Introduction
Italians have their ravioli, Chinese their dumplings, and Poles their pierogi. All around the world and for generations people have enjoyed the experience of little balls of dough stuffed with a variety of fillings. It might be cheese or meat or potatoes, sauced with tomatoes, soy sauce or melted butter, but people love them.
And these are not the only “stuffed” foods that cross borders and culinary traditions. Think about empanadas, Cornish pasties and calzone. So it got me wondering why there is such a seemingly universal love of one food stuffed inside another. And I think there are a few good reasons.
First of all, when a filling is cooked inside some form of shell, the flavorings and spices are intensified and melded together in a unique way. It extracts the juices from meat and vegetables without drying them out. It brings the ooze to cheese and marries it to other filling elements.
And then there is the contrast of textures that juxtaposes flaky with creamy in one bite, or smooth with crunchy, or the rich with the mild.
Finally, the combinations create flavor pairings that transcend each individual element.
I have been fascinated with stuffed foods for years and collect them from every tradition I can find.
For the most part, these are ethnic foods, and it is curious to see the parallels in technique as well as ingredients. But it also means that these are predominantly comfort foods with long and well loved traditions. Many of the preparations are labor intensive since they involve the assembly of individual portions, if not individual bites. But the end results are delicious and deeply satisfying.
For the past twenty-five years I have been the producer and host of a series of cooking programs on public television. Unlike other cooking formats, these shows and the resulting cookbooks invited our viewers to send us their family treasures. We asked some of them to appear on the show and share their kitchen wisdom and family stories. From time to time in this book you will see recipes from some of those home cooks – recipes forged on the appetites of real people and made in home kitchens just like yours. No special ingredients or fancy equipment required. The show was called “QED Cooks” here in Pittsburgh and “America’s Home Cooking” when episodes aired around the country. The rest of the recipes I’ve accumulated over the years from family and friends and made my own. Feel free to add and subtract where you like to make them just as much your own.
Chris
About Recipe Proportions and Equivalents
When people call or write about the recipes we prepare on the WQED cooking programs, a fair number are complaining that they are only cooking for one or two. My usual response is that you can always make the full recipe and simply freeze the remainder in one or two serving increments. But I know there are times when freezer space isn’t available and you don’t want to eat the same thing for six weeks in a row. So here are a few guidelines for dividing and conquering.
• Baking is much more precise than regular cooking and the chemical reactions require more accurate measurements.
For this reason, many cookbooks offer amounts in weight rather than volume. This makes it pretty easy to halve or quarter.
• Don’t confuse dry measures with liquid measure with weights.
They all have different characteristics. One stick of butter = 8 tablespoons = ½ cup = ¼ pound. Make sure to use the proper measuring system and measuring devices.
• Eggs are usually the least common denominator.
If a recipe calls for one egg and you want to cut it in half you’ll either have to whisk the egg and pour off half or use the whole egg and reduce some other liquid by about a tablespoon and a half.
• More is not always better.
If I like an ingredient such as nuts or garlic, I tend to use more than the recipe calls for. That’s usually not a problem, but changing the proportion of butter or sugar can change the consistency and chemistry.
• Halving a recipe will not always cut cooking time.
Four muffins will take almost as much time to bake as 24 but a 2-egg frittata will cook somewhat faster than a 12-egg version.
• When you alter a recipe, take good notes.
If it doesn’t turn out the way you want, modify the ingredients or cooking time to improve your next attempt. Too moist, too dry, too salty? Next time will be better.
For the most part, cooking is a very forgiving science, so use the recipes as guidelines until you’ve perfected a version that suits your needs and tastes.
PART ONE
DOUGH
The concept couldn’t be simpler. Take some dough, any dough, wrap it around a tasty morsel of meat, cheese, vegetable, or any combination thereof, and then fry, bake, boil or braise it until the dough is cooked and the filling is succulent. I have a feeling this has been going on in kitchens from one end of the globe to the other for millennia.
Once I started making my own ravioli, I realized what a labor of love it was for my mother to sit for hours rolling out dough, portioning the filling, sealing and crimping. Only then did I finally get it. It is the labor and the love that make these tasty treats so much more than just something to eat. Just like the Asian families who gather around the table to make mountains of dumplings to celebrate the New Year, the value of these dishes is in the sharing.
I encourage you to try these recipes as group projects. Make an assembly line of fillers and crimpers and make batch after batch of memories that will last much longer than the recipes themselves.
Butternut Squash Ravioli
4 dinner servings or 6 first courses
Ravioli are the kind of labor intensive foods that you only want to make by hand for the people you love. My mom would make them on special occasions but we were fortunate to have several places in our neighborhood where we could buy fresh pasta. I love to make the butternut squash version in the fall when there are plenty of squash to be had at the farmers’ markets. The butter/sage sauce contains the essence of fall flavor.
INGREDIENTS
DOUGH:
2 cups semolina
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
Water
FILLING:
One medium to small butternut squash
¼ cup mascarpone or goat cheese
¼ cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1 grating of nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt