I’ve mentioned on the blog before the gem that is Cleveland’s West Side Market. Having just celebrated its 100^th year, the indoor farmer’s market has dozens of vendors hawking produce, meats, seafood, bakery spices and some speciality foods. My ideal day is to browse the market in the morning and buy what looks good to make in the evening.

One of my favorite stalls is the pasta one. They have freshly made pastas of all different shapes and flavors and quite a few homemade sauces. When my boys find out I am going there, they put in their request for angel hair pasta. Each bed of angel hair takes only a one minute in the boiling water to cook as it is so thin and fresh.

While I love to eat pasta, I’ve never made it myself. Part of the reason was the pure drudgery or hand rolling and cutting the pasta, as I did not have a pasta machine. The other day, I borrowed one my mother had and decided to put it to use.

The first batch was fettuccine. It was so easy. Eggs and flour. Mix it up. Run it though the rollers multiple times and then through the cutting attachment. Drop in boiling water and four minutes later drain. It was really easy and really good.

A couple of days later, I decided to step it up and make ravioli. While I didn’t need the cutting attachment, I was very thankful for the pasta machine rollers to make the dough a consistent, thin layer.

I liked the dish, of course I’ll try Buffalo Chicken anything!

There are very few ingredients here.

Before putting you fillings on, paste on some egg wash on the pasta. This will help the layers stick together.

I mixed in some canned chicken and buffalo sauce.

Put the fillings on the dough, spaced about 2 inches apart.

Put a top layer on and press out the air bubbles. Make sure your seal is tight or water will get in a dilute your fillings. I did not do a very good job of pushing out the air.

Don’t over-crowd the pot. It will take you a number of batches to cook them all.

I (unfortunately) forgot the egg wash. A number of my ravioli sprung a leak and while it turned the boiling water an interesting color, it didn’t do much for the ravioli. Next time I won’t forget that step.

Buffalo Chicken Ravioli

• 2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour
• 3 eggs (for dough)
• 2 eggs (for wash)
• 2 large cans of pre-cooked chicken breast
• 1 rib celery, diced small
• 8oz blue cheese crumbles
• Buffalo Sauce (to taste)

Open up the cans of chicken and drain out the liquids. Place into a bowl and shred with a fork. Add sufficient buffalo sauce to coat.

In a large bowl, using a fork, mix the eggs into the flour. Dump the contents onto a floured countertop and knead the dough (adding water 1-2T at a time if too dry, or 1-2T flour if too wet.). Knead until the dough is pliable and consistent in color. Let dough sit under a damp towel for 15 minutes.

Tear off half of the dough and roll until thin. If using a pasta machine, start with the thickest setting and feed back into the rollers at progressively thinner settings until one of the tinner settings is used.

Lay out pasta on a floured surface. In a small bowl beat the eggs and add 2T of water. Using a brush, brush the egg wash on top of the pasta, concentrating on the areas where the seams would be.

On half of the dough, at 2″ intervals, place 1T of shredded chicken, 1t of celery and 1t of blue cheese. Place the other half of the dough on top and press around the filling areas, pushing the air out and sealing the dough. Using a pasta or pizza cutter, cut evenly between each ravioli.

Bring a large pot of water to just short of a boil over medium heat. Gently slide the pasta into the water, being careful not to crowd the pot. Ensure the water stays as close to boiling as possible without going to a rolling boil (which may tear apart the ravioli). Cook 4-5 minutes. Drain and drizzle with buffalo sauce.

*** REMINDER ***

If you have an interest in participating in DICED! A Ranting Chef competition, the deadline is midnight on February 28, 2013. For full details about the competition, see the original post by clicking here.

Feb 23rd is National Banana Bread Day

In honor of today’s food holiday, please revisit the following recipes that use or feature this ingredient:

Cherry Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, Orange Pecan Banana Nut Bread