Wesley grated the Parmesan cheese for the filling.

After the filling was made we started on the dough for the ravioli. Nothing but flour and egg yolks. Wesley was really excited to make his flour “volcano” and then fill it with eggs.

Jillian and Wesley mixed the dough with their fingers. Needless to say, they had fun.

Wesley doing his best to knead the very stiff dough. I had to take over after a bit to get it the right texture.

The egg yolks gave the finished dough a nice yellow color.

After resting the dough we divided it and rolled out as thin as possible. We got it as thin as possible, but it was still a bit thicker than I would have liked.

The kids put a teaspoon of filling on the dough every few inches and then painted water along the edges to help them stick together.

Jillian really like pushing in the dough together to separate the individual ravioli.

The pastry cutter gave us nice edges.

We probably should have gotten 36 ravioli, but came away with about 2 dozen. Too big, too thick, or both…you decide.

To go with the pasta I baked some Pugliese and made a quick homemade sauce. Amber made a side salad and we had a great homemade Italian dinner. The kids ate basically none of it (except the bread, they love homemade bread), but I think it was one of the best meals we’ve had in a while. A ton of work, but fun and really fulfilling.

 

This morning Jillian and I made the bread.  We used our typical recipe to make a couple of loaves of white sandwich bread.  The recipe is easy and really tasty (as you might expect at 1/4 cup of butter per loaf).

Jillian adding the butter (not the homemade stuff)

Once the bread was all mixed and kneaded Wesley and I got to work on the butter.  We ended up using heavy whipping cream that had been ultra-pasteurized.  Apparently there is a bit of variance about what exactly is called heavy cream vs. heavy whipping cream. What it really comes down to is that you want the highest percentage of fat you can find with as little pasteurization as possible.  The more it is pasteurized (ultra) the longer you have to mix it and the less buttermilk you will have. Even still ours worked just fine.

Wesley adds 2 cups of heavy whipping cream and 1/2 tsp salt.

Wesley was in charge of the mixer.  He really liked running it and made less mess than he could have, but still splattered a bit of cream around.

Fun, but a little loud (and messy)!

The cream when we first started mixing.

Aerial view of mixing in action.

After maybe five minutes or so the cream started getting thick and foamy (like you’d expect from whipping cream) and then started to break down into chunky pieces and a thin white liquid separated out. The liquid is the butter milk, which had we wanted to we could have saved.

The butter and buttermilk separating.

Once the buttermilk separates out you get to have some real fun.  At this point we squished the butter together with our hands into a ball.  Then put the whole bowl, butter included into the sink and ran cold water into it.  We kept squishing the butter together and letting the buttermilk get washed away.  Unfortunately our tap water (being summer in Texas) was kind of warm and the butter was a little soft.  We added some ice cubes which seemed to help.

Squishing the butter together and rinsing off the buttermilk.

Super buttery fingers and hands and arms and shirts and ...

When we were done we’d turned the two cups of cream into about a half cup of very soft butter.  We put it in the fridge to harden and wait for the bread to be done.

Our finished product.

A few hours later the bread came out of oven and had cooled enough to be cut.  It was still warm and steamy and the butter was icy cold.

Our homemade bread topped with our homemade butter (and some store bought pears).

And how was it?  Delicious.

Worth the effort!

Our homemade butter won’t last as long as store bought before it spoils.  Of course I doubt it will last long enough to get the chance.

 

The boys carried the bags while Angela and I filled them up.  Angela got some eggplant, peppers, onions, and potatoes.  I got some pears, and onion and half dozen fresh hen eggs.

After we got our veggies the kids headed over to the baby chickens.  They were so sweet talking and pointing to the chicks.

Next we went over to the hen house.  This is were the eggs I bought were laid and collected.  There were a lot of hens and a rooster or two.  The kids did not see the rooster, but Wesley heard it and got really excited.  He started saying cock-a -doodle-do over and over.

Next to the hen house is a dirt pit/pile and some trucks.  What kid can resist that?  Wesley spent his hole time there.  He was uninterested in the big chickens, but Wesley Owen and Jillian thought they were pretty neat.

After our visit with the hens and a tour of the farm, (The boys thought it was cool to see where the produce was grown.  They also liked the rows of dirt that were tilled over for the next crop to go into.) we sat down on the benches and had some goats milk ice cream.  Wesley Owen had chocolate and I got Ambrosia (pineapple, coconut and vanilla flavor) for Wesley and Jillian.  Jillian loved it – Wesley did not.  Wesley Own shared a bit of his chocolate and Wesley loved it.  So we went and got him Turtle Chocolate.  Once everyone was happy with their flavors, they sat and enjoyed the ice cream and made a pretty big mess on the bench and on their clothes.

Then it was time to leave the farm.  Angela and I had no real plans for the rest of the day.  We were planning on heading back to her place and letting the kids play.  But she got a call from the her friend the owner of Los Portales asking her to come and work the lunch shift.  So we headed over there for lunch.  The kids ate their tacos and ate queso and chips.  Wesley was dipping queso on a chip for Jillian and feeding it to her.  It was pretty cute.  Then I noticed there was salsa in the queso.  And then I looked at Jillian.  Wesley gave her the salsa too!  It was hot for me so I was worried that she would be crying.  She just looked up at me and gave me a look like “huh.  My mouth is hot.” and then took a sip of her milk and she was just fine.  She is like her daddy.  Likes it hot!

It was a fun day.  It is nice that Angela lets me tag along with her.  As she pulls away from my house she always says – the bus is on the move…  Wesley now calls our car a bus too.  It is pretty sweet.

We are looking forward to our next excursion out with the Wesley Owen.

 

Epicurious “Peak-Season Map”

 

Amber has memories of Lou waking up and cooking food in the middle of the night.  One of his favorites had been fried ravioli.  So each year on his birthday we celebrate with Midnight Ravioli.  It isn’t a complicated recipe.  Just heat up a bit of oil in a frying pan, throw in some cheese ravioli (I think fresh works best), flipping once and cooking until the ravioli are warmed through.  They get browned, slightly crisp and a little puffy.  The cheese gets warm and melted and they are absolutely delicious.  We finish them off by dipping in some red sauce.

I’m glad we’ve chosen to remember his birth and not his death as some family members have.  It is nice to have a simple yet meaningful ritual that helps us keep him in our hearts  Soon we’ll be able to involve Wesley and Jillian in a happy event and teach them a bit about their grandpa.  Happy birthday Lou!  We won’t forget you so long as we have midnight ravioli.