Cheese and meat, meat and cheese, easily my two favorite things to sell at Di Bruno Brothers. When you have two great things (much like peanut butter and jelly) sometimes you have to mix them together! Take a good salami, in this case Molinari Finocchiona, a finely ground northern Italian style salami with a generous amount of fennel. Get as many slices as ravioli you would like to make (then get a few more to snack on while you make them), I usually use 2 to 3 per person. Next you need a flavorful gooey cheese. For this application I prefer the faithful Taleggio, also northern Italian and always with a creamy, nutty and lil' bit pungent flavor. The process of making salami ravioli is easy but it is definitely hands on with stinky cheese too! Lay your salami out on a cutting board and have a big plate on hand to put them on when they're done.
Ready your chunk of Taleggio, let it come almost to room temp. and cut off a small piece, say a tsp. to a tsp. and a half. You can use more if you like but it's easy to start with just a little bit. Place your piece of cheese dead center on one of your salami slices then fold the salami in half, letting the gooey cheese fill the center of the slice while you pinch the edges to close it. If you've ever made real ravioli, it's very much like that and if you haven't, it's very much easier. Remember when making these that just like crepes or pancakes, the first one is always just a practice run! Repeat the filling and folding process until all your salami slices are gone, arrange on a plate and then watch as your impressed friends enjoy them!
