Also very popular and just in are many new Lampe Berger products,  our Hampton store (located at 4620 Hampton Ave, St Louis MO 63109) has a wonderful selection ready for you.

10-stem bunches of Ranunculus or Anemones available at all Walter Knoll Florist flower shops for $9.99 through February 4.  Various colors and while supplies last – walk in only –

Also on sale at wkf.com is our mono-botanical Ranunculus bouquet.  Order one for delivery today!

SP2RB

I use a Marcella Hazan recipe published in a Bon Apetit magazine from the early 80s.  Noodles were one of the first things Gramma taught me how to make – I remember at a very young age standing on a chair and grating noodle dough into a pot of boiling water.  Eventually I got to mix dough and roll it out with a rolling pin over newspaper – the cartoon section – had to be able to read the cartoons through the dough – so anyway, this is easy for me – with some practice you can master noodle dough too.

For the pasta:

10 oz pkg frozen leaf spinach, cooked, cooled, drained and squeezed dry and chopped fine

3 to 4 cups unbleached flower (oops, I mean flour – Valentine’s on the brain today)

4 large eggs

1 tbl extra virgin olive oil

1 tsp salt

pulse the spinach with 3-1/2 cups of the flour in your food processor, add eggs, olive oil and salt and pulse until it comes together – poke it with your finger, if it is sticky add more flour a little at a time until it is a cohesive but slightly crumbly mass.

dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it for a minute or two until smooth – then shape into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about an hour.

When you are ready to roll it out, you can find all kinds of instructions on the internet for rolling and shaping dough.  I use a crank roller and dream of the day I can buy that pasta roller for my KitchenAid mixer!   My roller has 6 settings and I roll my dough out to #5 “thinness” as I like a little “tooth” to my tortellini and I find that #6 sometimes has blowouts when the tortellini cooks.

While your pasta is resting you can prepare your filling.

1/4 to 1/2 pound (Marcella’s the recipe called for pork butt but I like to use a lean cut)

1/4 to 1/2 pound veal shoulder - I could only find ground at the market and it worked out fine

2 tsp butter

1/2 to 3/4 cup fresh ricotta (ricotta salata from Viviano’s is my choice)

2 tbl mortadella, chopped very fine (Viviano’s)

1/2 cup grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese (again Viviano’s)

1 or 2 egg yolks

Freshly grated nutmeg (to taste, I like lots and lots of nutmeg)

salt and black pepper

Cut the pork and veal into thin slices and then into small dice – keep the meats separate.  Cook the pork in the butter for about 5 minutes, browning all sides, then add the veal and cook for only a minute or two - just until the pink is gone.  Add a bit of salt and pepper, stir to coat well, then drain and cool.

When the meat is cool enough to handle, chop the pork and veal together to a grainy, slightly coarse consistency.  Put the chopped meat into a bowl and add the ricotta, grated cheese, egg yolk and at least 1/4 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg.  Add the finely chopped mortadella.

Mortadella tastes like fatty bologna! Find it at Viviano's on the Hill

Mix well, then taste and correct for salt and pepper (and nutmeg).

Time to roll out the dough – this recipe is a double batch, only roll out 1/2 a disk of dough at a time or the pasta gets dry and doesn’t stick to itself to form the little Venus’ navels.  Cut 1-1/2 to 2 inch squares, put about a 1/4 tsp of meat filling in the center, top with one pea (my addition, nothing better than the pop of a pea when you bite into a tender tortellini!)

Shape your tortellini by folding opposite corners together to make a triangle, then flip it and pinch the wide ends together, the point will kinda flip on its own.  Set your tortelli on a cookie sheet, freeze until solid then store in zip lock bags in freezer for up to a couple months.

Now for the sauce – and this is the easiest most delicious tomato cream sauce ever.

1/3 cup butter

1/4 cup each onion, carrot, celery, all chopped very fine.

1 large can imported Italian plum tomatoes with their juice

pinch of salt

1/2 cup heavy (high fat) whipping cream, at room temperature or warmed slightly

Lightly saute celery, onion, carrot & salt in butter until onions are translucent.  Add tomatoes and cook for 45 minutes at a low simmer.

Bring a large pot of water to boil and add frozen tortellini – they will only take 3 to 5 minutes to cook.

When carrots are tenderm puree tomato sauce in blender until smooth (or use one of those handy dandy boat motors!) – return to pot, add heavy cream and warm it back up but do not boil.  It is important to use heavy cream at room temp or even warmed up a bit in the microwave, ALL OTHER MILK PRODUCTS curdle – although it will taste fine it looks ugly.

Top your tortellini with the tomato cream sauce and some freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano and dive in.  You’ll want to eat this with a spoon!

Okay, back to work – check out our Valentine’s Line Up – we have some great flowers and gifts for you!

My One and Only Deluxe 18 Long Stemmed Premium Ecuadorian Roses

The store has a fresh new look, been restocked with fresh flowers, plants and merchandise.  The regular employees are back and ready to go.  If you find your self in the area stop by and see what is new.

Candy Cane Poinsettia

As usual at this time of the year, we have lots of varieties in many different sizes.  If you have received a poinsettia as a gift and are wondering how to care for it, we have some wonderful information at wkf.com – see bottom of page after clicking here – You can download our Poinsettia Care & Toxicology Pamphlet from a link there.  Basically give your Poinsettia lots of indirect sunlight and don’t let the soil dry out – but don’t drown them either, they need good drainage.  Also, they are not poisonous! Now don’t go eating a poinsettia, it will probably make you feel yucky, but it won’t kill you – same goes for the pets.

We have many styles and sizes to choose from, many are at our web site, but give us a call for more options including a different container or color choice.

Pink Poinsettia

I’d also like to recommend for the holidays that your bring your pet to Anmar Photography at 3308 Jamieson Ave in South St Louis and have his/her photo taken with Santa!  We used Anmar for our Open House Santa photos and thought they did a great job!  call Mark for more information at 314 644-1010 or to make an appointment- tell him Di sent you!

Rovers are a special group of mums only available late summer and fall – they

are unique in that they are very long stemmed and have a single flower head per stem.

Get them while they’re hot at any Walter Knoll Florist flower shop!

In a variety of colors

We also have a Rover bouquet on special and available for delivery through 11/27 here