July 2011 Daring Cooks' Challenge

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided recipes for Spaetzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

As an additional challenge, Steph encouraged us to make a noodle/dumpling from our cultural background. I have zero, zilch, zip Italian background, but I've made German spaetzle so many times I decided to branch into another culture and make some savory Italian Ravioli. Maybe my husband has some Italian blood...does that count?

This month's challenge really stretched my abilities as a cook. Having never attempted ravioli (or any Italian noodle for that matter), I was anxious to get started. I probably read 100 different websites and recipes before starting my project. Turns out--making the dough was a piece of cake. Rolling the dough thin enough became the trick--especially when my husband was at work! If I handmade pasta every day, I would have stronger arms than a gymnast in no time...

I seasoned my ravioli by adding several tablespoons of basil to the dough then filling them with a creamy feta center. Finally, I drizzled a tomato-Alfredo sauce atop the cooked ravioli and enjoyed a taste sensation worthy of several yums, oohs, and ahhs (at least we thought so)!

I struggled to make each ravioli perfectly shaped with beautiful, fluted edges. The picture above shows my first trial. Yummy but not too pretty. My second go round raviolis turned out much more picturesque, but a little birdy ate them before I had time to whip out my camera. Imagine that!

Anyways, thanks to Steph for a fun and very creative cooking challenge. I will definitely be attempting ravioli and other noodles in the future! To view other Daring Cooks' successes and the challenge recipes, visit The Daring Kitchen.