Ravioli Day

I was lucky enough to spend the day with my friend, Mary, earlier this summer.  She is a fantastic cook.  Even better, she's a fantastic Italian cook.  Back when Mary & I first met, I was domestically challenged.  And proud of it.  She would bring these fabulous leftovers for lunch everyday and make everyone else envious while we ate crummy fast food or humdrum frozen "entrees'.  Once we became friends, Mary would pack extra food and share her lunch with me.  I don't think I'd ever seen a yellow squash until she introduced me to her summer squash stew.  At Christmas, she'd make black bottom cupcakes and I couldn't get enough of them.

So fast forward and here I am in culinary school.  First of all, I believe that Mary is still shocked about that development.  Every fall, Mary makes a huge batch of raviolis for her family, "Ravioli Day".  I asked her if she wouldn't mind having a mini-ravioli day with me so I could learn from her expertise.

We made the pasta dough and the filling.  Then she taught me how to use the pasta machine and the molds.  We laid out the raviolis on the dining room table to dry.  

It was one of my favorite days of this summer.  I think we made 130 cheese raviolis, not to mention some fettucine noodles as well.  We stopped for a lunch break and Mary served some raviolis tossed with olive oil, parmesan, and blanched broccoli from her garden.  A simply perfect lunch.