**Edible Love**

February 13 is National Italian Food Day in the United States, and I'm ready to celebrate my love for all things Italian on Fox 5 DC tomorrow! Since it's the day before Valentine's Day, I thought heart shaped Ravioli Capresi, a recipe unique to the romantic island of Capri, would be the perfect dish to demonstrate.

This recipe is especially symbolic to me because it's one that I learned from Chef Pasquale Rinaldo at the Under the Capri Sun dinner that we held at the James Beard House in NYC exactly 3 years ago. Steeped in history, this recipe has a few steps, but if you give yourself plenty of time to play in the kitchen, and work in stages, the efforts will be a labor of love.

I included the ravioli ubiquitous to the Italian island that Pablo Neruda nicknamed "The Pearl of the Mediterranean in my Italian Recipes for Dummies cookbook as well. Be sure to tune in to Fox 5 DC at 10:30 AM. I'll be sharing some of my other Italian favorites on their LION Lunch Hour program as well. I'm also planning on pairing the dish with a Cirò DOC red wine from Librandi. Made from one of the most ancient indigenous grapes to Italy, the Gaglioppo, this bold and bright wine is the perfect accompaniment to the rich and sunny aromas that the ravioli evoke. Interestingly, wine made from this grape was once served to the Greek Olympic champions and the Calabrian ingenuity was so admired by the Greeks that they named Calabrians the "Oenotri" or "The Wine Cultivators" in Greek.
If you're interested in exploring my ancestral homeland with me (which is where the Librandi wine is made), don't miss out on my Calabrian Cuisine, Culture, and Wine Tour which takes place in May 2023. February 16 is the last day to register. Learn more here.
In the meantime, enjoy making these traditional little pillows of mouthwatering flavors!

Ravioli Capresi/Capri-Style Ravioli

PREP TIME: 30 MIN

COOK TIME: 30 MIN

YIELD: 4 SERVINGS

Ingredients:

For the Dough:
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
* 1 cup water
For the Filling:
          *          3/4 pound fresh, good-quality ricotta cheese, drained
          *          1/4 pound aged Parmigiana-Reggiano cheese, grated
          *          1/2 cup aged Provolone cheese, grated, divided
          *          1 egg
          *          Handful of fresh marjoram or oregano leaves, roughly chopped
For the Sauce:
          *          1 tablespoon Amy Riolo Selections or other good-quality extra virgin olive oil
          *          2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
          *          14 ounces canned San Marzano tomatoes (crushed by hand); half a 28-ounce can
          *          Fresh basil leaves (about 3 tablespoons), roughly chopped
          *          2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. For the dough, add the water to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. When the water boils, immediately remove from the heat. In a large bowl, add the flour to the bowl and create a well in the center. Add the hot water to the flour well, and stir together. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes until cool.

2. While the dough rests, make the filling. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, Parmigiano-Reggiano, half the Provolone cheese, egg, and the roughly chopped marjoram or oregano. Use your hands to combine well. If you have a pastry bag, you can put the filling in it with a 1-inch tip attached, to make filling the ravioli quicker and easier. You can also use a large zipper lock bag by filling it with the cheese filling, carefully pushing the filling down to the bottom of one side as if it were a pastry bag, and snipping off the end. Otherwise, you can simply spoon the filling on the dough.

3. For the sauce, in a medium sauce pot over medium-high heat, add the olive oil. Add the chopped garlic, and cook until light brown (do not burn!). Add the tomatoes, and simmer over low heat. Cook and reduce the sauce until thick. Add salt and pepper to taste and the basil. Cook a little more until the basil flavor is cooked into the sauce. You can use an immersion blender to make this sauce smoother, if desired.

4. To assemble and cook, roll out the dough into a very large rectangle (approximately 2x3 feet) on a well-floured surface using a well-floured rolling pin until the dough reaches -inch thickness.

5. Cut 3-inch-wide strips of dough across the width of the entire piece. Using a teaspoon, place dollops of the filling about 1 inch apart along one strip of dough. Leave the next strip empty and use it to cover the strip of dough with the filling. Using a juice glass, a ravioli stamp, or a cookie cutter dipped in flour, cut out each ravioli. Remove the excess dough and, if using a cookie cutter or glass, which don’t seal the edges for you, use a fork to gently seal the ravioli all around. Lay out on a sheet pan dusted with @@bf1/4 cup flour and cover with a dishtowel to prevent from drying out until ready to cook.

6. Repeat with remaining strips — filling one and using the next one as a cover until all dough is used up. Gather leftover scraps of dough and add a tablespoon or more of boiling water to form a supple dough like the one you started with. Roll that dough out in the same fashion and make more ravioli until all of the dough is used up.

7. Cook the ravioli in salted boiling water until cooked through. Because this pasta doesn’t use eggs, it cooks quickly. When the “flour” smell is gone from the pot and the ravioli float to the top, they’re done.

8. To serve in a traditional manner, drain the ravioli and place around a plate. Spoon a few tablespoons of tomato sauce in the center of the plate, and garnish with a few basil leaves. Sprinkle with grated Parmigiana-Reggiano or Provolone cheese, and serve.

TIP:

If it’s your first time making ravioli, a few pieces of equipment, such as a ravioli stamp, or a cookie cutter that is the same size as your desired ravioli size, will make things easier. A ravioli stamp is more convenient because you can cut through two layers of dough with the filling in the middle and save time. If you use a cookie cutter, you have to cut out individual shapes, fill them, and then press their edges together. Be sure to flour your work surface well and to add more flour to your rolling pin if you notice dough sticking to it or pulling back when you try to roll it out.

Pair this dish with a bottle of Asprinio di Aversa or similar. A white wine characterized by citrus notes, marked freshness, and light body. This wine will accompany every bite and refresh the taste buds without overpowering the dish.

NOTE:

These are not typical Italian ravioli made with the Basic Pasta Dough recipe earlier in this chapter; they are instead the traditional ravioli of the island of Capri (called the Pearl of the Mediterranean by poet Pablo Neruda) made with the ancient technique of combining flour with boiling water and no eggs to make pasta. This recipe was taught to me by Ristorante d’Amore’s Executive Chef Pasquale Rinaldo in Capri, and it was the highlight of the “Under the Capri Sun” dinner we served to a sold-out crowd at the James Beard House in 2020. We used heart-shaped cookie cutters to shape the ravioli for Valentine’s Day.

VARY IT!

If you already have Basic Pasta Dough (see recipe earlier in this chapter), you can use it and this same procedure with the filling and sauce of your choice to make the more commonly known ravioli.

Edible Love on National Italian Food Day