i mean it.
poochie little pouches packed with power?
c'mon.
what's not to like about that?
and when your day is loaded with shoulder-hunching muscle-bunching stress;
and the temperature outside is less than no degrees, and windy;
and the dark day has given over to darker night, and it's all weighing down hard?
man,
making dinner should be the process to untangle all that tension, i think.
it wasn't this time but i still did my best
and while i may have been bursting with nervous energy,
the results were the kind that come from a calm mind and a sound plan, man.
yep.
check it out:
HOORAY FOR RAVIOLI!!!!!
i used too many pans, i made too much of a mess, and i ate it all too fast, too.
uh-huh.
too much is the right amount.
that's just the way it is around here.
there are also too many different things going on on that plate,
which is to say: it's just exxxactly right.
mmmm.
there's homemade semolina pasta dough.
there's homemade vegan tapioca-tofu mozzarella.
there's kale-onion-garlic filling, with lots of crushed red pepper flakes.
there's custom from-scratch sauce.
and then there's all thsoe exxxtra veggies, too.
neighbors, this one was designed to undo the doo-doo of the day.
all the steps, all the flavors, all the best parts all at once.
that's the recipe for making a bad day better.
that's true for me. i dunno what y'all do, but i make food to make sense of my life.
you wanna make sense, or maybe just make ravioli?
they're one and the same, son.
and here's some of the ways in which you can make the magic happen.....
-
*
RAVIOLI DOUGH!
-
in your stand-upright mixer with a dough hook attached, knead:
1 cup semolina flour;
1 cup king arthur ap flour;
1 1/2 tsp salt;
2 T olive oil;
3/4 cup warm water.
knead for 11 minutes, rest, wrapped for 11 more, roll it, cut it,
and get the shapes ready to fill.
*
you gotta have stuff IN your ravs, or you're just having pasta, y'feel me?
rules is rules and without elite insides, you ain't got nothin' to write about.
-
*
HOMEMADE VEGAN TAPIOCA-TOFU MOZZ'!
-
in a food processor or high speed blender, puree:
1/2 block undrained silken tofu;
1/4 cup tapioca starch;
1 tsp ea Garlic Powder Onion Powder;
1/4 tsp pink salt;
2 T nutritional yeast (nootch);
1/4 cup water;
2 T olive oil;
1 T lemon juice.
-
transfer that thickly liquefied lava to a small pot, over high heat,
and stir it until it pulls away from the sides as one very sticky mass.
it takes as long as it takes, but it's totally worth it.
this stuff is molto expert, and it's mandatory for these pockets we're producing.
-
the other half of the filling?
*
1/4 cup minced onion;
2 cloves crushed garlic;
one full package baby kale, chopped;
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes;
black pepper to taste,
all sauteed in olive oil until soft, and the onions are translucent and just starting to brown-
-
allow both your new chee' and your green stuff to cool,
and while they're doing that?
make the sauce!
-
*
CARROT-TOMATO SAUCE!!
-
in a one quart saucepot, saute in 1 T olive oil:
1/3 cup minced onion;
1 medium-sized chopped carrot;
1 1/2 cups baby grape tomatoes.
cook that down to the bursting tomatoes level,
and add:
GPOP, nootch, basil, sage, black pepper, and pink salt.
how much?
well, however much flavor y'all like, i guess,
but they're listed in order of greatest to least quantity.
ha.
-
add 1 T red wine vinegar;
1 tsp tamari;
1 1/2 cups warm water, and bring it all to a boil, the reduce it to a simmer,
and let the whole thing thicken up.
....it will.
then puree that sh!t with a wand blender, or in that food processor,
or your high-speed blender, or whatever.
i know, there's a lot going on for one meal, here.
it's NOT a quick one at all,
but it's a dedicated dose of dopeness rewarding you for the efforts.
for real.
*
so, now, get a big ol' pot of very salty water boiling,
and cut allllll the 2" circles out, to fill with the kale and the chee'.
i think i made 72?
that's three dozen packets of hottness all told, and that's what's good, bruh.
a blop of chee', a blop of kale, a quick flick of water to moisten the top circle,
and a seal, press, and fork-tine-activation, and you've got yourself a ravioli.
do that 35 more times, and by then the water should be boilin'......
here's the pro tip:
add a scoop of sauce to a big bowl, with a few big leaves of torn fresh basil,
and as you cook your ravs, which will float when they're ready,
pull 'em out with a sieve/spider/scooper, and toss 'em in the sauce-
the water on 'em will help slip and slide those suckers util they're all coated.
when you plate 'em, spread the sauce on the bottom first,
to keep them in place.
smart.
how's that work?
like this:
Y'ALL KNOW THE FORMUOLI, BOI!!!!!
*
and what else?
i'll tell you what else-
pan fried sweet potatoes!
yeah.
olive oil and semi-cricles of 1/4" thick tater, browned and softened on both sides.
that's so good, and it's the nicest bite mixed in with these ravs.
no joke.
-
blackened baby grape tomato halves?
absolutely.
they're soft, and tart, and sweet, and 'burnty', and delicious, and that's always invited, too.
a little oil and salt, a very hot pan, and enough time to rost those exposed edges is all you need.
yum.
-
fried garlic sprankles?
man, c';mon. if you aren't serious about eating well, just get take out and F* off already.
-
fresh basil!!!!
heck yes.
a little brightness is what i needed, and this sure did it.
you've got ric thickness everywhere, and then kaBOOM,
a sunshiny summery upgrade comes through and turns it up to eleven.
i like that a lot.
-
and last but not least? parsley spranks.
i just like 'em.
no need, really, except they're pretty.
that's reason enough.
don't eat ugly food, dudes.
that's my advice.
-
now you've got a plate of greatness, and if you've done it right,
without distraction or demerits or detractors, your night just got awesome.
making food that looks and tastes and feels good is a good way to live.
for me, it's an escape as much as a means of centering myself.
those're sorta one and the same, aren't they?
i guess so.
if i could eat them with more savoring, i might be eve better off than i am,
but by the time i got home from the grocery store,
got the ingredients together, made all the things from scratch,
and got around to munchin' up on this excellence?
i stress-ate all the benefits of the process in mere minutes.
yup.
shark-gluttonous anxiety feeding frenzies are a real-life side effect
of intentional, inventive, time-consuming edible experimentation-
a man's gotta get those nutrients in there, man.
and by the time it was ready, i was ravenous.
it all costs something, i s'pose-
mitigated enjoyment of the destination,
after doggedly determined driving forward towards it is prob'ly what i deserve?
like, make nice food faster, maybe?
who knows?
it tasted like a hundred dollars worth of hottness,
and that counts as a win, no matter the collateral cloud of consternation.
word.
***********
i'm frozen.
i am.
and it's not likely to get better soon.
a whole week of arctic windy worsening is in the forecast,
and all of my usual outdoor routes are icebound and awful.
it seems as if the woodsly goodness wants to compound my aggravations.
i guess that's fair, right?
without the bitter, the sweet's not as sweet.
and this is the bitter cold and brutal breeze that'll bring me to my knees,
and make the freezing point seem like a welcome sauna of sultry sexxxiness.
it must be what needs to happen,
because it definitely IS a winter wasteland right now.
i'll wait, mostly because i have no other options.
this is it, and that's What Is;
never quiet, never soft.....
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