Kindergarten Invasion

Twenty-two little creatures descended upon our home last week to learn the “art” of pasta making. Giuliano first asked the kindergartners, “What is your favorite food?” After the obvious answer of “pasta,” they generally agreed that the best food is “the kind you make yourself.” Yes, the Hazan house was the field trip destination for the Goldie Feldman Academy kindergarten class. They have been learning about the life cycle and how good food and healthy choices help you live longer and healthier. They came to our house to learn how to make tortelloni.

Managing 22 kindergartners is quite a feat. We were lucky to have not only the wonderful teachers, Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Iorli, along but also some amazing parent chaperones. The chaperones even helped clean up! Thank you, Michelle Reilly, Nick Angelastro, Justin Evans, Cynthia Guttman and Dina Smith.

Upon arrival we divided the kids into 11 two-person teams. Each had their own pile of flour that they transformed into a volcano. They then cracked eggs into the center of their volcano with exclamations that ran from “eeww, it’s gooey” to “cool!” The expressions of the chaperones and teachers were even better, as they looked terrified coaxing the eggs into staying in the middle of the volcano and not ending up on the floor. Next the kids learned how to beat the flour in and, without fear, they mashed it together to make dough.  They kneaded the dough and put it in plastic wrap to rest.

After the “rest,” the children learned how the dough became pasta sheets by running it through a special machine. But what really mesmerized the kids was watching it go through the KitchenAide pasta attachment. For them, watching it go smoothly through the rollers and become long and thin was “like magic.”

 Cynthia Guttman helps her daughter fold.

With the pasta now ready to be filled, the children sat at their stations, pasta cutters in hand (another scary moment for the chaperones). Each received a piece of dough that was soon filled with multiple dollops of ricotta and parsley filling. Giuliano had shown them how easy it was to make the filling. Some of the six-year-olds were skeptical that ricotta and parsley taste good, and I did see some surreptitious licking of fingers to make sure that the filling was actually food. But they expertly folded the pasta over their filling and cut the tortelloni into squares. Although some were rather imaginatively shaped, they did an excellent job. Not too many explosions in the water.

 Justin Evans helps push out the air.

Mrs. Brady and Mrs. Iorli kept the children who finished their work entertained with a story. However, some of the children kept wanting to do MORE. The GoldieFeldman Academy kindergarten class certainly has some budding chefs! We finally had enough tortelloni to let everyone have a taste. In the boiling water they went and voila; tossed with a simple tomato sauce, they were transformed into the delicate tortelloni that is difficult to find outside of Italy.

Enjoying them outside in our beautiful Sarasota weather.

The children arranged themselves at the tables to eat and dived into their food. Most wanted seconds, and one boy, channeling Oliver Twist, kept asking for “more, please.”  He even batted his eyelashes; we were sad that we didn’t have enough after he asked for his fifth helping.

As quickly as they arrived, the little creatures were gone. Our house seemed inordinately quiet. Unfortunately, there weren’t any tortellini left for us. However, there was plenty of pasta dough to roll out; and later that day we made pappardelle to have another time.

Simple Butter and Tomato Sauce

(From How to Cook Italian by Giuliano Hazan)

Makes enough for 1 pound dried pasta

2 pounds ripe tomatoes or 3 cups canned whole peeled tomatoes with their juice

6 tablespoons butter

Salt

1 medium yellow onion

If using fresh tomatoes, peel them. Coarsely chop the tomatoes and put them in a sauce pot. Place over medium heat, add the butter, and season with salt.

Peel the onion, trim away the root end, cut it in half, and add it to the pot. When the tomatoes begin to bubble, lower the heat to low and simmer until the tomatoes are no longer watery and the sauce has reduced, 30-45 minutes, depending on the size and shape of the pot. The sauce will cook faster in a larger, wider pot. When the sauce is done you should not see any more liquid in the pan. 

Ricotta and Parsley Filled Tortelloni

with a Pink Tomato Sauce

(From How to Cook Italian by Giuliano Hazan)

Serves 4 as a main course or 6 as part of a multi-course Italian meal

1/2 recipe Simple Butter and Tomato Sauce

1/2 cup flat leaf Italian parsley

1 1/2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese

1 1/4 cups freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1 egg yolk

1/8 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Egg pasta of Emilia Romagna, made with 2 eggs and 1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup heavy cream

Make the tomato sauce. Finely chop the parsley. Put the parsley, ricotta, 1 cup of the Parmigiano-Reggiano, the egg yolk, and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Season with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly.

Roll out the pasta dough one piece at a time while keeping the rest of the dough wrapped in plastic. Lay the pasta flat on a cutting board. Place 1 tablespoon dollop of filling at 1-inch intervals along the bottom half of the pasta sheet. Fold the top half of the pasta sheet over the stuffing and gently press down with your fingers in between each dollop to squeeze out excess air. Use a pastry cutting wheel to cut along the bottom edge, the sides, and in between each dollop of stuffing forming approximately 1 ½-inch squares. The edges will be sealed by the cutting action of the pastry wheel. Place the filled pasta on a dry cloth without overlapping. Continue the process until all the pasta and/or the stuffing is used up.

Fill a pot for the pasta with at least 6 quarts of water, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Put the pot with the tomato sauce over low heat to reheat it gently.  After it begins to simmer, add the heavy cream, mix it in well, and after about a minute remove the sauce from the heat.

Add 2 tablespoons of salt to the boiling water. Collect all the tortelloni on one towel and slide them into the boiling water.  Cook until the edges are tender, but al dente, about 3 minutes, then drain or lift them out with a skimmer. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl and gently toss with the sauce. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano on top and serve at once.