This is a simple story about how making ravioli refueled a friendship.
My 15 year relationship with Debbie began in her kitchen as we cooked and created our way through young motherhood. With our children just in diapers, Debbie and I shared many of the same concerns and issues like what kinds of solid foods to introduce to our babies and what sleep strategies to try in order to get a full night’s sleep. As we’d chop together, sauté and simmer through endless foods, we’d help each other solve our then seemingly huge problems. But fast forward fifteen years to the teenage years and we’re faced with much greater trials and tribulations which I won’t even put on paper. Needless to say, this interference in life has made it tough to carve out time to cook together taking a slight toll on our friendship. We hadn’t realized how much our friendship needed this intimate kitchen time together to work through many of life’s challenges — our much needed therapy.
So we’ve both had a void in food and friendship.
But enter Debbie’s kitchen this past Monday, a sultry summer day — her birthday — and allow the whir of the pasta machine and the gentle breezes of the kitchen fan to set the stage for some mom magic. For as Debbie and I stretched, smoothed and filled homemade dough, time and the challenges of life began to melt away as we created together. We were like a well-oiled machine, running back and forth from her kitchen to garden snipping herbs and creating two kinds of homemade ravioli. As we stretched the dough, blended the ingredients and methodically filled our ravioli molds, we began to get back into our lost groove. The dozens of sweet summer corn and meat ravioli tucked away in the freezer are evidence of our productivity, but also a symbol of friendship. For each morsel, packed with mounds of goodness, serve as a reminder of the power of cooking with friends in our lives.
Sweet and Simple Corn Ravioli Filling
Makes 2 cups
5 ears of summer sweet corn, blanched and kernels removed
2/3 cup whole milk ricotta cheese
½ teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Place corn kernels in a high powered blender such as the Vitamix. Puree for about a minute until smooth. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the ricotta cheese, salt and pepper. Use to fill ravioli — we used
the pasta dough recipe from Laura Schenone’s book The lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken.