A family tradition--Christmas ravioli

@NJChicaa (116182)
United States
December 6, 2017 6:07pm CST
My father's Italian side of the family has been making homemade spinach/meat/ricotta ravioli for generations. It dates back to when they were still back in Italy. When my dad was growing up, they used to make them for big holidays (Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas) that morning in addition to the traditional roast turkey, ham, or whatever. I can't even imagine how they did that because they had to hand-crank the pasta machine which takes forever and is very tiring. I remember when I was a child and a young teen, we were still using that damn manual pasta maker and we all had to take our turn cranking. Then my parents got a KitchenAid stand mixer with the pasta roller attachment and that was a serious game changer! Now we all get together earlier in the month of December to make about 700-800 ravioli, freeze them, and bag them up for the different Christmas dinners that go on amongst the family. It is a fun tradition that we all look forward to. We laugh, we drink mimosas, we tease the men that they are making the dough too thin/thick, etc. We even save the pasta scraps from when we trim and seal the ravioli and we use that to make a big fresh pasta (with pesto, potato slivers, and pine nuts) dinner to have that night. Ravioli day is this Saturday. I can't wait! I always forget to bring my ravioli cutter. I am hoping to break that unfortunate tradition this year.
3 people like this
4 responses
@sallypup (58188)
• Centralia, Washington
7 Dec 17
Sweet family tradition. I'd love to come begging.
2 people like this
@NJChicaa (116182)
• United States
7 Dec 17
They are soooo good!
2 people like this
@sallypup (58188)
• Centralia, Washington
7 Dec 17
@NJChicaa We have thought about buying an electric pasta maker for our Christmas gift. Years ago we had a hand pasta roller and could not get the hang of it.
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@NJChicaa (116182)
• United States
7 Dec 17
@sallypup It is tough. You have to keep the tempo the same throughout the whole sheet of pasta or it tears. It is a lot of work. I've never seen an electric pasta maker.
2 people like this
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
7 Dec 17
I would try a sample of that.
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@NJChicaa (116182)
• United States
7 Dec 17
Haha thanks. They are so good. My husband always says “why all the effort? Just buy them frozen” but he was raised in a house that didn’t DO Italian food. He also doesn’t understand why I make my own pasta sheets and sauce when I make homemade lasagna. He thinks that frozen Stouffer’s would be just as good.
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@shivamani10 (11038)
• Hyderabad, India
7 Dec 17
It is nice to hear about the continuance of family tradition. A nice and compact family. God bless.
1 person likes this
@NJChicaa (116182)
• United States
7 Dec 17
No it’s a big family
@teamfreak16 (43419)
• Denver, Colorado
9 Dec 17
Ravioli day already? Have fun!
1 person likes this
@NJChicaa (116182)
• United States
9 Dec 17
It will be fun!
1 person likes this