A few days back, Papa Parla left a comment on my Ricotta post. I thought it was too good to leave buried in the archives so here it is:
- great story about great grand mom’s ravioli. you got to see the finished product but on my Sunday visits, i got to see the whole process. sheets of pasta were stretched across the kitchen table covered with a HUGE floured wooden “cutting” board. these sheets were not produced by a machine. they were hand rolled paper thin with a solid rolling pin(solid pin rolling is an art that i will explain to you in person). circles were cut out of the pasta with tin cans, filled with the ricotta mixture, folded in half, then forked shut. these raviolis were produced by the hundreds, floured and brought to my grandmother’s bedroom and placed on her bed spread to “cure” for a short time. the bedroom also had cords spanning the room where strands of spaghetti hung to dry. once the process was complete, the ravioli was cooked and tossed with a simple tomato sauce and served in a large bowl. the whole place smelled like parmesan cheese, garlic and wine. thanx for jarring that memory!
Thank you, Papa Parla!
