As Promised...

Let me begin with an apology.  Jackie, my dear, I am so sorry, but I don't think those fabulous ravioli we made for Christmas will survive in the mail... which leads me to the moment you've all been waiting for:

How to re-create the Kelly Christmas Dinner!

  

The preliminary requirement?  You will need to make pasta.  If you don't have one of those old-fashioned metal pasta machines (hand crank and all... yep, that's the one), go out and find one.  Probably can locate it in the "Beyond" section at BB&B -- right next to Christopher Walken.  Follow these four steps as best you can, and you'll be well on your way to experiencing the Kelly Faaaaamily Christmas (cue Clark Griswold toothy grin and drum roll):

Step 1.  Three days prior.  Talk sweet nothings to your significant other (or child, or pet, or favorite picture, or whatever you exchange cooking dialogue with) and pick out some fun pasta recipes.  We turned to Mario Batali (Simple Italian Food) for inspiration... because, as we all know, he is quite close to Pasta Dio status.

Step 2.  Two days prior.  This is shopping day, your last chance to see the light of the day before the fun begins, so your list should include whatever you need to survive until Christmas: all-purpose (AP) flour, eggs (get at least a dozen in case you wreck a batch of dough), olive oil, seasonings, meats/veggies/fruits/herbs/butter for sauces and filling (see the below recipes for our suggestions), beverages, frozen pizzas, hot dogs, and (thank you Grammy and Pappy) a meat-cheese-cracker setup, what have you.

Step 3.  One day prior. Make a game plan and start cooking.  You might want to get some of the filling work out of the way on this day, because Step 4 is a doozy.

Step 4.  Make the pasta.  That's it.  Wait, that's it?!?!  No, that is most certainly not it.  Although you think you can handle it, making the pasta is a process that can drive some to the breaking point (yours truly included).  I have wasted many an egg, wad of dough, and fistful of tears (let's not also acknowledge the fountain of dirty words that manages to spew out of my mouth every Christmas) over the creation of pasta.

Which goes to show just how worth it this experience is.  Do it.  You know you want to.

Black Pepper Pasta 

(borrowed heavily from Mario Batali's book mentioned earlier -- we basically just modified the egg count)

Ingredients:
6 med/lg eggs
3.5-4 c AP flour (don't try to get fancy -- stick with AP or you'll have a mess)
1 T EVOO (extra-virgin olive oil for you non-Rachael Rayers)
2 T finely ground black pepper (we used restaurant/table ground)

MOP:
1.  Make a mound out of the flour on the center of your most loyal cutting board. Gently make a well in the center so it looks like a volcano.
2.  Separately beat the eggs with the oil and pepper until just blended.
3.  Gently pour some of the egg mixture into the flour volcano.  With a fork in one hand, start to incorporate the flour into the egg, being sure to retain the wall of the volcano with your other hand.  The key here is to work the inner rim of the volcano into the egg mixture first, or you'll have egg all over your cutting board.  Much like egg on the face.  (NB:  I actually had an egg-flour massacre on my board but was able to recover completely and provide the dough you viewed on our Christmas blog.  Moral:  Don't give up.)
4.  When you think it's safe, add the rest of the egg mixture, being sure to maintain your flour volcano.  It will seem messy and silly, but once you've mixed about half of the flour, you should start to feel the birth of a dough ball coming on -- savor that moment but don't let it fool you.  Things can get out of hand even at the last minute.
5.  Once all the flour is blended in with the egg mixture, knead the dough with the palms of your hands.  Expect a workout.  When the dough is forming into a bit of a ball, lift it, wipe away any dried pieces, dust your board with more AP flour, and knead for 6 more minutes.  It is imperative that you knead for this long in order to work out the air and make a smooth dough.  Your resulting dough should feel elastic and just slightly sticky (add a dab of water if needed, but don't count on this trick to save you).  Continue dusting the board if your dough sticks.
6.  After the 6+ minutes of kneading, your forearms will thank you for this next step:  Wrap your precious dough into plastic wrap and allow it to rest at room temp for 30 mins.
7.  From this dough ball, you can make any style of pasta you choose -- you can even get crazy with it and roll it out, use cookie cutters, and make gingerbread-men-pasta.  There are no rules.  We went with ravioli because we love the art of making filling.


To Make Ravioli
1.  Divide your dough ball into six even portions.
2.  Take one portion and roll it through your pasta machine at the first setting.
3.  Fold the resulting sheet in thirds and roll through the next setting.
4.  Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you've rolled the dough through the highest (thinnest) setting your machine allows.
5.  Take the resulting sheet and divide in half.  Place small mounds of filling on one half of the dough, spaced out as you see fit, and cover with the other half.  Be sure to leave room to seal each filling mound, pushing any air out.
6.  Cut ravioli with knife or cutter or fancy tool of your choosing.  Gently seal any tears in your ravioli with the dough you cut away from the ravioli pieces.
7.  Repeat steps 2-6 with remaining dough portions.

Suggested Ravioli Filling

1:  A twist on Duck Confit, courtesy of Zeke

Ingredients:

1 whole duckling

S&P

1/2 red onion or whole (hefty) shallot

2 T hoisin sauce

3/4 t liquid smoke

1/2 lb. Cremini mushrooms (or Bellas if you can't find cremini)

MOP:

1.  Season duck with S&P to taste and roast in open roasting pan at 475F for 15 mins.  Cover with foil and continue roasting at 275F for 2 hrs or until most of the fat has rendered.

2.  Drain pan drippings into large skillet; set aside.

3.  Once duck has cooled, pull and shred meat from bones and place in skillet with drippings.  Simmer over lowest heat setting for another 2 hrs.

4.  Remove meat and place in large mixing bowl; combine with hoisin sauce and liquid smoke.

5.  Caramelize onion/shallot (throw a big T of butter in 3-qt saucepan and add onions when  butter is melted; allow onion to merry with butter over low heat until onions achieve a rich, brown, caramel texture and color); add to mixing bowl.

6.  Dice mushrooms and saute in a small amount of remaining duck fat -- seek a seared texture for the mushrooms (not soggy); add mushrooms to mixing bowl.

7.  Fold ingredients together in bowl until evenly mixed.

8.  Add to ravioli when sheets are prepared and filling is no longer hot.

NB:  You can perform steps 5 and 6 at any point in the preparation process in order to save time.

2:  Harvest Fare, courtesy of Jess

Ingredients:

1 sm butternut squash

1 med sweet potato

1/2 c ricotta cheese

1/2 c roasted sunflower seeds

2 T evaporated milk

S&P

MOP:

Squash and sweet potato

1.  Cut squash in half lengthwise and gently slice flesh of squash as you would an avocado.

2.  Dice sweet potato into large cubes (you can peel the potato first or not -- your choice.  If you leave the skin on, which adds a nice textural element, be sure to wash potato before dicing).

3.  Nestle squash and potatoes in aluminum foil; spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with S&P; bring edges of foil up around squash/potatoes (but don't tightly seal).

4.  Place foil nest in 400F oven and roast for 1 hr.

5.  Remove nest from oven; place diced sweet potatoes in mixing bowl; scoop squash from its skin and add to bowl.

6.  Allow squash/potatoes to cool slightly before proceeding to the filling preparation.

Toasted sunflower seeds

1.  Grab a nice, stainless steel skillet.  Throw it on the burner and bring it up hot.

2.  Once the pan is ready, add 1/2 c sunflower seeds (dry -- no oil, just a splash of S&P).

3.  Gently shake skillet to allow seeds to shift and dance on the skillet.

4.  As soon as the seeds start to brown, immediately remove from heat and place in a container to rest. (Careful here -- burned seeds are awful and require you to start all over.)
5.  Give the seeds a slight beating (with mortar and pestle or throw them in a baggie and hit 'em with a meat tenderizer -- the mallet kind, not the liquid!), but be sure to keep pieces a bit chunky.

Filling

1.  Blend the squash/potatoes, ricotta cheese, and evaporated milk in food processor or with hand mixer (to your desired texture); add sunflower seeds.
2.  Place mixture in large skillet over low heat; keep filling warm and smooth (but try to avoid a simmer).
3.  Remove filling from heat when you begin preparing ravioli sheets; your filling should be cool enough (but not too thick) to place on sheets when ready.

And a BONUS Dessert!

Peppermint Bark (household favorite -- Liam calls it "Peppohhmind Bohk")

Ingredients:

Small box of those fab little candy canes

2 8-oz. pkgs Baker's semi-sweet chocolate baking squares

1 6-oz. pkg Baker's white chocolate baking squares

Peppermint extract

MOP:

1.  Add approx 1 in of water to base of double boiler and place on stove over med-high heat.  (If you don't have a double boiler, you can contrive one using a large saucepot and a glass mixing bowl.  Add water to saucepan and set mixing bowl on top of it, with the saucepot acting as a sort of cradle.)

2.  Line large baking sheet (or cake pan) with wax paper; set aside.  

3.  Place semi-sweet baking squares in the top portion of double boiler; shift and stir occasionally as chocolate melts.

4.  Grab a nice handful of candy canes and take out your seasonal aggression on them (easiest if you have a mortar and pestle, but a plastic bag will work too).  Try to break into pieces no bigger than 1/3". 

4.  Once chocolate is melted (but before it bubbles), remove from heat and drizzle on baking sheet/pan until bottom is evenly coated.  Immediately sprinkle with broken, busted, sanded candy canes.  Shake around to be sure pieces are set.  Place in refrigerator or on porch to set and cool.

5.  Clean top portion of double boiler and repeat process to melt white chocolate squares in double boiler.  As white chocolate melts, add peppermint extract (recommended 5 drops at a time) until you achieve your desired peppermint flavor.

6.  Stir to distribute desired extract amount evenly.

7.  Bust up some more candy canes.

8.  Take sheet/pan out of fridge/off porch and drizzle white chocolate evenly; sprinkle cane piece and shake/shift to set.  Place back in cool place to set.

9.  After you're sure bark is set, pull bark-laden wax paper out of pan and break bark into pieces (like brittle); store in container in fridge or on porch (and guard it with your life).