For Family Home Evening last week we made popcorn balls. It's a recipe I found of Paula Deans on foodnetwork. The woman knows how to make a popcorn ball. Jon says he would prefer them a little crunchier so if that's the case with you just cook the syrup to soft crack I think. (I've never actually tried this though.) We made them orange in honor of Halloween & gave them out to some friends. We're making another batch this week to give out at the trunk-or-treat on Saturday.
I had a brilliant idea to use up some won-ton wrappers in my fridge. Butternut-sage ravioli in a brown butter sauce. I liked it, but Jon & Christopher said it was okay as long as they picked off the craisens & walnuts & Ethan-who also picked off the craisens & walnuts-didn't like it at all. I said I was going to blog it anyway because I wanted to blog flops too & Jon said "It's not a flop. Not like mom's clam linguini." (Sorry Mom Whipple, I don't think you'll ever live that down.) Anyway, I baked the squash before I realized the won-ton wrappers in question were already bad so I ended up making fresh pasta & in corporating a little sage into that as well. It made a load of filling (3 or 4 times too much for the amount of pasta we made) but I'm just going to add some chicken broth to it & make it into a soup for lunch tomorrow because the boys both liked the filling alone. We had a salad beforehand which I ate with Poppyseed & Caramelized Onion dressing & the males all drowned in Ranch.(Long sigh.) It's a bit labor intensive if you're making the pasta fresh, but not so much if you just use won-ton wrappers. Even though it wasn't a hit with the men in my house, I'm going to give the recipe for it anyway because I liked it alright & because maybe one of you could make some improvements on it. For the recipes.....
Popcorn balls-Paula Dean (with a few tidbits by me)
Ingredients
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/3 cups water
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 18 cups popped corn (This was 1 cup unpopped in my air-popper)
(food coloring if desired)
*NOTE*
You cannot use microwave popcorn for this recipe. The popcorn will melt & you will have a soupy mess that tastes good but nevertheless cannot be given to anyone. If you don't have an airpopper you can put plain popcorn kernels in a brown paper bag & fold it over & pop it in the microwave. I have no idea how this is different than the store bought popcorn bags, but it must be because this way it doesn't melt. Search me.
Directions
Pop your popcorn. In a medium saucepan, combine water, sugar, syrup, vinegar, and salt in that order. Don't stir anything. Just turn on the heat to medium or so & let it go. When it starts to bubble add your coloring if you're going to. (1 red to 5 yellow makes a nice orange). Still don't stir. The bubbling action will mix the color in. Once the color is mixed in pop your candy thermometer in there making sure it doesn't touch the bottom & cook over high heat until mixture reaches 255 degrees F (hard-ball stage). Take it off the heat & stir in the vanilla (or peppermint would be nice at Christmas). It will create some steam, so don't burn yourself. You can stir it at this point. Grease a huge bowl (big enough to toss your popcorn around) with softened butter & pour your popcorn into it. Pour the syrup over the popped corn, tossing gently to coat with a buttered spoon. When mixture is cool enough to handle, press popcorn into 3-inch balls with lightly greased hands or a pair of decorators gloves (really worth it if the munchkins are helping). Cool completely on waxed paper or aluminum that you've sprayed with PAM. Her directions said it made 14-3 inch balls. Her ruler must be bigger than mine, because it made 23-3 1/2 inch balls when we did it. We sprayed some seran wrap with PAM and wrapped them all up. (Welll, all the ones that made it that long anyway. They're pretty good.)
Butternut-Sage Ravioli -severely adapted from a recipe by Giada on food network
1 medium butternut squash, halved & seeded
2 T olive oil
1/4 tsp plus a pinch or two kosher salt
pepper
1/4 tsp plus a pinch or two sage
1 large onion, diced
1 T butter
2 cloves garlic, diced (or one large clove)
1/2 -1 c chicken broth
1 c whole milk ricotta cheese
1 c mozzarella, shredded
Brown Butter Sauce-99% Giada here(she uses a LOT more sage & no nutmeg)
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks)
pinch of sage
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, or chopped dried cherries, or mixture of both
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
pinch of fresh nutmeg
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle some olive oil over the squash then sprinkle with a pinch each of kosher salt, pepper & sage. Turn face down on a cookie sheet covered with aluminum foil & pop into the oven for about 30 minutes. Test it with a fork & when its tender on the top (skinnier) part then take it out & scoop the insides into a food processor. While its cooking, caramelize your onion with a Tablespoon each of butter & olive oil & a pinch of salt & sugar. Throw that in the blender & zap it with the squash. While it's going, add the ricotta, garlic, mozzarella, 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp sage, a dash of pepper & as much of the broth as is needed to get a smooth-but not runny-consistency. Salt & pepper to taste. You're done with the filling. This can be done a day or two in advance & popped in the fridge.To make the ravioli, lay out 6 wonton skins, keeping the remaining skins inside the package or under a very lightly dampened paper towel. Place 1 tablespoon of squash mixture in the middle of each skin. Dip a pastry brush in a little water and wet the edges of the skin. Gently fold the square wrapper into a triangle, making sure the edges are securely closed and there are no air pockets inside. Dampen the two bottom corners of the longest side of the triangle and gently bring them together, pressing lightly to secure. Place the formed ravioli on a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Before laying out another 6 wonton sheets, be careful to dry the work surface. This will help keep tortellini from sticking to the baking sheet. Continue until you have about 36 ravioli. (The ravioli can be formed, frozen on the baking sheet, transferred to a tightly sealed plastic bag or container and stored for up to six months. To cook, just toss into salted, boiling water and cook for 4 minutes.)
To make the sauce and serve, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat.
Add the sage, walnuts and cranberries and let cook until the butter starts to brown, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat off and season with salt, and pepper.
Stir to combine. Then, gently place the raviloli in the boiling water and gently stir. When they begin to float they are done (about 3 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, gently spoon the ravioli onto a serving platter, Top with the brown butter sauce, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese & nutmeg and serve. Voila! Okay, not voila. I said it was a little labor intensive though didn't I. If you want to make your own pasta (& I don't recommend doing this unless you have a pasta roller or you'll struggle getting it thin enough) then I'll give you the recipe for that as well.
2-Egg Pasta
2/3 c semolia flour (just use regular if you don't no worries)
1 1/3 c flour
1/2 tsp kosher salt
(for this recipe I also added 1/2 tsp rubbed sage)
2 eggs, room temperature
2 ish T of water
Combine dry ingredients. Add wet ingredientws and mix just until dough forms a soft ball. Let rest, covered 1 hour. (I only let it rest 20 minutes tonight because I was in a hurry, but it's best to give it the full hour) Divide into 3 portions & roll out as thin as possible (I go to an 8 on my roller). Dry 10 minutes. Cut & shape (& fill if you're doing that) & dry 30 min. (I totally skipped this part tonight. *blush*) Then cook 4 min in gently boiling water. That's it.
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