[Sca-cooks] Redaction done this weekend

[nickiandme at att.net]

 Libro Novo (Banchetti) by Cristoforo Messisbugo from the 1557 edition of the Libro Novo printed in Venice as translated by Master Basilius Phocas (MKA Charles A. Potter)

The following recipe: 

51 C     TO MAKE TEN PLATTERS OF OBLONG RAVOLI IN THE LOMBARDY STYLE, FOR A DAY OF MEAT AND FOR LENT
Take Swiss chard well washed, and mince, and you shall fry it in six ounces of fresh butter, note that it does not take the smoke.  And then when it shall be fried you shall leave it to cool a while, then you shall put it in a pot with two pounds of good hard cheese well grated, and four eggs, and four ounces of sugar, a quarter (ounce) of pepper, and a ounce of cinnamon, and you shall mix everything well together.
Then you shall make your pastry sheet with a small amount of butter and an egg, and then make your small ravioli long, which you shall cook in good broth for a day of meat and for a Lenten day in water with butter.  And then when they shall be ready for the banquet, you shall put over them a pound of good grated cheese, and a quarter (ounce) of pepper, and three ounces of sugar, blend together everything.
And then when they shall be ready to set for the banquet you shall cover them with other plates, and you shall put them over hot ashes, so that they would stay hot till it is enough that you shall want to send to table.  And note that such like small ravioli you with it can serve, and alone, and for covering capons, ducks, pigeons, and others you want. 

I made two versions of ravoli dough.  One was unbleached flour - It worked fairly smooth, easy to handle, roll out, sealed extremely well.  The other version I used semolina flour mixed with a bit of the unbleached flour (I ended up adding 2 tables of unbleached flour to the semolina flour).  

The recipe I ended up with was 2 & 1/2 cups flour, 1 egg and 1 egg white.  I cut in four tablespoons of butter and a 1/2 teaspoon of salt (next time I will increase the salt to the full teaspoon called for in the recipe.) I also added a tablespoon of water to the semolina batch, but only a half tablespoon to the unbleached batch.

The semolina batch - was much fussier to work with when trying to make the ravoli.  It tore easily, and just didn't want to seal tightly.

When cooked both batches pretty much looked alike. But the semolina batch was slightly toothier to eat.  I liked it better.  I don't know if this because this is how I expect the ravoli noodle to taste or what.  It wasn't chef-boy-r-dee tender.

The filling:

I stopped at a small cheese import store and got some aged provolone, parmesan, and pedano (a grating cheese).  

I bought one bunch of red chard at the grocery store.  I chopped the leaves fine - expecting it to cook down more than it did. It didn't act like turnip/mustar/spinach greens at all. It held up surprisingly well during the stir fry/sautee in butter before mixing with the cheese mixture.  I ended up with about 1 & 1/2 cups of the chard mixture.
I used approximately 1/3 cup grated of each cheese.  I added 2 eggs, and 1/2 teaspoon of grated pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon.  And two tablespoons of turbinado (raw) sugar.  Okay flavoring - nothing to make the taste buds jump.

I daubed the mixture in rounded teaspoons onto the bottom later of dough, marked between the mixtures with egg wash and laid the top noodle over it.  Then, I pressed between the lumps to help -bond- the layers of dough together, before I cut the noodles apart.

The ravioli was boiled in strained chicken stock.  I strained the noodles and moved them to serving bowls.

I sprinkled the mixture of cheese/sugar/cinnamon/pepper over the top.  It melted onto the noodles in a pleasing pattern, aroma.

I like the cooked texture of the semolina noodle better.  I need to granulate the sugar finer next time before using it.  The flavor was good but not anything to write home about.

Next time I believe I would like to try pecorino romano, pedano, and some Gorgonzola.  I would like the flavor to -pop- a bit more.

I also want to try one of the puff pastries next.  Perhaps Thursday night...

Kateryn de Develyn
Barony of Coeur d'Ennui
Kingdom of Calontir