Homemade Ravioli

When I was younger, I’d feel an anticipatory wave of excitement as I walked up the back steps to my Aunt Shirley's house for the annual family ravioli-making festivities. As we took off our coats, I could hear the bustling in the kitchen: trays being pulled from the cupboards, eggs cracking into bowls and ground beef simmering on the stove. Soon every flat surface, chair seat, and couch cushion would be covered with the fruits of our combined labour. Progressing from hot coffee to chilled wine, we filled the house with the happy chatter of too many cooks in the kitchen, everyone working to create the thousands of raviolis we would all enjoy that coming year. 

In our family, pasta is still given more precedence at holiday meals than the traditional turkey with all the trimmings. When the weather turns cool, we all gather for those pasta-making Saturdays. At our table, the Italian roots run deep: you're apt to find starters of cappelletti soup alongside dishes of lasagna and ravioli covered in a home-crafted sauce. The sauces are made in the summer months and preserved when tomatoes are ripe from the garden and basil is most abundantly fresh. 

This year, even more so than others, I'm craving those cozy comfort foods, hearty, rich and warm. As the leaves begin to fall and the rains start, turning inside to the warmth of the kitchen feels natural. Even though we aren't gathering as we once did, this year my kitchen is somehow even more productive than ever. Like most people now, I'm not preparing for the annual party of fifty or more family and friends; instead, I’m storing up for winter. For me, full pantries bring calm and security, so pulling out those old favourite recipes seems even more essential—as does sharing the abundance. Food connects us. Dropping a bag of freshly made ravioli and a jar or two of homemade sauce on a friend's front step brings a flood of memories from those ravioli-making days. It also brings the connection we crave, knowing it will be enjoyed around a table over good conversation. 

Making homemade pasta is a great activity to try this year within your family bubble. Simple linguini only requires two ingredients—flour and eggs—and the pasta-making process needn’t be complicated: it can be kneaded in a stand mixer if you're not looking for a workout and rolled out with a rolling pin if a pasta maker isn’t in your cupboard. Freshly made pasta can be cooked immediately for a delightfully rewarding dinner, or if you prefer, it can be hung (over a coat hanger, or the back of a chair—really, anywhere there is clean space and good air flow is prime pasta placement) and dried to be stored for later, or it can be frozen for a few months until an inevitable craving hits. Ravioli and other stuffed pastas are best made fresh, then frozen on cookie sheets and put in bags for enjoyment throughout the year. 

Making pasta is fun even for the younger members of the family. Kids can make their own one-egg pasta, grate cheese, mix the filling and roll out the dough. Adding a teaspoon of turmeric, a stalk of kale puréed in a little water or a tablespoon of tomato paste or beet juice to your pasta dough makes for exciting colour variations and even more fun for kids. Tackling stuffed pasta—always a childhood favourite—together isn't really any more work; it’s just the process of mixing up your favourite filling alongside the basic pasta recipe. 

Cooking up vats of delicious yet simple pomodoro sauce is also a family affair. Many hands make light the work of chopping onions, slicing and pureeing tomatoes, stirring down the sauce as it bubbles on the stove for hours. Pesto, being no-cook, is as easy as it gets, and the end result is incredibly fresh and rewarding—a true taste of the Italian countryside. Jarring up these sauces to give as gifts this holiday season is like sharing comfort and care bundled in a jar. 

Even though this winter will look different from any other we've shared, our cravings for delicious, cozy comfort food, long-held traditions and the connections that good food brings still remains the same.