Potato filled "Candy" with Porcini and Sausage

Never Forget.

I was thinking about America on September 11th...

This week I thought I'd share the sausage making

course and then the recipe for candy pasta!!

It's no secret we love salsiccia (sausage).

Thanks to my client, Bob - it was a great day!!

Now we make Candy pasta.

Potato filled “Candy” with Porcini Mushrooms and Sausage

Ingredients:
for pasta:
10 ½ ozs flour
3 eggs

for filling:
2 medium red potatoes
¾ c parmesan
2 eggs
3 pinches of salt

for sauce:
3 porcini mushrooms
2 italian sausage links
1 medium yellow onion
1 c white wine
2 tablespoons butter
1 clove of garlic
2 pinches of salt
parmesan and parsley for garnish

Preparation:
Clean and boil 2 medium potatoes until the tip of a knife pierces the potato easily. Peel the potatoes and mash them together with the salt, parmesan and egg for the pasta filling.

Pour flour on working surface and make a fountain with a hole in the middle of the flour. Break the eggs into the middle of the fountain. Gently beat the eggs inside to absorb the flour. While beating the eggs, add a little flour at a time with the tip of the fork. When all the flour is mixed and you have a dough consistency, knead the dough by pressing and folding gently with your hands. Now, work the dough with palm of your hands – holding with the left hand and pressing with the right, then fold the dough over and turn. Repeat this process for 5 minutes. Let the ball of dough sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a long rectangular shape, careful not to roll to wide for the pasta machine. If you do not have a pasta machine, continue to roll with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. Don’t rush the process in the pasta machine – start on the thicker pasta setting and put the dough through the machine numerous times (changing the setting each pass), patiently reaching the desired thickness. Each time you will need to sprinkle flour on the pasta to keep it from sticking to the machine. Cut the dough into rectangular pieces 2x5 inches. Place the filling in the center of the rectangle pasta piece. Brush the edges with egg white to seal the pasta. Fold the pasta, pinching both ends to make the “candy” pasta shape. (see picture)

Add extra-virgin olive oil, garlic clove and chopped onion to a skillet. Cook the onion for 2 or 3 minutes then start adding the sausage pieces to cook. After 5 minutes, glaze with white wine. Add the chopped porcini mushrooms, 2 pinches of salt and cook until they are soft. Boil the “candies” and when they float pour them into the skillet, adding one ladel of the boiling water and parmesan. Hover over the heat with 2 tablespoons of butter for a minute until the parmesan melts and the boiling water evaporates. Sprinkle with parsley and parmesan and serve.

Guineafowl Ravioli with Porcini and Capalbio

Ciao a tutti!
First, HAPPY LABOR DAY
to all my American friends! I hope you had
a relaxing holiday weekend!

I visited Comune di Capalbio and thought I'd
post a few pictures for you. It's located in the
province of Grosetto in Tuscany.

Valeria.

For my sweet tooth:

And now Guineafowl Ravioli with Porcini Mushrooms:

Guinea Fowl Ravioli

Ingredients
2 legs from 1 bird and bust (your choice, I used Guinea fowl. The breast will be used for another recipe)
1 stalk Celery
1 Carrot
1 white Onion
¼ c olive oil
1 clove of Garlic
Thyme
1 c white white

10.5 oz flour
3 egg
7 ozs ricotta
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 c parmesan

Preparation:
Wash and cut the celery, onion and carrot into small pieces. Place the clove of garlic in a pan with the olive oil and thyme for one minute then add the celery, onion and carrot pieces to cook. Chop the legs and bust of the bird into half. Flour them and place them into the pan with the vegetables. Stir the meat until it turns a golden brown color. Then turn down the fire and pour in 1 cup of wine (or enough to cover all the ingredients) and let it cook until the wine reduces. Strain the meat and let it cool. Store the sauce and chicken breast for another recipe.
Clean the porcini mushrooms carefully with damp paper towel. Cook the stem of the mushroom separately from the head. The stem will be used for the filling and the head for the sauce. Slice the stem and cook in a frying pan with olive oil, garlic and pinch of salt then let it cool. Cook the sliced head with olive oil, garlic and pinch of salt for 5 minutes until it becomes soft then leave in the pan for later step with no fire. Mash the cooked porcini stem with an egg yolk, ricotta, parmesan and the cooled for the ravioli filling. Add more parmesan to reach the right consistency, if needed. Place in the fridge to cool.
When the meat has cooled, remove the meat from the bones and place it in the food processor with parmesan, egg yolk , ricotta and cooked porcini stems. Add a pinch of salt and blend.
Pour flour on working surface and make a fountain with a hole in the middle of the flour. Break the eggs into the middle of the fountain. Gently beat the eggs inside to absorb the flour. While beating the eggs, add a little flour at a time with the tip of the fork. When all the flour is mixed and you have a dough consistency, knead the dough by pressing and folding gently with your hands. Now, work the dough with palm of your hands – holding with the left hand and pressing with the right, then fold the dough over and turn. Repeat this process for 5 minutes. Let the ball of dough sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin into a long rectangular shape, careful not to roll to wide for the pasta machine. If you do not have a pasta machine, continue to roll with the rolling pin until you reach the desired thickness. Don’t rush the process in the pasta machine – start on the thicker pasta setting and put the dough through the machine numerous times (changing the setting each pass), patiently reaching the desired thickness. Each time you will need to sprinkle flour on the pasta to keep it from sticking to the machine. Cut the dough into long rectangular pieces. Fold the dough in half to find your starting point. Place the filling in leaving one finger between each filling and one finger along the edges. Brush the pasta with egg white to hold the dough together. Fold the dough over to make edges meet. Begin on one end pressing firmly with fingers in the middle then work to the edges in order to assure there is no air left inside the pasta. Use a pasta cutter to cut the ravioli. Sprinkle some flour on the surface and remove the ravioli using a spatula so they don’t stick.
Put the cooked ravioli in the skillet with cooked porcini. Add the butter, a ladel full of the pasta water and 1/3 c. parmesan. Hover the pan over the heat moving the pasta continuously until the sauce becomes thick. Remove the ravioli from the heat then sprinkle with parmesan and serve.