the formuoli was top-secret, even from me!
ha.
that's real.
i had no clue what was for dinner last night, right up until i had all the pans sizzlin',
and my temper temporarily stopped fuming through the steamy, sweaty,
muggy mess my kitchen had become in the absolute filthy humidity of august
here in the woodsly goodness.
it turns out that no sleep and the fullest days, for weeks in a row,
will take my mood to unexpected tiers of impatience and irritability.
weird, right?
don't misunderstand:
my clients and i all had big ol' globs of fun together-
it's not my first day at tattooing by a long shot,
and a little baby bit of being completely annihilated by physical and metal depletion
isn't gonna be what does me in-
no way! not today or tomorrow or ever, bro.
and even though i supplemented my alertness with just a single shot
of real caffeinated espresso in my decaf, i was maginally more awake,
but it also activated my hair-trigger testiness,
which in turn had me even MORE tired from reining in the high-performance
spoken-word runaway trainwreck that physiological stimulation causes.
hahaaa!
man,
it's not easy.
working all day on no sleep,
and looking at each tattoo like it's everest needing to be climbed barefoot.
it's fine; i'm a pro; and i handled all of it with precision and poise,
if with a few added invectives...
of course, the whole time, i was ALSO wondering what was on the menu for dinner.
that's important (to me), and i knew it'd have to be expert af
in order to improve my mean mood.
that's real.
i held back all the attacks all day, which was doubly exhausting,
only to enter my kitchen and immediately turn the heat right the eff up to eleven,
and melt away the last vestiges of my composure...
that's a hard style, friends,
especially when keeping it together has been my priority action item for an age.
so, instead i opted to NOT talk at all for a little minute,
and instead focused on what would make my night better.
sleep, for sure, but first, a magnificent meal worthy of celebration.
y'wanna see, after all those words?
ok.
check the teleport:
RAVIOLI, RAVIOLI, GIVE ME THE MUH-FUGG'N FORMUOLI!!!
wow!
from out of nowhere, a triumph!
the filling was so elite.
the sauce was so fresh.
the pasta was surprisingly hearty.
the whole of it was better from the first to the last of it
than any individual bit could've been, and every individual bite was a great big blessing
for my whole famished face.
word up.
the pasta was a surprise! i wasn't even trying to exxxplode my mind and my tastebuds...
but that's what happened-
check it:
-
*
RAVIOLI DOUGH!
-
in your standing-up mixer, with the dough hook in place,
combine:
1 1/2 cups a.p. flour;
1 tsp salt;
2 T dried fire-roasted tomato sprankles;
3 T olive oil;
11 craxxx black pepper;
2/3 cup warm water.
beat it up until it's a stiff shiny ball of dough, cover it,
and let it rest while you deal with everything else-
eventually, you're gonna wanna roll it out pretty thinly on a well-floured surface,
and cut out all the ravioli tops and bottoms, in the shape and size of your choosing.
we made twenty eight two inch jauns, which comprised fifty six circles in all.
that's a LOT. and they get bigger when boiled, so get ready to get full.
-
the filling was really dynamite, duders.
almonds? weird right?
but, with spinach and nutritional yeast, and daiya mozzarella chee', too??
daaaaaaaaaamn, together it's all a F*ing miracle.
f'real.
-
*
SPINACH-ALMOND MAGIC!
-
in a medium pan, on high heat, with tablespoon of olive oil, saute:
half an onion, minced;
one very finely-chopped carrot;
3 cloves crushed garlic;
three huge handfuls of chopped baby spinach;
a punch of nutritional yeast;
black pepper, GPOP, and pink salt.
after the onions are softened, and the spinach is wilted,
add 3 T crushed almonds,
and 3 T coarse almond meal,
AND a handful of minced daiya mozzarella, man.
y'all ain't ready for this much hottness.
it's almost too good,
but then again, too much is the right amount.
so it'll all be ok.
-
you'll need a big pot of hot, salty, boiling water.
and those cut-out circles, and a spoon and a fork.
that's the whole filling process in a nutshell, y'know?
a scoop on one flap, another flap on top, a few perfectly-placed presses,
and a squeeze or two to seal it shut,
then the fork to crimp the edges, (aesthetic and functional)
and voila, you've got ravioli.
let 'em set on the counter for a few minutes.
nobody likes gummy pasta, so give 'em time to firm up.
then, jus boil those baddies until they float.
....
but here's the thing:
then drop into a hot oiled pan!
yeah,
we're gonna sear 'em after the fact, and then toss 'em with a dash of nootch,
and a little dustin' on GPOP,
and a slap of fresh parsley,
AND then lather them in SAUCE!!!
that's the move combo for maxxximum exxxtra points!
sauce is tight on it's own, but with all that sizzliness??
c'mon.
look:
YEAH!!!!!
there's raw baby spinach,
and toasted almond slivers, which are tiiiiiight,
and those dry-fried mushrooms, just to give it a little sumthin' more.
there's also fresh picked basil and oregano and parsley sprankles, too.
yup.
who wants A*-hole macaroni when you can have expert ravioli,
am i right?
.....usually.
and that sauce???
bro, the sauce was a flippin' dark horse victory.
-
*
TOMATO SAUUUUUCE!
-
in a medium sauce pot,
saute 3 cloves crushed garlic with lots of black pepper-
meanwhile, in your trusty food processor, positively puree:
1/2 onion;
1 carrot;
5 fat garden-fresh exxxtra-huge special-delivery tomatoes.
mmhmm.
add that wet mess to the oil in the pan,
along with:
1 tsp sugar;
2 T white wine vinegar;
1/4 cup nootch;
1 T ground flax/chia seeds;
a dash of salt;
GPOP, obvi.
-
now, all that has to cook forever.
y'might even wanna start it first.
and stir it so the solids and the liquids can cooperate.
i bet i had it bubbling for close to forty minutes?
and i also added fresh shredded basil and oregano, too.
i mean, y'don't want BORING sauce, do you?
me neither.
it was still a little wet, but that helped the ravioli in the hot pan, anyway.
it just so happened to be perfect for what i was doing,
and that was totally by accident.
MORE sauce on top?
definitely!
MORE little garnishy goobieblops?
absolutely!
MORE of it, next time, so i can get all-the-way fat af?
there's no other option i will consider.
....and it ALL was SO good, too.
i wasn't sure at first-
for being regular flour only in the dough,
and juicy tomatoes in the sauce,
and a filling totally improvised on the spot,
and all of that with sleep and sweat and soreness dripping, dropping,
and drooping from every inch of my body?
that's how i know for sure that i was doing it right.
it all worked together, undiminished, to turn my night up a whole bunch of levels.
i am grateful that i can't take it easy.
otherwise, i might miss out,
and nobody likes that, man.
y'wouldn't wanna not have ravioli, would you?
that's my point;
never quiet, never soft.....
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