Cialsons

I tried a recipe for cialsons over 2 years ago when I wrote about the cuisine of Friuli, but never got around to putting my cooking notes together until now. These are nothing more than stuffed ravioli (that's gyoza to you Debi!) but have a couple of unique factors going for them: a potato and chocolate filling and the decorative twisted edge. They really aren't difficult to master at all and I did these myself during one rainy afternoon.

If the potato and chocolate filling piqued your interest, then read on; there's more to it. That's a huge glob of the stuff below on the left. The breakdown goes like this: potatoes, italian parsley, mint, tarragon, thyme, marjoram, raisins, figs, chocolate and cinnamon. Truly an unusual mixture, and when we had some during that trip to Friuli, I knew then that you can never judge a ravioli based on ingredients alone. These sorta remind me of xmas with the chocolate and dried fruit, and yeah they are delicious!

The same basic rules apply to preparing these. Roll out the pasta dough as thinly as possible (#6 on a manual pasta machine) and don't overstuff. These can be frozen in a single layer then bagged for future meals. A little olive oil and grated smoked ricotta finishes the dish.

Cialsons

Ingredients for pasta:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
- Mound the flour on a work surface, make a well in the center and add the eggs. Combine and knead until smooth, adding water only if necessary. Cover with a cloth and let rest for half hour.

Ingredients for filling:
1 pound potatoes, steamed or boiled until done
1 tablespoon chopped fresh italian parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram
1/3 cup golden raisins, chopped fine
2 dried figs, chopped fine
1/3 cup grated semi-sweet chocolate
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
salt and pepper
smoked ricotta (for garnish)
- When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, remove skins and put through a potato ricer. (If you don't have a ricer, use a fork.) Add the remaining ingredients except smoked ricotta and combine. Season lightly with salt and pepper.

  

Roll out pasta dough and cut into 3-inch rounds. Place about a teaspoon-size amount of filling in the center. Taking each pasta circle, gently stretch to elongate into an oval. Fold the bottom half over toward the top to within 1/4-inch from the edge and press to seal. Lightly dampen curved edge with water and making small folds, turn in to form pleats. The photo enlarges to give better detail.

To serve: Bring a pot of water to a boil, lightly flavor with salt and cook cialsons for about two minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon and portion into dishes. Drizzle with good olive oil (or melted butter if you want to stick with tradition) and sprinkle with grated parmigiano or smoked ricotta.

2005 days of bliss or just being blessed?

Belated news flash. In the previous entry I neglected to add that Dec. 11 [drum roll......] was the 2000th day for the MotH and myself as Mr & Mrs! Two thousand days. Sounds almost biblical in proportion, but not only do we celebrate in years and days, there's also each month. The 21st marks the date.

So where did we go to cin-cin? No place special other than home itself. Ugly, wet weather has turned the kitchen into a hub of activity as we've been on a pasta-making mission. He makes the pasta dough while I mix the filling, and within a few hours, a finished product to begin a celebratory meal. I'll be putting up recipes to the pasta experiments of course! Live simply, live well. Our next 1000th day will fall on September 7, 2011. When's yours?

Dreaming of a white christmas

One week ago I was running around in beach clothing with rubber slippers in 85°F weather. Yesterday, I stretched out on pristine snow, supine under a cloudless blue sky, thinking to myself that forty-five degrees in glaring sun wasn't so bad. And right on cue Miss Maddie came to the rescue, most likely thinking in her little mind that mama must have totally lost her marbles.

Silly me for causing some Friday confusion in my oversight. And to think that I was agitating over the font style and color! I'm the gal that shows waaaay more teeth than she'd like to in her smile, but if that doesn't help, who do you think looks more of the instigator? the one who would most likely ride a Vespa (if she had one) with her westie (illegally, mind you) and dare to eat lamb innards and questionable chicken parts without blinking an eye? I thought my header image was enough to go on, so if you guessed the rascal on the left then yep! That's me!