Valentine's Day Dinner!

Alright, so I was dreaming of my Valentine's Day dinner all week and tonight was the big night.  We had chicken Parmesan, eggplant Parmesan, and three cheese ravioli all with homemade pasta.

For the pasta:
3 1/2 cups flour ( half semolina, and half all purpose)
4 eggs
Water as needed

Make a well in the flour and add eggs, slowly incorporating more and more of the flour until it is combined.  I found the dough at this point to be crumbly, so I added some water, by wetting my hands and kneading the dough until the consistency felt right.  Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, but don't over work it.  Once the dough is smooth and elastic it needs to rest, so I covered the surface with olive oil and placed it in a plastic bag.

I borrowed my sisters pasta maker to roll it out, which in hind sight I would say is a must.  You need to be able to get the pasta very thin, which I think would be very difficult using a rolling pin.  I made fettuccini and ravioli.

For the ravioli filling:
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 T fresh grated Parmesan
1/2 cup mozzarella
2 eggs
Salt and pepper
1/2 t basil

Roll the dough out wide enough to be able to fold the dough over to make your ravioli pocket.  Spoon  some cheesy goodness onto the dough and seal the sides.  This is all easy, nothing difficult, just time consuming.  I will definitely not give up the convenience of buying pasta, but it was super yummy so I would do it again, maybe it will be our Valentine's Day tradition!



Along with our meal we had steamed broccoli, sautéed mushrooms, and Alfredo sauce (1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup cream, 3/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan cheese).

Our dinner was a success!  Everything turned out as planned and most importantly we spent our day with the ones we love.