Kathy: I grew up with certain traditions, especially during the holidays. The one tradition that stands out and that we still do is having homemade ravioli for Christmas dinner. When I was little, I remember my mom spending several days preparing and making ravioli. I don’t remember helping much then, but I remember being mesmerized by all the steps it took to make these heavenly little pillows of dough filled with meat and cheese.
When I was older I was able to help make them but soon I realized that my mom didn’t have a written recipe for her ravioli. So, through the years several of us in the family have spent time with her to help make them and to learn how to make them. It’s not Christmas for me without my mom’s ravioli. So every year I happily make them. And thank my mom for all the years she made them for us.
However, I do make them a little differently then she did. It still takes three days: cook the meats one day, make the filling and make the dough the second day and on the third we assemble them. Now, I can’t share the exact recipe here, but we would like to share the process. Just know that each and every ravioli is made with love.
Angela: So here’s the set-up now that we’ve got this operation down to a two-person thing.
My mom rolls the dough out. This year, we figured out a super-sneaky way to get the ravioli to not have a ton of dough and yet, keep them durable.
We plan on filling all these baking sheets and some over again. We sprinkle semolina flour on them so they don’t stick.
I’m on assembly. This little station is where the dough and filling come together. The metal tray with the holes (very technical equipment here) gives the ravioli their hat shape. The scooper is used to get the right amount of filling and the water is to seal them up.
This is the filling. It’s a secret recipe that even I don’t have the rights to yet. All I know is it has meat, cheese, spinach, and eggs. I don’t make it, I just assemble. This is a huge bowl by the way. By far, it was the biggest batch we’ve ever made.
But before this delicious filling can be stuffed into the dough, the dough has to be rolled into sheets that can fit on the ravioli tray. We have another nifty machine for that. Back when we started this whole operation, my dad and brother used to take turns with a machine that cranked the dough flat. With this new mechanical doohickey, we’ve eliminated the boys (they’re happy) from the labor force.
She just runs the homemade dough through this lovely contraption.
And then she gets these long, thin pieces of dough that are strong enough to put up with being stuffed.
At this point, the dough comes to me where I place it on the metal tray. Carefully with my thumb, I make little depressions in each of the 12 holes. Then I use pastry brush and water to wet the edges so that each ravioli will seal.
One scoop of filling in each hole and then with clean fingers, I flatten each scoop so there’s no air bubbles.
Then the top layer of dough goes on (carefully so that no air bubbles form).
I roll it over with a rolling-pin so that the zip-zap edges cut through the dough.
I then flip over the tray and out pop a dozen perfect, lovely ravioli.
They get placed on the baking trays until that tray is filled.
When the tray is filled, like this one, it goes in the freezer. When they all freeze, we put them in bags and freeze them until its time to eat.
So the result for the day………
370 ravioli!
Skittles even came by to check out what we were doing. Either that, or the smell of the filling lured her in.
LIFE SO GOOD 
