Falling Back

Spring Forward. Fall Back. I'm never quite sure whether I'm returning to Standard Time or entering Day Light Saving Time, but this mnemonic device tells me in which direction to turn my watch. I breathed a little sigh of relief this weekend, as I turned back those dials, repeating "fall back, fall back, fall back" to myself all the while. After running headlong through October, November is looking like a good month for falling back. And I'm hoping to land in the kitchen.

Let me tell you a little story about mnemonic devices, Greek etymology, Latin poetry, and swiss chard ravioli. Mnemonic devices are, according to Greek etymology, matters "of memory" (mnemonikos), but according to a certain Greek mythographer they also devices of forgetfulness.

Bear with me. The story winds a bit.

Hesiod has us believe that he met the Muses, those nine daughters of the goddess Mnemosyne (Memory) who inspire poetry, on the slopes of Mt. Helikon. There, they sang to him of the births of the gods, a song to preserve ancient tales in the minds of future generations, but also, they told him, a song to make the grief-stricken forgetful. This song Hesiod dutifully recorded in his Theogony.

During the past months, I've been inspiring both memory and forgetfulness in undergraduate students of classical mythology, though none, I expect, would deem me a Muse. Hesiod's gods now faint early-semester ghosts, the fall of Troy is the song I'm presently singing. This week it was unlucky Dido and her funeral pyre. Heavy stuff. And this after marching though the rape of Persephone, the mangling of Hippolytus, the infanticide of Medea, the blinding of Oedipus, and the rage of Achilles.

The stuff of classical mythology has been cutting into my kitchen time, and that's a tragedy in itself as there's no better antidote to suffering, death, and undergraduates than chopping, mixing, and kneading. Fall back...it's a mnemonic device good for forgetting.

Haunted by Dido's hissing wound and glaring shade, I wandered into the kitchen, hauled out my pasta rollers, and started chopping through a few pounds of greens. Within an hour, I was tucking into a plateful of over-sized swiss chard ravioli tossed in browned butter sauce. They weren't much to look at, but homemade pasta doesn't have to be photogenic. Many comfy things aren't.

The beauty of this recipe is in the play between the soft, familiar pasta exterior and the dark, savory-sweet filling. The combination of swiss chard, pine nuts, raisins, and kalamata olives is an old Catalan formula, and I have to say, there's something about this recipe that tasted old, as in ancient...like something that could have been lost in the annals of culinary history. But it wasn't, bless the gods. Of this, I am sure: I won't forget it.


Swiss Chard Ravioli in Rosemary Butter Sauce
Adapted from a recipe that appeared in the February 1997 issue of Gourmet.
Makes 4 servings.



For filling:
2 pounds Swiss chard, stems and ribs discarded and leaves washed and drained
4 tablespoons finely chopped onion
2 garlic clove, chopped fine
3 tablespoons pine nuts, chopped coarse
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped fine
4 tablespoons golden raisins, chopped fine
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

For pasta dough:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus additional for kneading
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

For Browned Butter Sauce:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 tablespoons pine nuts
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh rosemary
a few pinches of coarse salt


Make filling:
Finely chop Swiss chard (you should have about 6 packed cups). In a large non-stick skillet sauté onions, garlic, and pine nuts in oil over moderately high heat until onion is softened and pine nuts are a few shades darker. Stir in olives, raisins, and half of Swiss chard and cook, stirring, until chard is slightly wilted. Stir in remaining chard and season with salt and pepper. Cook filling, covered, over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until chard is tender, about 5 minutes. Add lemon zest, Parmesan cheese, and nutmeg. Cool. Chill filling, up to 1 day.

Make ravioli:
In a food processor blend all ingredients except for additional flour until mixture just begins to form a ball. On a lightly floured surface (or in a mixer fitted with a dough hook) knead dough, incorporating additional flour as necessary, until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Dough is best used immediately but may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, wrapped in plastic wrap.

Set smooth rollers of pasta machine on widest setting. Cut dough into 4 pieces and wrap 3 of them separately in plastic wrap. Flatten unwrapped piece of dough into rectangle and feed through rollers. Fold rectangle in half and feed through rollers several more times, folding in half each time. Dust with flour if necessary to prevent sticking.

Turn dial down to next (smaller) setting and feed dough through rollers without folding. Continue to feed dough through, without folding, making space between rollers narrower each time, until narrowest setting is reached and pasta is about 4 inches wide.

Put pasta sheet on work surface with long side facing you and mound filling 2 inches apart lengthwise along half of the pasta sheet (you should have 4-5 mounds). Around each mound of filling brush dough very lightly with water. Fold dough lengthwise in half over mounds of filling, gently pressing around mounds to force out any air, and seal edges well. Trim edges with a fluted pastry wheel or knife, and cut between mounds of filling to separate ravioli.

Line a large tray with a dry kitchen towel and arrange ravioli in one layer. Make more ravioli with remaining 3 pieces of dough and remaining filling in same manner, transferring to kitchen-towel-lined tray and arranging in one layer. Ravioli may be made 8 hours ahead and chilled on towel-lined tray, covered loosely with plastic wrap.

In a large pot, bring salted water to a boil. Cook ravioli until tender, 5 to 6 minutes, and drain in a colander. Add ravioli to browned butter sauce, toss gently to coat, and top with grated Parmesan cheese.

For browned butter sauce:
While water is coming to a boil, heat 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add wine and pine nuts and cook until sauce is golden-brown and pine nuts are toasted. Add rosemary and salt to taste.