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Here’s a recipe I’ve used to make ravioli, including the filling, from scratch. [1] I found the recipe several years ago on the web, but unfortunately don’t remember where. In any case, here’s the recipe. It makes a LOT of pasta - enough for at least 6 people. The ravioli filling is my own creation - and its damn tasty.

There are essentially four steps:

1. Make the dough
2. Make the filling
3. Make the ravioli
4. Cook

Step 1: Make the Dough

Ravioli Pasta Dough Recipe[2]

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 large egg
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water

Place about 3/4 of the flour into a large bowl. Separately mix the egg, oil, salt and water. Add the wet ingredients to the flour. Mix everything thoroughly.

Kneed in the remaining flour. This takes a long time.

Wrap in plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes in the fridge. In the meantime, let’s move on to…

Step 2: Make the filling

Garlic Spinach Ricotta Ravioli Filling

• 1/2 cup frozen spinach
• 1 tablespoon of garlic minced
• 3 tablespoons finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt

Defrost spinach in bowl and drain. Mix in everything else. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate when not in use.

Step 3: Make the ravioli

• When ready to make the ravioli, only remove a very small amount from the plastic to work with at a time.[3] I only worked with pieces of dough about the size of a standard 6-sided-die.
• Squish the piece of dough into a disc about the size of a silver dollar.
• Place the dough on a plastic cutting board. I prefer the kind with the non-skid rubberized ends.
• Roll the dough as thinly as possible. You’re going for almost translucent in the center. A heavy rolling pin helps.
• Add about 1/2 tablespoon of the filling to the center.
• Fold the dough in half and pinch the edges.
• Set each piece aside on wax paper on a large plate. The wax paper is to prevent the ravioli from sticking to the plate. Don’t let the ravioli touch each other since they will stick together.
• Cover the ravioli on the plate with plastic wrap while you work.

Step 4: Cook

• When ready to cook, add the pasta to boiling water in a large pot and then lower to medium heat after a minute.
• Cook for 5-7 minutes.[4]
• The ravioli will tend to stick to the bottom of the pot, so stir once or twice.

Enjoy!

1. Photo courtesy of Dev Null [↩]
2. As I mentioned above, this recipe makes a lot of dough. If trying it out for the first time, consider making a 1/3 batch. [↩]
3. If you’re using a pasta press, you already know what you’re doing so you don’t need to read this. [↩]
4. 5 minutes if you have very thin ravioli, 7 minutes if your pasta was thicker [↩]

The Grinch

After a short break from blogging, I off two tidbits: one full of holiday cheer… and the other about an incorrigible Grinch.[1]

Holiday Cheer

A few days before Christmas I received an extremely nice e-mail from David DePaolo, of WorkCompCentral fame.  He had read my blog post about my local food bank and made his own donation to his local food bank.  Thank you David!

Incorrigible Grinch

I have a loud neighbor.  They talk on the phone loud, watch TV loud, play music loud, etc.  Loud enough so that I can hear whatever it is they’re doing over my own TV with the doors and windows closed.  The night before Christmas Eve at around 8 O’clock PM they were playing something that sounded like a marching band - complete with tubas.  I couldn’t tell if it was a radio or TV or what - but it was extremely loud.  Being a good neighbor and filled with the aforementioned holiday cheer, I went out onto my patio and hollered, “Hey!  Turn it down already!”  In a few minutes their marching band music died down to a low rumble.

A few minutes later I find out that I had just yelled at a group of teenagers with instruments walking down our street… carrolling.  That’s right, I yelled at carolers - I’m the Grinch.

Ho ho ho!

1. Photo courtesy of slworking2 [↩]

Wordpress Upgrade

I upgraded the website to WordPress 2.7 RC 1 over the weekend.

I generally do not bother installing the updates between the major upgrades.  My major concern in upgrading is eliminating possible security issues and obtaining additional program features.  I maintain a totally separate website from PDRater.com, also running on WordPress, where I install the very latest versions of WordPress and try out new variations on the look-and-feel of this website, new calculators, and new ideas about how best to present the current calculators.

Very late Wednesday night I upgraded this website to WordPress v2.7.  I’m not sure I fully appreciate how much better it might be than the various release candidates.

Thursday morning I discovered an unintended effect of upgrading is that it “broke” one of my plugins.   (Reza: Thanks for pointing it out!)  I had modified an existing plugin, EasyPayPal, to allow this website to accept credit card payments.  WordPress v2.7 changed the user profiles area of the website - and made it so that instead of seeing an option to become a paid subscriber, you just saw a cryptic PHP error.  This is nothing that would have compromised a credit card number or anything - it just would have prevented anyone from giving me money.

A little bit of bug testing, one new line of code and its back up and running.  :)

Leverage

I’ve been looking forward to watching the premier of a new TV show called, “Leverage” on TNT.  I first saw a teaser preview during the summer.

I happen to like Timothy Hutton.  I was a big fan of the Nero Wolfe mystery series on A&E a few years back.[1]

If you like caper movies/shows, chances are you’re going to enjoy Leverage.  Its in the same vein as Ocean’s Eleven and Hustle.  If you haven’t seen Hustle, its a BBC import shown on AMC about a group of con artists.

For those keeping score at home, I’d liken Leverage to:

• Ocean’s Eleven
• Hustle
• Burn Notice
• Sneakers
• A-Team[2]
• Mission Impossible
• The Sting

Leverage even has its own Alternate Reality Game.  Its good for a few minutes diversion.

The premier of Leverage was on last night on TNT.  I expect they’ll show an “encore” sometime in the near future.  In any case, its going to be on Tuesday night at 10:00 PM.

1. Unfortunately, A&E in their infinite wisdom decided to cancel this show.  I believe they began airing reruns of “CSI: Who Gives A Damn” instead. [↩]
2. Come on, you know you liked it. [↩]

Driving home from a deposition on Tuesday evening I was listening to NPR.[1] They had a piece about how food banks in California are struggling.  Donations across the board are down.  Corporations that used to donate are reducing or even eliminating their donations.  People who once donated to food banks are now showing up asking for food.

Tuesday night I made a decision to help my local food bank.

• I have donated all of the income from this website, retroactive to November 1, 2008 to my local food bank.  I will be sending out an e-mail to all current paid subscribers thanking them for their support of this website and, by extension, our food banks.

I also decided to make a further commitment.

• I will continue to work on this site to bring you the absolute best workers’ compensation calculators for free.  And, I will continue to donate every single cent from this website to this food bank through the end of this year.
• If you buy a monthly subscription, I will donate your subscription to this food bank through the end of the year.  If you buy a yearly subscription between now and the end of the year, I’ll donate the whole thing to them.  I do not believe this would be tax deductible for you, so I’ve thought of another option.
• If you make a donate of any amount to your local food bank, just send me a copy of the receipt and I will give you an equivalent amount of subscription access to this website. [2]

If you use this website chances are you’re a professional who can spare enough to make a donation.  I’m no good at impassioned pleas or eloquent words.  Please make a donation and help out some hungry folks.  If you want to sign up for access for this website, please e-mail me or try to make an online payment through your profile on this website.

Thank you.

1. I’m an NPR junkie, remember? [↩]
2. E-mail, fax, mail - whatever works for you. [↩]