Ravioli making - Little Italy, Baltimore

We learned how to make homemade ravioli from the experts at St. Leo's Church in Baltimore's Little Italy. Among the many experts was 95 year old Lucy Palmere Pompa who holds the title of "Ravioli Queen of Baltimore" (featured here in a City Paper story). By her own estimates, she's probably made 1 million ravioli in her lifetime.  

Thomas and I with our high school Italian Club friends and the Ravioli experts.  95 year old Lucy Palmere Pompa (far right) holds the title of "Ravioli Queen of Baltimore"  

The ravioli making event is the precursor to the St. Leo's annual ravioli and spaghetti dinner on Sunday, November 3 from noon to 6 pm, a bi-annual fundraiser that supports the church's many community service projects. 

Since the dinner requires almost 12,000 ravioli, volunteers are needed to make the pasta in the days prior to the event (meatball making is the day before the dinner). No experience necessary. The St. Leo ravioli experts are happy to share their knowledge. Charles and I organized a group of students from our high school Italian club to volunteer for this event which was held in the kitchen basement hall of the Sons of Italy lodge #2286.

The very first thing we did was wash our hands.  Then, we paired up with ravioli experts for some lessons then we started on our own ravioli making journey. 

Ms. Lucy carefully made the pasta dough in the
kitchen's oversize mixer. Then, the dough balls are cut in slices and put through the kneading machine where it spits out perfect size ribbons of pasta sheets. 

                         The pasta sheets were spread out on the tables. Then, very carefully, we put a spoonful of a seasoned ricotta cheese mixture. This may seem easy but it's not. Each cheese spoonful must be the same exact size and spaced exactly a few inches apart. Otherwise, when the dough is folded over the cheese, it will be too big or too small - this will lead to the ricotta leaking when its boiled.

Next, we folded one edge of the dough over over the cheese mixture to make what looks like a log with bumps. Then, we used a soft karate chop action to press down the dough around the scoops of filling to form a pocket. This gets all the air out of the ravioli.

Finally, we used a pasta cutter that looks like a funny rounded edged wheel to cut out each ravioli.  This too has to be precise because the goal is to have each ravioli uniform so each batch cooks at exactly the same amount of time. 

After cutting, a fork is used to make the details around the ravioli edges. 

The finished product is placed on a commercial size tray dusted with cornmeal each containing exactly 60 ravioli, six down and ten across. 4,839 ravioli were made the day we volunteered. 

 At the end of the ravioli making, all the volunteers were treated to a delicious spaghetti & meatball lunch courtesy of the event organizers.

 As we were finishing lunch, we were told WBAL TV (Baltimore Channel 11) had arrived to film a story about the ravioli making.  The organizers asked us to be part of the filming and interview.  It was such an honor to be standing next to the ravioli experts such as Mrs. Lucy.

When the TV story airs, we'll add the video here.

Don't forget - the ravioli & spaghetti fundraiser dinner is on Sunday, November 3. If you want more information, call St. Leo's church at 410-675-7275.  Click here to watch a video from WJZ TV Baltimore Channel 13 about last year's dinner.

GRAZIE to all the St. Leo and Sons of Italy ravioli experts who helped us learn the fine art of ravioli making. We really appreciated your patience and knowledge. We look forward to volunteering again. 

- Charles 

Halloween Caramel Apples for our Volunteer Fire Department's 125th anniversary

Our local Ellicott City Volunteer Fire Department is celebrating its 125th birthday this year. So, we decided to thank them for their service to our community by making something special. 

Since FoodNetwork.com has a crazy amount of awesome recipes for Halloween we decided to make FoodNetwork.com 's recipe for 

Caramel Apples - click http://bit.ly/CaramelApples for the full recipe.  

We bought autumn crisp apples at Harbin Farms but you can use whatever type you like. 

The FoodNetwork.com Caramel Apple recipe is really easy.  And it took no time at all to make the caramel.  Don't forget to be really attentive to the caramel sauce otherwise it will get too thick to coat the apples. 

The most challenging part of the recipe is dipping the apples in the caramel sauce.  Make sure you have a strong and sturdy stick holder because the caramel sauce will make the apples very heavy.

Make sure you chop up all the decorations you want to attach to the
apples BEFORE you make the sauce.  Once the apples are covered
 in caramel you need to quickly adhere the decorations before
the sauce hardens.

 Get creative with the decorations. We went crazy with different things. Use whatever foods you think will taste good with apples.  You can't make a mistake.

Clif Bar Oatmeal Raisin Walnut

Dark Chocolate and Mint Morsels

Newman's Own Fig Newmans and Marshmallows 

Annie's Bunny Grahams and white chocolate morels 

Ann's House of Nuts Vanilla Yogurt Dipped Pretzels 

Toasted coconut and dried apricots  

30 Flavor Jelly Belly Bean 

We labeled each apple with a "Happy 125th" tag and then we hand delivered them to the fire house station.  We had a great time meeting the ECVFD men and women.

For more Halloween food ideas, check out FoodNetwork.com 's 

Halloween "Eat, Drink and Be Scary" section at www.foodnetwork.com/halloween/package/

- Charles 

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Pachanga Cocina Mexicana - Ellicott City

Pachanga Cocina Mexicana is located off of Route 40 in Ellicott City just up the street from CVS pharmacy on Centennial Lane. We've eaten here many times and the food has always been consistently good.

Pachanga is part of a restaurant group that includes La Palapa restaurants (Historic Ellicott City, Laurel, and Silver Spring), El Azteca restaurant (Columbia - River Hill) and another Pachanga in Odenton.

Although Pachanga is decked out with vibrant colored walls complete with authentic Mexican decorations, the seating space is a bit small and a tad out-dated. Despite these small shortcomings, the food is definitely worth the trip.

I usually order the steak fajitas served on a hot plate with grilled onions, peppers, and tomatoes. A side plate of tortillas, Mexican rice, black beans, guacamole, pico de gallo, and sour cream accompanied the entree. I personally like to stuff the tortilla with as many sides as possible, especially pico de gallo. Marinated by the flavors of the onions and peppers, the steak has a slightly sweet flavor that makes it delicious. 

Charles also ordered a fajita dish. He chose a combination of shrimp and steak. The well seasoned large shrimp were plump and moist.

My mom ordered the Chesapeake Chimichanga filled with a crab, shrimp, mushrooms, onions, and green peppers mixture and topped with a cheese sauce. She chose black beans & Mexican rice as the sides dishes. Although the chimichanga isn't photogenic in the picture below, it looked fantastic when it was served. The seafood and vegetable blend filling has a tinge of what tastes like a seafood seasoning or Old Bay.

              

Carne Asada

My father loves the Carne Asada steak that's marinated in fresh herbs, peppers, chile, lime juice and olive oil. It's an enormous piece of well seasoned and grilled steak. 

 We tried a few different desserts. My mom's favorite was the key lime pie with its creamy, almost cheesecake thick consistency. Charles and I loved the mile high New York cheesecake and sugar coated churros. Surprisingly, the desserts were all just as good as our meals.  

When ate at Pachanga's on a Thursday night, we were informed that it was free dessert night with a purchase of an entree. Since this special is not listed on their website, I called to confirm if it's an on-going special.  One time, the person who answered said yes.  Another time I called, the person who answered said she didn't know.  So, go on Thursdays for free dessert at your own risk. 

New York cheesecake

Key Lime pie

Churros

Pachanga's website lists weekday meal specials.  Monday is the all-you-can-eat combos (tacos, burritos, tamales, enchiladas etc.) for $12.75 . Tuesday is steak night  (carne asada) for $13. 95. Wednesday is fajita night for $12. 75 and Thursday is chimichanga night for $10. 75. 

 - Thomas
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