nothing like a day spent in the kitchen whipping up all those things you’ve been dying to cook, trying as you go – bliss 🙂
And when you’re away from “home” there are things that you miss cooking that make you feel a bit nostalgic too!
summer fun … … really is a very sweet moment with loved ones
hmm, yummy 🙂