The other night I had the urge to make some homemade ravioli. I didn’t feel like making a big production out of it, so I chose to use wanton wrappers in place of pasta made from scratch. I made the filling using up some ricotta that was about to go bad and some parley that refused to stay around for longer than two days in my fridge. I added some shredded fresh Parmesan (never, ever use that crap that comes from a container - never!), some S&P and one egg I whisked first.

I added roughly one teaspoon of filling to each sheet, wet the edges with my water dampened finger around the blob of filling to ensure a good seal when I cooked them in a pot of boiling water. The last thing you want is for your pasta sheets to seperate and leak your lovely filling out into the general public. It’s dirty and hard to clean up, and you end up draining the pot and starting the water all over again. Trust me. Been there, done that. Oy.

So, after I let the sheets tack together, resting on a cookie sheet covered with plastic wrap, for a few minutes, I went back and used my ravioli cutter to crinkle cut the edges. Don’t they look pretty and yummy?

After the assembly is complete, I placed them in the fridge as it, uncovered, to chill till the next night’s dinner time rolled around. (I made these at 10:00pm the night before, so I missed that night’s dinner hour.) If I had had time, I would have made these the night of given they only took me 30 minutes from start to finish for a batch of 12 raviolis. If you are planning to serve more than 5-6 per person, give yourself a full hour to make more.

Oh, and don’t forget to generously salt your pot of water when it starts to boil and before you add your pasta to cook. Let them cook for about five minutes for one side and another 2-3 on the other side (wanton sheets are denser than fresh pasta, therefore take longer to turn translucent, but worth the waitint time). Scoop each out using a slotted spoon, place them in a shallow bowl and top with your favourite heated up pasta sauce.

I need more fibre (according to a few women I know who have medical degrees - pfft, whatevs!) so I have taken to adding a half cup of split peas to my sauces now to bulk them up. It really adds a nice texture to your sauces. Try it.

4 tbsp of butter
1 small onion, small diced chunks
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1 quart milk
2 cups cheese (can be a blend of mozzarella and cheddar, or simply use marbled cheese)

Melt the butter over low to medium heat till it’s all melted and immediately add the onions and turn the heat up a bit to medium. Cook the onions till they are translucent, and then add the flour. Stir the mixture to cook the flour into the butter and onions. When all of the flour is wet and cooked a bit, add the milk. Cook this mixture for about 8-10 minutes till the starch from the flour thickens the milk. When the sauce is sufficiently thick enough to coat a metal spoon, use a whisk in the pot to ensure all of the flour lumps are broken down before adding your cheese and folding it in till it’s all melted. Remove from heat and let stand a few minutes, or add the sauce to your casserole or entrée dish immediately.

Fairly easy, no?

So, food… Foodfoodfood. I have been busy with everything but food these days, and yet, amazingly enough, I still managed to make a few things in the last few weeks. If I didn’t have to make any of these items, I wouldn’t be typing this post out. Sad, but true. :-\

From top to bottom: Poached Pears, Vegetable Pasta Soup, Dinner Rolls, Apple Brown Betty, and Ribs Stir-fry.

While rooting through the crispers last night, I came upon four baby pears I can’t recall when I bought, so I decided last night to make something fast, simple and sweet. Poached pears fit the bill. It’s ridiculously easy to make, and you will wonder why your home ec teacher never taught this one to you in grade 8. It looks and sounds fancy, and it certainly is decadent tasting, but I assure you, anyone can make this dessert.

It was bitterly cold here the other day. Cold enough for me to make some soup from scratch! Heh. I used the broccoli I didn’t roast for Thanksgiving along with some pre-cut carrot strips and onions, in some broth I made using powder, S&P, olive oil, and water to start the soup. After it came to a boil, I added a bit more S&P and some homemade dry pasta cut into crinkle cuts (’cuz I’m funny like that) and cooked it all through before bathing in its warmth. It did the trick. I was no longer cold that day.

We celebrate Thanksgiving the second weekend of every October in Canada, so that means Canuck Cooks are in a position to make and post about great foods that their American friends, readers and search engines can access a few weeks in advance if anyone’s looking for ideas, inspiration or lovely Thanksgiving recipes that just work. This year my MIL asked me to bring the vegetables and I told her I would also bring the buns. She was nervous but said ok. These are the best buns I have ever made. They tasted just like the best biscuits I have eaten. Joe’s whole family concurs. Must be all the butter the recipe called for. *snort* The dinner rolls and the roasted vegetables recipes can be found over at my Flickr account.

A week or so before the mum gave us the ribs, she also gave us a huge bag of baking apples. I cored and peeled most of them to seal and freeze, but I left a few apples aside to make a dessert I love. It’s comfort food for me. I especially love the ease and speediness of making this after a long day and coming home to make dinner from scratch. Apple Brown Betty = sheer brilliance. Me love!

We stopped by Joe’s ‘rents for a quick visit one Sunday and they were in the last stages of making a billion ribs, so on the way out, the mum threw a few into a small container for us to use on top of the pizza I planned to make that night. And I did. It was yummy. Joe was very happy. I didn’t use all of that rib meat on the pizza, so the next night I ended up using the rest of it in a stir-fry along with a bunch of aging veggies. Two birds + one stone = win-win for me.

It’s been two weeks since I last blogged. In that time, we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving and my husband’s birthday. I have photos on the HD Flip as well as on the new digital camera he won from one of our suppliers, but I haven’t had time to process them. I have some photos (I think) of the delicious dinner rolls I made for our Thanksgiving dinner with Joe’s side of the family. When I get some time this weekend, I will throw them up here along with the shots of the roasted vegetables I brought to dinner that night.

And when I haven’t been cooking and/or baking, I have been consumed with cutting up video footage to make my brother some kick-ass how-to cooking DVDs. And last night I took an hour out to make a tribute photo montage video for the first anniversary of my nephew’s passing at the cruel hands of cancer. So, yeah… I’m bit all over the map these days.

Bare with me, everyone. Tomorrow is a very tough day I need to get over. I will see what I can do for you all after that.

A couple of steaks I marinaded the other night in lemon juice, smashed garlic, jalapeño peppers, salt, soya sauce and olive oil. Very tasty. ‘Mmmmmmmmmmmm, steak.

We were lucky enough to have the in-laws share their baking apple bounty with us recently. I cored, peeled, soaked, dried and vacuum sealed two huge bagfuls of slices before freezing them to use in pies, cakes, crumbles, etc. over the winter months. Lovely tasting apples, too. The bath, btw, is nothing more than water with 2 teaspoons of coarse or sea salt. The salt leaves them tart enough to stand up to the sugar they will be baked with eventually, creating the perfect balance up front.

Leftover steak, mini portabello mushrooms and white onions from the other night, paired with fried eggs. Num!