…AND FOR DESSERT, RAVIOLI!

Yes, ravioli. Even better, ravioli you can make yourself with the help of a great pasta-maker to teach you how. It’s not just deliciously gratifying, but it’s a good workout too. Rolling fresh pasta dough until it’s as thin as a sheet of paper is not for the “where’s-the-remote?” in you.

New York City’s renowned Chelsea Market recently nabbed a new restaurant and shop: Giovanni Rana Pastificio & Cucina.

Rana is Italy’s leading fresh pasta company, and its artisan shop offers great dining, select Italian ingredients and designer kitchen accessories. Each pasta served at the restaurant, as well as those that can be purchased to cook at home, is house-made, fresh from scratch.

Lucky for us, Giovanni Rana is generous with his expertise and will share his secrets with eager learners. In our class, we learned how to make tiramisu ravioli for dessert.

Preparing chocolate ravioli. Photo courtesy Giovanni Rana.

By the end of the session, you’ll have your own creation packed up for taking home, after which you enjoy a dinner made for you by Rana’s chefs, some wine and a take-away bag of products and recipes.

Although there may not be a Rana shop in your area, scout out a local cooking school or culinary program that’s nearby. It’s fun to do, it’s delicious to eat, and it’s made by you.

By the time your skills become second nature, you’ll be able to delight your family and friends with—yes—tiramisu ravioli as a sweet finale to dinner.

—Rowann Gilman

RECIPE: RANA’S TIRAMISU RAVIOLI

This recipe makes 14 to 16 ravioli, or about two servings. You can double the recipe, and freeze any excess for up to six months. Serve the ravioli with crème fraîche, mascarpone or ice cream.

Ingredients
 
For The Dough

 
Filling

 
For The Dipping Sauce

 
To Finish

Preparation

Make The Dough

1. PLACE the flour on a floured surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into the well and mix it with a fork. Add the salt and instant espresso powder; blend with fingers until dough forms a rough shape.

2. BEGIN to knead and fold the dough over and over until it forms a smooth ball, about 8 to 10 minutes. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Make The Filling

1. COMBINE all of the filling ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, mixing with a wooden spoon until thoroughly blended.

Make The Dipping Sauce

1. PLACE the strawberries in the bowl of a food processor; blend until berries are puréed. If desired, add brown sugar and/or fresh mint to taste. Strain the mixture through a fine sieve; set aside.

Assemble The Ravioli

1. REMOVE dough from refrigerator. On a heavily floured surface, begin to roll and rotate the dough, turning it over after every few rolls. Continue until dough is perfectly even (smooth hands over dough to feel any difference in its thickness) and extremely thin.

2. FOLD the dough in half, then bring the top half upward. Starting about an inch from the halfway fold and left edge, place filling 1 teaspoonful at a time, slightly rounding each, on the bottom half of dough. Leave 1 inch between each mound of filling. When filling is used up, moisten the dough between each spoonful using a pastry brush and water. Be careful not to use too much water; use just enough for the top layer of dough to stick.

3. GENTLY LIFT the top half of dough and place it over the bottom half. Press between the mounds of filling where dough has been moistened, making sure both layers of dough stick together. Using a hand ravioli cutter, cut out the individual ravioli and place them on a floured surface, keeping them apart.

4. HEAT about 1 inch of canola oil in a heavy skillet until very hot. Fry the ravioli for about two to three minutes on each side until dough is firm. Remove from skillet and drain very well on paper towels or a brown paper bag. Let cool.

5. SERVE the ravioli sprinkled with confectioners sugar and a small bowl of the dipping sauce on the side.
 
MORE DESSERT RAVIOLI & OTHER PASTA

It’s a highball—a fizzy whiskey drink mixed with club soda or ginger ale and served with ice in a tall glass. A rickey is made from gin or bourbon, fresh lime juice, carbonated water and ice. Sometimes sugar is added, largely to satisfy the sweet-seeking American palate. It’s not part of the original recipe. Tell the bartender not to put any in yours.

The rickey was created with bourbon in the 1880s, at Shoomaker’s bar in Washington, D.C. The story handed down is that it was a collaboration between bartender George A. Williamson and a good customer, Democratic lobbyist Colonel Joe Rickey.

In the bar for his morning glass of bourbon and Apollinaris sparkling mineral water, with lump ice, history was changed when one day, half a lime was squeezed into, then dropped into, the glass. The guess is that the lime was the bartender’s twist.

Colonel Rickey may have preferred bourbon, but the cocktail became a worldwide sensation a decade later when gin was substituted to create the Gin Rickey (check out the different types of gin below.

There are also virgin rickeys, soda fountain drinks made with lime syrup and soda water; a raspberry-lime rickey adds raspberry syrup.

The tall iced drink has always been a popular summer cocktail, and the D.C. Craft Bartenders Guild established July as Rickey Month.
 
GIN RICKEY RECIPE

Ingredients

1. ADD gin and fresh lime juice to an ice-filled collins glass. Stir.

2. ADD soda water, stir gently. Garnish with a lime wedge and serve.
 
 
WHAT IS LONDON DRY GIN?

There are four different types of gin:

 
PARTY IDEA

Get a bottle of each of the different types of gin and have a comparative tasting: first straight and then in the two most famous gin cocktails, Gin Rickey and Gin & Tonic. If you want to add Sloe Gin, the best-known drink is the Sloe Gin Fizz.
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*Dry Gin is a complex recipe of botanicals—fruits, herbs and spices from all over the world. There are dozens of possible ingredients; each distiller has its own secret recipe. Popular ingredients include angelica root from Germany, cardamom from Sri Lanka, cassia bark from Southeast Asia, coriander seed from the Czech Republic, orris root from Italy and Seville orange peel from Spain. Most of the juniper berries that comprise the base flavor of gin are imported from Italy. See an example of the ingredients in Martin Miller’s Gin.
  

For July 21, National Ice Cream Day, we made these no-bake ice cream cupcakes.

They’re cupcakes in the sense that they’re made in cupcake liners, but with cookie crumbs instead of baked cake. Thus, the cookie crumbles and the oven stays off. If you prefer, you can use store-bought cake (angel cake, pound cake) instead of the cookies.

Aside from the effort to whip the cream, this recipe couldn’t be easier. You can delegate it to the kids.

RECIPE: ICE CREAM CUPCAKES

Ingredients For 12 Cupcakes

Preparation

1. PLACE the 12 paper cupcake liners in the muffin tin. Crumble one cookie into each cupcake liner, topped by a scoop of ice cream. Freeze until solid. Meanwhile…

2. WHIP cream until slightly thickened; add cocoa and powdered sugar. Continue whipping until soft peaks form. Frost each cupcake with the cocoa whipped cream. Freeze until ready to serve. Place extra cupcakes in airtight container; store in freezer up to one week.

Variation

For a fruit cupcake, use crushed shortbread cookies with strawberry ice cream and whip cream blended with puréed fresh strawberries instead of cocoa. Or, you can make honey whipped cream: Omit the cocoa and powdered sugar; substitute 1 tablespoon honey; prepare as above.

There most definitely is (Vietnamese iced coffee is similar or identical, depending on who makes it). In Thailand, the drink is called kah-feh dahm yen, and the locals prefer it very sweet.

You can often find Thai iced coffee at Thai restaurants in the U.S. Or, make your own: It’s very easy. Prep time is just 10 minutes after the coffee is made. You also need chilling time.

The recipe uses strong, bitter coffee—such as espresso, French roast, or Italian roast—which acts as a counterpoint to the rich cream and the sweetened condensed milk.

You can even use leftover coffee. While coffee purists may shudder at the thought, the sweetened condensed milk masks any minute note they might detect. You can also use strong instant coffee.

National Iced Coffee Day is May 25th.

And, you can turn it into a dessert.

Here’s how to make Thai iced coffee:
 
 
RECIPE: THAI ICED COFFEE

Ingredients Per Serving

 
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*The coffee can be any room temperature. If it’s room temperature or chilled, your Thai iced coffee will be ready to drink all the sooner.
 
†You can use both; we also like a dash of nutmeg. You can add or substitute ¼ teaspoon of almond, anise, vanilla or other extract.
 
_________________

Preparation

1. POUR coffee into a mixing container (we use a repurposed glass orange juice bottle).

2. ADD 4-6 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk and optional spices; stir well until dissolved. Refrigerate for one hour or longer to chill.

3. ADD a few ice cubes to two tall glasses and fill with the cold coffee mixture. Top off with the cream. As the cream sinks, it makes an attractive swirl.

After you make the first batch, taste it and adjust the recipe. Add more sweetened condensed milk if you want a sweeter drink, or more cream if you want a richer drink or if the coffee is too strong.
 
Dessert Variation

Add a scoop of coffee or vanilla ice cream; garnish with whipped cream and toasted coconut flakes.
 
 

National Hot Dog Day is July 23rd, so think about inviting your friends (or your kids’ friends) to participate in Pillsbury’s most creative edible craft project: dough dogs.

Take a hot dog and some Pillsbury Crescent dough and create a sculpture of your dog. Check Pillsbury.com for the rules, and to enjoy the clever dough dogs created by Pillsbury: basset hound, bulldog, dachshund, dalmatian, pekinese, poodle and shar-pei.

If you want to enter your creation in the contest, upload a picture of your creation to Instagram, Twitter or Pillsbury’s Facebook page, by July 29th. Facebook fans will vote on four finalists, selected by the Pillsbury judges.

So put your best paw forward, and have fun making hot dog hounds. Yes, you can eat them. In fact, this could become a regular family activity: edible art.