My mother has all these great cooking stories from her girlhood involving her Italian aunts making homemade ravioli out of giant volcanos of flour right on the kitchen table. Wild stuff! One of her greatest regrets is never mastering the art of handmade pasta while she had the chance, so a few Christmases ago I bought her a cookbook called Cooking with Italian Grandmothers. She opened the box, looked at me and said, “Are you pregnant?” She totally missed the really sweet point I was trying to make. I wasn’t telling her I was knocked up! I was trying to say even though her relatives are gone, may they rest in peace, it’s never too late to learn some tricks from other grandmas.
This is exactly the premise of My Grandmother’s Ravioli, Mo Rocca’s new show set to premiere this Sunday February 19th at 8pm on the Cooking Channel. He will travel the country, coaxing family recipes and secret ingredients out of grandmothers and grandfathers alike. The first episode features an Italian grandfather who himself learned to cook in his 70’s. Rocca himself is no expert chef, but (as any regular viewer of Iron Chef can attest) he loves food. The show is guaranteed to be a funny and touching celebration of cuisine and family. Be sure to tune in!
Image source Cooking Channel