The Glories of Filled Pasta

I've recently fallen in love with Deb Perelman's website, Smitten Kitchen. Apparently I am very late to the party on this one, as everyone from The New York Times to NPR to Entertainment Weekly has profiled Deb and her lovely website that can simply be described as an ode to the pleasures of good food. What I love about this website, aside from the dozens of amazing recipes I have to try, is the simplicity. Looking at the ingredients listed within the recipes, I was delighted to discover the absence of things like Maldon salt, truffle oil, or other posh ingredients. Deb cooks with ingredients that almost everyone can find at a big supermarket these days, but that doesn't mean that the food lacks quality. What makes the difference, I believe, is that fact that Perelman is the anti-Rachael Ray. No Cool Whip instead of whipped cream, no packets of Lipton seasonings, no jarred salsa, etc.

This is why I love this website. Here is a woman who makes homemade, simple, yet elegant food using straightforward ingredients in her tiny, 80 sq. ft., kitchen in New York City. She often complains that some nights it takes her almost 2 hours to prepare a meal and get it on the table after a long and exhausting day of work, yet she continues to enjoy cooking anyway. Bear with me while a get a little sentimental here. I'm no professional-level chef. My knife technique is shoddy and I can't perfectly de-bone a chicken. I don't care about any of this, because I love to cook. I love getting my hands dirty while mixing meatballs. I love it when I start to sweat as I stand over a hot stove, stirring risotto in a manic fashion. I especially love it when after all is said and done and the food has hit the table, Matt tells me how delicious it is and thanks me for making dinner. Sometimes it takes me a while to make dinner; last night it took me an hour and a half from start to finish. But hard work and perseverance continues to pay off in the kitchen as it does in day-to-day life. Okay, I'm done with being corny.

I had a lovely meal last night. I made the Artichoke Ravioli from the Smitten Kitchen website and it was divine. I will admit up front that in the absence of a pasta machine I used pre-made lasagna sheets from YDFM and cut them in to ravioli-sized squares. They were the perfect alternative, and the artichoke filling was the perfect mix of sweet and savory. Try this recipe if you get a chance, and head over to the Smitten Kitchen website to make plenty of other goodies.

Happy Eating!