We have our first home grown spinach!

It’s Saturday, everyone is discussing what we should have for lunch. After everybody has made some wishes, the criteria are fixed: Everyone must like it, the two big girls want to cook, one likes noodle, the spinach should be used, I want something spermidin-rich, etc. :-)))

Leading to our decision:  homemade giant ravioli with spinach, mushroom and pine nut filling with a salad.

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Preparation

First prepare the pasta dough and let rest for at least 30 minutes. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl. Start adding half of the warm water and the egg and knead. Then add more water and knead until the dough is smooth. Form the dough into a ball and sprinkle with oil to avoid that it dry (no plastic wrap needed!) and let rest for at least half an hour.

In the meantime, prepare the filling. Finely chop the onions and mushrooms and fry in the pan with a little oil until glassy. Add chopped spinach leaves, finely chopped garlic, chopped pine nuts and parsley. Take away from the fire. Add curd cheese and season with salt and pepper.

Now let’s start with the ravioli production:
On the stove we need a simmering large pot of lightly salted water and 1 or 2 (if children’s food is taken part in) pans with butter.
Flourish the work surface and divide the dough into about 6 parts and roll out with the pasta machine or with the pasta scroll.

One part for me and the ravioli, and one for each girl. Everybody gets a pasta wheel (a little knife works too). Very convenient, because now they make their own food, which means I have less work and they like to eat self-made stuff a lot ;-)!

Place a heaped tsp filling (see picture) on the top half of the rolled out pasta dough, turn the pasta dough with your fingers and press the dough around the filling in a way that there are no air bubbles in the ravioli (as the pasta otherwise can burst while cooking). Cut out the ravioli with a knife or pasta wheel and boil in the simmering water for 1-2 minutes (until they come to the surface). Fish them out of the water and give them in the pan with the butter. Repeat this until all pasta is cooked (about 6 rounds).

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So in between, there is a load with the „noodle pieces“ produced by the girls, and we put them in the other pan with butter. I have salted the butter here lightly, also tomato cubes, garlic or finely chopped herbs (if none of the children has a green point phobia at the moment) would fit in there as well.

Before serving, lightly fry the ravioli or noodle in the pan. A salad is the perfect sidedish; roasted pine nuts and chives is good to garnish the ravioli.

Flori „Mmmm … Mom, you are a good cookin“. I „thank you Flori, you too“. Flori „yes, and the Lotti too, and dad too, but the toto can not do that yet, right mom?“.  I „no he is still too young, Flori; stop talking and start eating…”

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Ingredients (Ravioli for 4 persons)

Pasta dough

• 500 g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp oil
• 1 egg
• about 200 ml of warm water
• some flour (for the work surface)

Filling

• 3 shallots
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 500 g of spinach
• 10 medium sized mushrooms
• 250 g curd cheese
• 200 g pine nuts
• 2 handfuls of parsley
• salt + pepper