Dish for the next Cookalong

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morning glory said:
@SatNavSaysStraightOn - some of the best ravioli recipes are vegetarian and dairy free. Basically you can put anything you like in the ravioli!
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that may be the case, but not having 00 flour, never having made fresh pasta let alone filled it, I'm not inclined to vote for ravioli.

Tagine on the other hand is also easily vegan or veggie minus dairy and is something I have made in the past, even though now I don't have a proper tagine itself.
 
morning glory said:
My vote is for Guinness pie or Ravioli (the latter inspired by the fantastic home-made mushroom pasta by @The Late Night Gourmet).
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You're too kind. The truth is, I seriously, seriously considered making my portobello pasta dough into ravioli and stuffing it with...more mushrooms! Now that I think of it, this might have been a better presentation. Doesn't mean I won't try this sometime, though I'll probably stuff it with something else. Here's a ravioli I made once with a tomato pasta and a pumpkin-asparagus filling:

http://www.food.com/recipe/pumpkin-asparagus-ravioli-from-scracth-524042

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The Late Night Gourmet said:
You're too kind. The truth is, I seriously, seriously considered making my portobello pasta dough into ravioli and stuffing it with...more mushrooms! Now that I think of it, this might have been a better presentation. Doesn't mean I won't try this sometime, though I'll probably stuff it with something else. Here's a ravioli I made once with a tomato pasta and a pumpkin-asparagus filling:

http://www.food.com/recipe/pumpkin-asparagus-ravioli-from-scracth-524042

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Wow! You are streets ahead of me in the ravioli department! That's an interesting combo: asparagus and pumpkin. Did you serve then in a sauce?
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
You're too kind. The truth is, I seriously, seriously considered making my portobello pasta dough into ravioli and stuffing it with...more mushrooms! Now that I think of it, this might have been a better presentation. Doesn't mean I won't try this sometime, though I'll probably stuff it with something else. Here's a ravioli I made once with a tomato pasta and a pumpkin-asparagus filling:

http://www.food.com/recipe/pumpkin-asparagus-ravioli-from-scracth-524042

View attachment 7300
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I'm very impressed..wow
 
Right. Genuine attempt to be constructive. I can wait for a ravioli cookalong or maybe we do ravioli as part of a separate thread. In any case, it is not at all an unreasonable point that the first two cookalongs excluded the considerable vegetarian membership. What I was thinking is, instead of doing a dish of which you can do a vegetarian version, why not do a cookalong that is a vegetarian dish? I’m certainly game. And then I thought, well why not do @SatNavSaysStraightOn ’s mushroom curry recipe for the cookalong? I dunno, maybe everyone’s sick of mushrooms. But I thought that looked a great recipe, and right now, I’m kind o’ wishing I’d picked it to win. Let’s be clear, I am not about to turn vegetarian – my wife is cooking fillet steak as I type – but maybe it would do us carnivores some good. Broaden our horizons. Just a thought.
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
You're too kind. The truth is, I seriously, seriously considered making my portobello pasta dough into ravioli and stuffing it with...more mushrooms! Now that I think of it, this might have been a better presentation. Doesn't mean I won't try this sometime, though I'll probably stuff it with something else. Here's a ravioli I made once with a tomato pasta and a pumpkin-asparagus filling:
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Now you see, the second of your two photographs is bringing back all of the bad memories. I’m almost cowering in the corner and having to be coaxed out by my wife again. With that much filling for your ravioli, there ain’t no way the top pasta layer is going to seal with the bottom layer. And, @morning glory, I’m not talking about leakage. Leakage is the problem you get when you think that you have sealed them, and then they leak while you are cooking them. My problem was that I never got so far as the point where I could even have suffered from the delusion that they were sealed. I couldn’t seal them and completely destroyed them in the attempt to seal them. And I came to the conclusion that the only way you could get them to seal is by having so little filling that you finish up with all pasta and no filling. Or at least, negligible filling.
 
Ken Natton said:
Now you see, the second of your two photographs is bringing back all of the bad memories. I’m almost cowering in the corner and having to be coaxed out by my wife again. With that much filling for your ravioli, there ain’t no way the top pasta layer is going to seal with the bottom layer. And, @morning glory, I’m not talking about leakage. Leakage is the problem you get when you think that you have sealed them, and then they leak while you are cooking them. My problem was that I never got so far as the point where I could even have suffered from the delusion that they were sealed. I couldn’t seal them and completely destroyed them in the attempt to seal them. And I came to the conclusion that the only way you could get them to seal is by having so little filling that you finish up with all pasta and no filling. Or at least, negligible filling.
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I cut the dough into squares, filled one square with a scoop of filling, and then put another square on top of it. I decided to go one level thicker on the dough than I would with pasta (i.e., skip that last time through the roller).

One thing that I think people miss is that it's important to wet the edges of the square to make sure there's a good seal. Pinch all the way around as you seal, making sure to push any stray bits back in (or remove some if you can't get a good seal). The natural stickiness of the wet dough will then dry and form a stronger seal. And, in this case, it's even more important to rest the assembled ravioli before boiling than it is to rest strands of pasta. This gives the assembled ravioli time to dry.

Another thing I make sure to use is a skimmer when removing the ravioli from the water (as opposed to dumping the whole thing into a colander; the impact can cause some to break open).
 
The Late Night Gourmet said:
I cut the dough into squares, filled one square with a scoop of filling, and then put another square on top of it. I decided to go one level thicker on the dough than I would with pasta (i.e., skip that last time through the roller).

One thing that I think people miss is that it's important to wet the edges of the square to make sure there's a good seal. Pinch all the way around as you seal, making sure to push any stray bits back in (or remove some if you can't get a good seal). The natural stickiness of the wet dough will then dry and form a stronger seal. And, in this case, it's even more important to rest the assembled ravioli before boiling than it is to rest strands of pasta. This gives the assembled ravioli time to dry.

Another thing I make sure to use is a skimmer when removing the ravioli from the water (as opposed to dumping the whole thing into a colander; the impact can cause some to break open).
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Oh absolutely. I think the most important point to grasp if you have successfully cooked them is that what you have cooked is very delicate. Precisely what is so wonderful about them is that they are so delicate. To pour the pan out into a colander would be like throwing your most delicate porcelain in the cupboard and expecting everything to be fine.
 
Ken Natton said:
Right. Genuine attempt to be constructive. I can wait for a ravioli cookalong or maybe we do ravioli as part of a separate thread. In any case, it is not at all an unreasonable point that the first two cookalongs excluded the considerable vegetarian membership. What I was thinking is, instead of doing a dish of which you can do a vegetarian version, why not do a cookalong that is a vegetarian dish? I’m certainly game. And then I thought, well why not do @SatNavSaysStraightOn ’s mushroom curry recipe for the cookalong? I dunno, maybe everyone’s sick of mushrooms. But I thought that looked a great recipe, and right now, I’m kind o’ wishing I’d picked it to win. Let’s be clear, I am not about to turn vegetarian – my wife is cooking fillet steak as I type – but maybe it would do us carnivores some good. Broaden our horizons. Just a thought.
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Point taken re vegetarian. But a lot of the best ravioli recipes are vegetarian in any case. The point of the Cookalong is to share ideas and experiences about classic dishes and techniques. I wouldn't want to choose a particular member's recipe for us all to cook. That would be more like a 'test kitchen' which isn't what the Challenge is for. But there is certainly nothing to stop anyone cooking another member's dish and posting the result. :thumbsup: I've done so myself on a number of occasions. And others have also cooked my recipes, which I found useful. But it might be a bit odd if we all do it at once! I'm not sure I'd like it if it was my recipe! I'd feel as if I was under scrutiny!

Having said that, we could certainly consider a vegetarian dish of some sort. Why not?

We need to wrap this up soon so I'll leave it until the morning (UK time) to see if there are further suggestions.
 
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I have a suggestion. Ravioli. The Cookalong hasn't even started yet but it's creating a great deal of interest and discussion, and it's enough outside of the comfort zone to present a suitable challenge.
 
Ken Natton said:
Right. Genuine attempt to be constructive. I can wait for a ravioli cookalong or maybe we do ravioli as part of a separate thread. In any case, it is not at all an unreasonable point that the first two cookalongs excluded the considerable vegetarian membership. What I was thinking is, instead of doing a dish of which you can do a vegetarian version, why not do a cookalong that is a vegetarian dish? I’m certainly game. And then I thought, well why not do @SatNavSaysStraightOn ’s mushroom curry recipe for the cookalong? I dunno, maybe everyone’s sick of mushrooms. But I thought that looked a great recipe, and right now, I’m kind o’ wishing I’d picked it to win. Let’s be clear, I am not about to turn vegetarian – my wife is cooking fillet steak as I type – but maybe it would do us carnivores some good. Broaden our horizons. Just a thought.
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It's easy to get stuck in a rut, even when you are passionate about food. A few years ago my wife and I decided to force ourselves to eat vegetarian food two nights a week, not for any reason of principle but just as an experiment. We found some great recipes, many of which have joined us in the rut!
 
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