An EP Dinner - The Tuscan Feast

Old and new recently merged in my kitchen. This is why I love my dinner club. It inspires me to take what I know, and push it one better, newer, fresher, prettier. Thus, my brother was summoned to pass down the oral history of Ravioli di Moschetti e Ricci (Papa Anotonio and Mama Clorinda, rest in peace) ... and the internet was consulted to determine a specific nod to Tuscany: Ravioli filled with Chestnuts, Apple, & Prosciutto.

Ingredients are assembled from across the metro area. And so it begins. After a small explosion, I find myself staring down at a weird, dark pod in my palm, peeling away its husk. A chestnut. I was happily incredulous to discover them, pre-roasted and bagged, in Trader Joe's frozen section. The reheating in the microwave creates an angry, white splatter when one little nut can't quite take the heat. Otherwise, it's a simple way to introduce myself to these chewy, strangely-sweet items that are native to Tuscan cuisine.

With my fingertips, I create a well in the center of a powdery mound of durham semolina flour. This cradles two beaten eggs and a pinch of salt. By hand, with careful scooping action, I begin to mix the floury edges into the eggy center, and as it forms clumps I knead it into a smooth ball. The resulting dough rests, 20 minutes, and is then rolled murmur thin in my Atlas pasta machine.

This is the family machine. Everyone has one; it's a rite of passage to get one. I twist the side knob, with muffled clattering, between each successive pass of the dough, bringing the rollers ever closer together. I slide my left wrist under the cool , floury sheets as they emerge, lifting them from the counter so they don't collapse upon themselves, turning the handle, ratchety, with the other hand, thinking about Mama Honey, who made yards of noodles from this same dough - in her small, miraculous way - with just a rolling pin and a sharp knife.

The peeled chestnuts are chopped and the soft, fluffy bits are mixed with diced apple and crispy bacon, a flutter of Italian parsley, and the requisite salt and pepper. I spoon this onto the pasta sheets, brush beaten egg around the filling and drape another sheet of dough over the top. Here's the hard part - every bubble of air must be coaxed away from the filling, slowly pressing the dough down to seal the edges. (If a bubble remains, the ravioli will burst in the boiling water.) Edges sealed, the filling pushes against upward, stretching the pasta to near translucence, and I zip the crimper around the outermost perimeter to create a scalloped edge.

In the meantime, il fratello has been crafting his luscious red sauce, and its simmering goodness has filled the house with memories.

Sixteen ravioli later - eight of them with ricotta/asiago cheese filling, eight with the chesnut mixture - I have flour in my hair, it's 7 pm and I've already learned that I was due at J and V's at 6:30. Lucky for me, Hungry T had a dessert crisis, a crust that fell apart, and he's late, too.


At J and V's casa, folks are seated around a tray of antipasti, and V kindly pours me a glass of Spumanti, which calms my nervous energy from the day in the kitchen. Other than boiling the ravioli and making a brown-butter sage sauce (which came out just right, thanks to J's perfect tutelage), I do nothing more but revel in the fantastic company, raucous humor, and delightful dishes crafted by the dinner club to rival all dinner clubs. Here's to you, fellow Edible Porn-sters!

A Tuscan Feast - The Menu

antipasti
salami toscano, artichoke hearts, roasted red peppers, & pecorino toscano

zuppa
Pappa al Pomodoro
the hearty goodness of peasant food - a bread and tomato soup

primo
due ravioli
ricotta-herb with marinara & chestnut-apple-bacon with sage-brown butter

secondo
Arista Pork & Cannelini Toscano
"from a recipe apparently created in 1430 at a meeting of the Roman and Byzantine Churches (first since the schism)... roasted pork top sirloin, rubbed and run through with garlic, salt, pepper and rosemary. Served with slow-cooked Tuscan White Beans (cannelini)."


altri
tre formaggi
with "a completely inappropriate baguette and tiny breadsticks"

Pecorino Toscano Stagionato
slightly aged (2 to 3 mo) sheeps' milk cheese
Gavianella
cows' milk cheese, fairly soft
Pantaleo
goats' milk cheese, slightly firm



Dolci
Biscotti & Coffee
In Absentia: Ricotta-Meyer Lemon-Pine Nut Tart



Vini
some remain vague - I was drinking, not taking notes!
Spumanti
Chianti
L'Ecole Syrah
1999 San Felice (Agricola) Vin Santo del Chianti Classico
1993 Felsina Vin Santo