Homemade Ravioli

This is a good time of year to work on self-improvement. Oh, I don't know about you, but I can certainly vouch for myself. Being in the holiday-frenzied country of the grand old U. S. of A, it's easy to get caught up in things. And you know what things I mean- shopping, shopping, and shopping!

Now, don't get me wrong, I am glad for the sake of the economy that people go out and spend money. And I am still kind of shocked that nobody has been able to convince Israelis that they should have an entire season built around buying things. Useless things. Playing tricks on your mind until somehow, against all your common sense, you are convinced that:

Even if you don't celebrate Christmas. And don't honestly need a pasta maker, since you learned from your grandma how to make tasty, chewy, homemade pasta.

Ok I know this may sound contrite, but I think that spending time and putting lots of love into food can be a good way to stop for a bit and appreciate the small things. Yep, that's right. You heard it here folks. Homemade Ravioli is good for the soul.

Basically, you make up a batch of homemade pasta, and roll it out into an even number of sheets. This is where I start to wish that in addition to a pasta maker, I also had one of those nifty ravioli pans that cut out the next 87 steps and let you stuff your ravioli super full. Oh well. Here is what I do instead.

Plop little bits of filling in a grid pattern on top of one sheet of pasta. I made sweet potato tzfatit cheese filling. Tzfatit is sort of like a less salty version of feta. I have no idea what it's called in English.

Then you brush egg white (because it's left over from the pasta, you see) on a grid around the filling, as shown above with the blue lines, and place the second sheet of pasta on top. It's best if your pasta shapes are as square as possible, and the top one should  be a little bit bigger than the bottom.

Then cut along the lines, and press the edges together with a fork. You can let them dry a bit as you prepare the soup.

Plop them in the soup about 20 minutes before you want to eat (mine always end up thicker than store-bought, so I give them some extra cooking time) and enjoy!

Tomato Spinach Ravioli Soup

Pasta:

1 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix well. Will make dense dough. Divide into four sections, roll out on floured surface as thinly as possible without making holes. Allow to dry for ~30 minutes- should still be pliable, but not brittle

Filling:

1 egg

1 small sweet potato, cooked and mashed

200g cheese (feta, tzfatit, whatever you have around)

dash salt and pepper

Soup:

1 onion

1 clove garlic

2T olive oil

1 small container tomato paste

1 large can crushed tomatoes

1/2 pkg fresh spinach

as many ravioli as you can stand to make

Sautee onion in olive oil until translucent. Add garlic, sautee another 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and heat until boiling. Reduce to low heat and add spinach and and ravioli. Cook ~20 minutes. Enjoy!