Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli and Valentines

Valentines has always been special for me as a day to celebrate those that are special to you and to tell them so!  When we were in Puerto Rico, Valentines is most special and recognized as a church holiday 

Strawberry and cottage cheese filled Crepes are a delicious way to start the day!

The after school snack was cherries filled dumplings, topped with a strawberry sauce! 

A recipe that I have wanted to try for a while is Lobster and Shrimp Ravioli.   Lobster tail was steamed first. 

The filling consisted of lobster meat, shrimp, garlic, shallots, parsley, ricotta cheese, but one could use other seafood. 

Ravioli Dough

• 2 c flour
• pinch of salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp oil
• 3/4 -1 c water 

Mix dry ingredient, mix eggs, oil and about 3/4 c water and add to the dry ingredients, knead until it comes together. 

The dough was very soft and difficult to pinch tightly. Since I didn't want to loose any of the filling, I did steam the dumplings.

The dough was cut into square pieces so as to form a heart shape!

Limoncello Cream Sauce

Simmer together in saucepan

• 3-4 T limoncello
• juice of one lemon and rind

Whisk in

• 1/3 c butter

Add in until the sauce is thicken

• whipping cream

 

To assemble, cook the ravioli, spoon on th4e sauce, garnish with chopped parsley 

Basic Crepe/ Nalysniki recipe ,

My cousin Eleanor's blog always features a new recipe and tidbits on family life.   In a recent blog she wrote about my Mom and her entering the work field at a tender age of twelve.  My Mom's memories of working as a domestic helper at farm were most interesting...  She worked in the kitchen and helped with meals which were sent to the family via a dumb waiter.  She spoke of having to iron the linens for daily meals and for Sundays.  She was very appreciative of being loaned a horse to ride home at Easter  to see her family.
At sixteen, she worked in a Hospital run by the Felician sisters from Chicago.  Here she worked under a chef in the kitchen that was Cordon Bleu schooled.  Her culinary skills benefited greatly from this exposure, as her desserts and pastries were not only delicious but beautiful to look at!
One of my favourite if only Ukrainian dishes was Nalysniki, which I remember her making in her square electric frying pan.  The crepes which she lifted with her fingers when a golden brown colour were paper thin.
One of the few recipes that she actually hand wrote for me as she rarely measured and went by sight and feel!   After many tries of this recipe, I was finally successful when I increased the amount of flour and have the cast frying at a constant medium heat.  Constant heat and a lightly oiled cast iron pan is the secret in successfully making these crepes.


Basic Crepes: 
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1 pinch of salt 
2 large eggs 
1 1/2 cups milk 


The modified crepe recipe comes from Macheesmo's site

 These are Nalysniki made by my Aunt Marion for Ukrainian Christmas Eve 2012 at the age of 90.
The filling for her crepes is Home Made Cottage Cheese made by Mrs H. Marion pours heavy farm cream over the crepes to bake until hot before serving. Mom used doted butter on her crepes to keep from sticking as they bake.

These are the crepes I made this year for Christmas using a caste iron pan.

 The crepes can be made a head of time, rolled with a cottage cheese filling and frozen as a whole piece or cut in to 2 inches pieces and assembled in a casserole with butter.

These are the crepes my Aunt made this year for Ukrainian Christmas Eve 2013, so delicious! 

My Aunt Florence sent me this recipe that she says is her Mom's recipe for Crepes which she makes for Christmas Eve supper.. I know my mom never makes then for Christmas but did for Easter.. I am pretty sure that my Grandmother Anna never did either as the traditional Christmas Eve dinner was dairyless and meatless.. in other words pesnya!