Moose and Beef Ravioli with Garden Salad

I had some left over moose roast and also some beef roast so I decided to grind it all up and take a stab at ravioli again. I had about 1 1/2 cups of ground meat so I added a cup of grated parmesan and one egg along with some Beef Rub since that is what both had been cooked with.

For the pasta this time I tried 2/3 cup of flour, one large egg, 1/2 tsp oil and a pinch of salt. I poured the wet ingredients into a well in the center of the flour and used a fork to stir in the flour.  Once all the flour was picked up the dough was still a bit sticky.  I floured the counter and the dough and worked the flour into the dough.  I kept adding flour till the dough was no longer sticky then I put it in the fridge for half an hour.

The sauce was an onion diced and browned then mushrooms sliced and browned.  Then I sweated a green pepper and stick of celery diced up and a couple of garlic cloves smashed and chopped.  Finally I added four tomatoes diced and let it simmer.  The pasta was still too wet so I added more flour and worked it till it was the right consistency.  It rolled really well through numbers 1 to 6 on the pasta machine but when I tried to do the last rolling on number 7 the pasta became thin as filo and tore everywhere.  This is what slowed me down so much, next time I'll stop at number 6.

Even with the torn pasta I still managed to get enough ravioli's made for dinner so I put them all in a pot of boiling water. I let them cook for 3 or 4 minutes then strained them.  The egg kept the filling inside even on ones that broke open, so that was nice. It took an hour longer to make the raviolis than planned so the sauce was over cooked by the time we ate it.  It was still good but not great.  The raviolis were good but the filling could have stood a bit more spice rub.

The salad was just a few lettuce leaves shredded with some parmesan grated over top then tossed with a vinaigrette of 1 tbsp oil, 1 tsp white balsamic vinegar, a pinch of salt and pepper. I have noticed that a simple salad like this is almost as satisfying as a complex salad that takes much longer to prepare. For a daily meal this is probably the way to go.  I'll spend time on a salad when I want it to be a feature of the meal like a Greek salad.

Fresh pasta is so much better than ready made that it's worth the effort.  It gets easier each time but it's still labor intensive and takes time. A small simple salad every day is much better than a big salad every two weeks. Also a small salad isn't a challenge to slog through after a plate of pasta. Learning to cook is slowly changing the way we eat as well as what we eat.