[Sca-cooks] RE: Further ravoli refinement

[nickiandme at att.net]

51 C	TO MAKE TEN PLATTERS OF OBLONG RAVOLI IN THE LOMBARDY STYLE, FOR A DAY OF MEAT AND FOR LENT

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

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. 


Okay, this time I tried a different cheese, and a different sugar also.

Final recipe ends up resembling the following:

Filling:  
1 bunch swiss chard (minced or finely chopped)  This comes to approx 1 & 1 /2 to 2 cups.
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/ 2 tablespoon grated pepper
1/ 4 pound grated pecorino tuscano (a slightly salty cheese - but not as salty as pecorino romano)
1 /4 pound grated Grana Padano (plain Italian hard cheese for grating)
3 eggs
4 tablespoons sugar (raw or muscavo)

Dough:
3 cups semolin flour
1 cup unbleached wheat flour
4 eggs
1 /4 cup to 1 /2 cup water
butter - 4 tablespoons (softened)

1 beaten egg (for sealing)
1 gallon boiling chicken broth - can substitute water and 1 stick butter 

Mix dough up and allow to sit in refrigerator while mixing up filling.
Mix grated cheeses, sugar, pepper and cinnamon together.  Remove 1/2 cup of this mixture and set it aside (to be used for topping later).  
Add swiss chard and eggs to main mixture and thoroughly incorporate the eggs and swiss chard with the cheese and spice mixture. 

Remove a quarter of the dough from the refrigerator.  Roll out as thinly and as rectangularly as possible. Take a beaten egg and brush onto 1 / 2 the dough.  Daub rounded teaspoons of the cheese/chard mixture onto the egg-brushed side of the dough at regular interverals about an inch apart.  Fold the non-egg brushed side of the dough over the top.  Tamp down gently between the mounds of filling.  Use a cutting utensil of your choice to cut and seal the individual squares of ravoli. 
Set aside and repeat with another quarter of the dough.  Repeat until all dough and filling is used up.

Drop a handful of the ravoli squares into the boiling broth one at a time.  They will float when they are almost done cooking.  Cook for another 2 - 3 minutes after they begin to float.  Remove and strain.  Cook small batches so that the ravoli do not stick together.  Sprinkle with the reserved cheese and spice mixture just before serving.

NOTES:  I used the pecorino and that made a tremendous flavor difference in the set I did with raw/turbinado sugar.  The set I did with the muscovo sugar - the actual flavor of the sugar tended to overwhelm the flavor of the cheese - but was very tasty nonetheless.   I had to process the raw sugar though my processor to grind it finer otherwise I had gritty textured (after cooking no less) ravoli filling.

Further observations - I have some of the uncooked ravioli in the freezer as well as the cooked to test out freezing/making ahead for feasts possiblities.  I'll let you all know how that turns out.

Kateryn de Develyn
writing this day from the Barony of Coeur d'Ennui in the Kingdom of Calontir