Week 41: Being Italian-ish

Help, I’m in the deep end of the gene pool without a flotation device!

When asked about my ancestral heritage, I’ve always proudly responded, “I’m Irish-Italian, with all of the traits to match”. But, in actuality, I have many reasons to question my Italian heritage.

I was told there were very few pictures of me as a baby, because I was the fifth daughter and, of course, because my parents had their hands full and simply could not take or develop pictures. But, my sister Kim told me the lack of photographic evidence of my infancy is because I was adopted. My father is a 6’4”, olive-skinned, very Italian looking man who talks with his hands, loves pasta, and adores ice cream. Whereas I share far more of my mother’s Irish traits — I’m just shy of 5’ 4” (like she was), with fair skin, freckles, and auburn hair. Plus, I prefer cake over ice cream and potatoes over pasta… that is not very Italian! Add to that, the fact that I was born only 18 months before my parents’ divorce, and there is certainly cause for suspicion.

About 15 years ago, I mustered-up the nerve to ask my dad if there was a possibility I wasn’t his biological child. He thought I was kidding, so he chuckled, gave me a funny look, and simply replied “Kithead (my nickname), of course you’re mine. What makes you think such an outrageous thing?” To which I responded with all of the above reasoning.

I’ve even neglected to take a DNA test that Rick gave me four years ago, for my 50th birthday, out of fear that it would finally prove that my mother had a sordid affair and I was illegitimate.

If I seriously think about it though, maybe I don’t truly doubt my paternal lineage and (for the most part) I’ve put that suspicion to bed, that is until this week’s recipe where I had to make pasta from scratch. The results have opened up that whole can of worms again, because my pasta was as tough and chewy as shoe leather.

And, what true Italian can’t make pasta?

Of course, I’m not going to ask my 87-year-old father if it’s possible that I’m not his, and I’ll likely not discuss this any further, but I’m certainly going to continue my attempts at achieving perfect pasta until I get it just right!

Original Recipe

The Process:

This recipe baffled me, because my mom’s recipe calls for a package of Filo dough, which is actually a very thin pastry dough used for making strudel, baklava, spanakopita (Greek spinach pie), and other light crispy pastries. Upon googling the term cappelletti, I was able to confirm that this is recipe is indeed a pasta recipe, as cappelletti are described as filled “pasta hats”.

So, why the pastry dough?

I decided to get rid of the packaged dough ingredient, not only because it’s incredibly unhealthy, but because it just seems wrong.

 Not wanting to take the time to make my own pasta, I went on the hunt for premade pasta sheets. Luckily, I managed to find lasagna sheets that were made of only two ingredients—wheat flour and egg. This idea seemed much easier (and cleaner) than making my own pasta, so I was sold. (Keep reading and you’ll realize that my decision was a poor one.)

The next step I took to make this a healthy recipe revamp was to alter the original filling by adding spinach to my mother’s original ingredients. I’d hoped to replace the ricotta cheese with farmer cheese, which has much fewer calories from fat, but I could not find it anywhere. I love the flavor of farmer cheese and at some point, I might learn to make it myself.

Next up was to revamp the recipe with an entirely new filling sans cheese but plus roasted butternut squash, which is a seasonal favorite.

In researching for this recipe, I learned that the unique ingredients that create a true cappelletti are the nutmeg and parsley, so I kept that in both recipes. There’s a huge variety of what people top the cappelletti with, from marinara sauce, butter, and Parmesan cheese. I chose sautéed mushrooms, olive oil, and Parmesan. I was going to use caramelized onions, as well, but just didn’t have the time, because of my failed pasta attempts.


The results:

This recipe revamp is part failure, part success. The cappelletti fillings are both delicious! Because spinach has such a mild flavor it’s always a great addition if you want to add nutrition without taking over the recipe with a strong vegetable flavor. The butternut squash has a lot of flavor and roasting it with nuts created the perfect filling for this autumn pasta dish. Plus, the fresh nutmeg and parsley prevented the squash from tasting too sweet.

Where the failure comes in is the actual pasta cappelletti “hats” themselves.

As I mentioned above, I purchased lasagna sheets to save time, especially since I’ve never made pasta before. That was the first bad decision I made, because apparently packaged lasagna sheets are firm and dry, or maybe even partially cooked, which resulted in my inability to fold or seal the dough into a pouch. I even tried to par cook or steam the sheets in hot water, in hopes that it would help, but sadly it didn’t.

This failed ingredient left me with the decision of making my own pasta at the last minute. A friend generously offered his pasta roller, but I declined thinking I’d solved my pasta problem (or, if I absolutely had to make pasta, I figured that I could roll it out myself). Well, that was my second bad decision, because pasta, which I mistakenly made with white whole wheat flour, takes a really long time to make, as it has to sit while the gluten does its magic. And then it becomes really hard to roll thin enough.

The photos below look like it’s going to be delicious, but the result once cooked, was shoe leather!

Yes, the end product was pasta. 

Yes, it kind of tasted like a noodle.

But, it was thick, chewy, and weird. Of course, adding butter and Parmesan cheese makes anything edible, and the filling made it tolerable.

I am definitely going back to the drawing board with homemade pasta cappelletti, so I’ll let you know how it works!

If you want to attempt following my mom’s recipe above (and try your hand at pasta making), try adding two cups of lightly steamed and drained spinach. If you’re using a food processor for the mixing, you won’t need to chop the spinach ahead of time.

 

Butternut Squash Cappelletti Filling

Ingredients:

2 cups of peeled and cubed butternut squash

2 cups of peeled and cubed butternut squash

1/4 cup chopped walnuts

1/3 cup chopped flat Italian parsley

1/4-1/2 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg

2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Combine the cubed butternut squash, walnuts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a dish and roast for approximately 45 minutes, or until the edges are toasted.

Let cool.

Combine cooled roasted squash with parsley leaves in a food processor and pulse (or mix by hand)

.

Fill and form cappelletti, tortellini, ravioli or any pasta shell.

Cook pasta according to instructions.

Top with olive oil sautéed mushrooms and Parmesan cheese. (I added a little more nutmeg well sautéing the mushrooms and it was delicious!)

 

Week 41 Recipe Pick

EASY written o the card was the only deciding factor this week!

Hmmmm…wondering if this can be made with a dairy alternative?

(I may select a new card later)

Tags: dinner recipes, from scratch, pasta