Conference turris::cooks

    	 The following recipe was in today's Albuquerque Journal and 
    sounded great.  I'm posting it here for 3 reasons:
    
    	 1.  It sounds great
    	 2.  I'll know where to find it when I lose the article
    	 3.  I'm hoping some of you will try it and provide feedback
    
    
                       Salmon Tortellini With Vegetables
    
    	      	   1 	can (15 1/2 ounces) salmon
    	      	   2	cups (8 ounces) cut fresh green beans
    	      	   3/4	cup juliene carrots
    	      	   1	tablespoon each vegetable oil and butter or 
                        margarine
    	      	   1	firm, medium tomato, seeded and cut into strips
    	      	   1/4	cup dry white wine
    	      	   1	teaspoon each dried basil and oregano, crushed
    	      	   1	package (9 ounces) cheese tortellini, cooked
    	      	   1/4	cup grated Parmesan cheese
    	      	   	salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
    
    	 Drain salmon, reserving 2 tablespoons liquid; break into bitesize 
    pieces.  Saute' beans and carrots in oil about 5 to 7 minutes or until 
    crisp-tender.  Add tomato, wine, salmon liquid, basil and oregano.  
    Cook until hot.  Add the salmon, cooked tortellini, cheese, salt and 
    pepper; toss carefully.  serves 4.

    I am looking for a pasta machine that rolls and cuts pasta in the
    little squares needed to make tortellini.  If I understand this beast
    correctly, it rolls the pasta like a regular machine but narrower and 
    has a blade for cutting off the squares.  It might also have plates
    that permit making of spaghetti etc.  I live in the Greater Maynard
    Area but I'd drive a long way (or send for) to get this machine. 
    Anyone ever seen something like this?
    
    Dondi

I've seen rollers for making sheets and strips but the only thing I've seen
for making squares is a device that is in effect an inverted cookie cutter

It consists of a rectangular tray with raised "lips" to delineate the squares -
you roll a sheet with the roller machine then place it on the tray. If you want
filling you put a spoonful in each square then add a second sheet. Now you run 
the heavy roller that comes with the device over the top and it neatly cuts out 
about 36 squares at a time...

/. Ian .\

    I think I've seen those too, but I thought they were for making
    ravioli.  This thing I'm looking for has a crank and a series of
    rollers.  Almost looks like those things that hold packing tape for the
    shipping department to seal cartons.  Maybe the rollers for strips that
    you've seen are what I want.  This is for my Italian mother-in-law who
    makes the best tortellini in the world but is getting tired of hand
    rolling and cutting all those little pieces of pasta!
    
    Dondi

    I've never seen an attachment that cuts sheets to size, and I'm an
    attachment buff!  I expect that this is because few people are willing
    to invest the effort to do something like tortellini by hand.  Perhaps
    a standard atlas crank machine would help.  It could do the rolling,
    and then the trimming to size would be relatively easy, done with a
    knife.  
    
    Heck!  I'll bring my altas (and motor) and do the rolling and cutting,
    if she'll do the stuffing and folding!

    Try Kitchen Etc. in Nashua NH.  I saw an attachment for (I think) the
    hand crank Atlas pasta maker.  Assuming you have your two flat sheets
    of dough, you feed them in from opposite sides - there is a roller for
    each sheet.  I don't know where or how you introduce the filling, but
    once you do, the machine takes care of the rest.  Inside, there is a
    flat side and the other side which allows room for the filling and
    has those squiggly cut outs.  It goes for something like 30 bucks.
    
    				-d
    
    

    I got my atlas so long ago, I don't remember where.  I have seen them
    in lots of places, though.  It is a common brand.  That Kitchen Place
    used to carry them when they were in Amherst.  They probably still do. 
    Jordan Marsh probably has them, too.  Mine makes wide flat noodles
    about 5-6" across.  I've seen machines that do 8" wide.  Mine  came
    with an attachment that cuts 1/2" wide or 1/16" (approx) wide pasta for
    about $25 (before 1985).  The motor came separately from PASTA-EZ, for
    about $35.  It's great, since it eliminates the need to clamp the
    machine to the edge of the table, and eliminates the need for a third
    hand to do the cranking.
    
    By the way, using a food processor to make the dough, I go from start
    to finish in about 30 minutes with the motor, compared to about an hour
    and change before I had the motor!

    My family always called them Cappaletties, "Little Hats".   I use the
    hand operated machine and make long (3-4 ft) strips about 1 1/2" wide.
    I lay them on the table in rows (like the stripes on the flag )
    then take a pizza cutter and quickly cut the strips into 
    1 1/2"  X  1 1/2" squares.   This process is so much quicker than using
    a knife or cookie cutter.