Homemade Ravioli

Our mission: to make homemade pasta. We decided to make ravioli, since they are large and seemed like an easy place to start. I browned some meat with Parmesan cheese and seasoning. Meanwhile we started on the pasta.

The recipe was easy: 4 eggs + 1 lb of flour. Hmmm... no scale, so we guestimated and ended up having to add 2 additional eggs to the mound of flour as we kneaded it.

The Mound of flour with eggs in it.

Kneading the dough.
Kneading the dough.

After kneading the dough, which took around 10-15 minutes, we then rolled the dough, and rolled the dough, and rolled the dough, and rolled the dough. What I wouldn't give for a pasta maker! And the dough was still thick. Oh well... drive on...

Rolling the dough.

Rolling the dough.Rolling the dough.

Using my biscuit-making know-how, we chose a glass to mark round ravioli halves.

Marking circular halves.

I cut the halves out with a knife. We then stuffed them full of the seasoned meat and pinched the edges shut.

Cutting out the halves.


Filling the ravioli.
Pinching the ravioli shut.

Voila. Ravioli.

After getting our 24 ravioli made, I cooked them in hot boiling water until al dente. We also cleaned up the counter.

Cleaning.

Cleaning.
The finished product.

Overall, the pasta was pretty good. It tasted like regular past. It was too thick -- a pasta maker would have helped with that. The meat wasn't seasoned quite right. Overall though, it was a cool project.

Special thanks to my 4 daughters and my wonderful wife for helping with this latest family project on our Thursday creative cooking night.

Sump Pump Adventures

So in the corner of the new house, under a built-in cabinet is a sump pit with a old sump pump. Unfortuntately a couple of times it has stuck, though it never seems to leak any water into the house. Still, paranoia reigns supreme, and so I want to replace the pump.

Of course, just replacing it would be too easy. I want a backup pump that will run on battery power in case the A/C power goes out. This, of course, is just shy of my dream of having a full backup generator for the whole house.

So first I procured a backup pump and a new sump pump. I also bought a bunch of pipe and fittings for installation. My sump pit is about 26 1/4 " to the top of the 1 1/2" output pipe. It is about 15" across.

The diagram on the right was on the back of the backup sump pump box. Basically it shows having the two pumps connected at different levels with one-way valves. It looks easy, but that sump pit shown there is about 8 times the size of mine. This is going to be a bit of a crunch.




Installation of a sump pump requires a one-way valve on each pump. I install the one way valves on each. To save space, I run both pipes straight up, and use a U-shaped pipe to connect the backup pump to the larger pump. They also get clamped together.

A key to whole process is to cut each pipe segment straight and to use the two stage PVC glue system properly. You should glue both the inside and outside of the adjoining pipes and give them a turn per the glue directions to seal them. Cutting can be done quickly and easily using a handheld power jigsaw. Alternately, a hacksaw can be used.




The final assembly required the old sump to be cut off at the pipe. The new unit slipped into place and was glued. Make sure you test both pumps with water in the sump pit. Running the pumps dry can ruin them.






As of the posting of this, the unit has been in place for over 6 months without a problem.