Text 8133, 162 rader
Skriven 2008-05-31 21:44:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av NANCY BACKUS
Ärende: booze was new+tiny 398
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 ML> Dark beers have their caramelly aspect, no surprise, because the
 ML> sugars have in fact been caramelized. I had two beers this week
 NB> I think it's the bitterness I don't like?  I suspect I'm just hopeless
 NB> on this one... ;)

The #1 bitter component is from hops, but dark-roasted malt
does contribute a bit. Guinness doesn't have much hopping, so
it's got to be the malt that does it to you.

 NB> We do have a fair bit of red meat, as well as veggies and such that
 NB> have good iron content... My real problem there is that I can't
 NB> tolerate the iron supplements by mouth

There are easier to tolerate ones, though, I think ferrous
gluconate is supposed not to be so difficult to deal with.

 NB> but I just never know. I'm more of a border-line anemic, and my body
 NB> tries to compensate by making lots of extra platelets... which
 NB> fortunately don't seem to be extra sticky, or I'd be in bigger trouble.

Huh. My platelets seem to be extra unsticky - if you get to see me
in action, for example at an echo picnic, you will probably witness
at least one massive nosebleed.

 NB> Fortunately, with a taste for expensive scotch, I'm able to portion it
 NB> out such that it lasts long enough to NOT kill the bank balance.  A
 NB> fifth will last me easily a year or more... even if I'm sharing it
 NB> with one of my brothers on occasion.

There are those of us who do both quality and quantity, but given
the state of our exchequer, not at the same time!

Schabziger (sap sago) pasta
cat: Swiss, odd
yield: 1 batch

500 g flour
200 g spinach leaves
1 stick Schabziger (100 g/3 oz)
0.5 dl / 3 Tb olive oil
1 dl / 7 Tb water
3 eggs
h - Stuffing for Schabziger Ravioli
500 g séré, quark or ricotta
1 egg
2 Tb flour
White pepper
Salt

Swiss pasta made from a thousand-year-old Alpine cheese so
pungent it will bring you back from the dead. The small but
highly efficient emergency medical service of the Swiss
canton of Glarus includes in their medics' toolkit a small
vial of Schabziger, the local cheese. When a person passes
out, the vial is opened below his or her nostrils until he
or she wakes up. Failure to respond to the Schabziger
treatment is not a good sign. It is unclear whether people
wake up because they think the divine smell means they
have reached Heaven, or rather because they feel this
ghastly smell can only mean they are nearing to Hell. In
any case, failure to respond is interpreted as a certain
sign of death. Locals and long-term residents of Glarus
enjoy the smell while most foreigners are taken aback by
its pugent, tear-jerking strength.

Schabziger [shaptseegair] or sapsago is a tiny cylindrical
cheese made from fresh whey cheese, a bit like a hard
ricotta. But whereas ricotta is soft and velvetty,
Schabziger is a sort of in-your-face pungent curmudgeon.
The big difference with ricotta is that since the Crusades,
Schabziger has been flavored with a generous amount of
dried Trigonella caerulea aka Blue Fenugreek. Not everyone
enjoys Schabziger's pungent, tear-jerking strength and even
in Glarus it is used only as a condiment. The first time I
bought it, years ago, I almost fainted as I tried to eat a
piece of it. But you get used to it, and nowadays half our
Schabziger production is exported beyond the confines of
Glarus and into Europe.

Here is one simple but also sophisticated way of enjoying
this most intriguing cheese. As you'll see, the schabziger
is not grated on the pasta, nor included in the filling,
but built into the pasta dough.

Let's start with making the green schabziger pasta dough.
Place the washed, picked and stemmed spinach leaves in a
blender and add the oil. Why oil? Because chlorophyll,
the green coloring agent in the spinach, only dissolved
in oil. Add your schabziger and the water and mix again
until smooth. There you are. Pour into a bowl but don't
drink this unless you are in a coma.

Combine the eggs with the flour in a large kitchen
machine or bowl if you work by hand. Mix until you get a
crumbly mixture.

Add a third of the spinach-schabziger mixture. It is
very important that you keep firmly on top of the water
content in your dough. If you add too much liquid, you'll
need to add more flour later to compensate and will either
end up with an unwieldy large batch, or run out of flour.
Better add the liquid little by little.

Start the machine again to fully incorporate the green
liquid. I love the reflections on my Kenwood kitchen machine!

Test the texture - is is too dry or too wet? Add more green
liquid if too dry, more flour if too wet. There you are - a
nice, smooth dough. Check that the dough is not too wet -
Thou Shall Not Stick - is the first commandement of pasta dough.
Knead until smooth.

Wrap it so that no part is exposed to the air and let it rest
for 30 min in a cool place.

Let's make the stuffing, based on séré (German : quark) a
lean fresh cheese made from whey, a Swiss cousin of ricotta.
We need the cheese to be as dry as possible so as not to rip
through the ravioli dough. Place the cheese in a clean cotton
cloth or a cheesecloth if you have it. Let it drip overnight.
Mix cheese with the flour and egg. Season generously with
white pepper and salt.

Prepare your workspace, with the pasta machine or rolling
pin, ample flour, rolling cutters, filling and a clean cloth
or pasta drying rack.

Start laminating prune-sized pieces of your dough through
the pasta machine, folding it in half between each pass.
Stop when the dough has gone through the next-to-last setting
on the machine and is smooth as silk.

Decide the size you want fo yur raviolis before you start.
Place little balls of stuffing at equal interval, not
forgetting that you'll need another pasta sheet the same
size or to fold in half the one you use. Seal and cut using
the rolling cutter. Do not worry if a little dough oozes
out as you roll, nor if you can't roll straight. Irregular
raviolis denote homemade pasta and most guests will forgive
you. Tell them 'That's the way it's done in the Alps' if
anybody complains. If the dough is too sticky, cover with
flour before cutting. Try to obtain raviolis of the same size.

Flour generously and leave them on a rack or floured cloth
so they don't stick. Boil for a minute or so in your largest
pot filled with salted water brought to a rolling boil.

How about that? A delicious, intensly green ravioli with a
delicate but very present Schabziger pungency ...
and filled with a light cheese filling. Diet, FXcuisine-style!

If you feel that this is too much for you, just omit the
ravioli and stuffing stage and cut your pasta in your favorite
shape, and serve with butter or grated Sbrinz. A really unique
pasta!

Original recipe from: Schwert Restaurant Glarus, Switzerland
Published 26/05/2008 at fxcuisine.com

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