Boil them, fry them, bake them...

I know you thought it wasn't possible for me to do yet another ravioli post.

I didn't think it was possible either. But, once again, love for pasta has trumped reason.

No droning on about the ravioli making process again.  Although, I did want to mention that I used a cheese filling for this fried variety. 2 cups ricotta, 1 cup Italian cheese blend, 1 egg, parsley, garlic powder and pepper.  Next time I just want to stick a big hunk of mozzarella in them.  Or maybe all this frying has just made me want cheese sticks.



The great thing about frying ravioli is that you don't have to make your own.  Store bought would work just fine. Our's turned out really ugly this time due to some dough issues. It was stressful. I'll spare you the ins and outs of dough consistency.



Look at that little monster...



But that's alright, breading covers a multitude of imperfections...



Mix up 1 egg with about 1/2 cup of milk. Dunk your ravioli, and then cover in Italian breadcrumbs. I made my own in the food processor with M's yummy bread and seasoning.

Then fry 'em!  Within the last week I've heard both Giada AND Paula say 350F is the right temperature to fry. As I've said before, I just wait until the oil is spitting a bit.  I used vegetable oil, working in batches.



Right after you take them out sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese and serve them up with some marinara...



Fried ravioli makes a great appetizer.  We made a meal out of it, paired with more carbs of course.



Maybe I should get motivated to learn about the art of salad making.

My Favorite Snack

Some would call this a small meal.



It's not. It's just a snack.  Thirty minutes later it becomes an appetizer, and thirty minutes after that a side dish.

If a little EVOO really is good for the heart, M and I will be there with Rachel Ray at the end.



Just look at that bread...



Really look...



So what's the recipe for bread this good?



1 husband who loves bread as much as you do.

That's it. Someday I will need to document his method to share, but for now I'm keeping all the carbs to myself.

He makes the seasonings for the olive oil too. This time Boris helped.



But, that picture is blurry. So, let's move on.

The reason I have been without any recipe posts, is because we made a bunch of these a few weekends back and froze multiple dinners.



We've been alternating between that and hot dogs.



We have extreme tastes.

And, I suppose it wouldn't be fair to leave out this delicacy that I've been enjoying every night.



Oh- and peas. We still like peas...



Although, peaches are gaining.

Watch out peas.

Ravi-only

...and the other 107...



Boris teamed up with lemon juice, garlic, parmesan cheese, red pepper flakes and S&P to make a delicious pesto in my food processor for our ravioli on Saturday.  Although our pesto was sans pine nuts because apparently they are something like $2 a piece and you need  at least eleventy billion.  Forget Boris, we need a pine nut plant (tree? vine? animal?).

You'll Have What We're Having: Soprano's Night

For some reason whenever we go all out with an Italian meal we feel compelled to use the vernacular of Tony and Carmela.  Red sauce = gravy, etc.  Anyways, one of the things I wanted to do before baby boy arrives in (hopefully) 2 or less weeks, was make ravioli again with the ravioli form I received for Christmas.  My last attempt was tasty, but the aforementioned form really helped with the "pillows" being uniform.  I also experimented with a sausage and beef filling which we both really liked.  M decided to take his bread making to a new level and make a "knock off" of a certain Italian chain restaurant's bread and dipping oil.  It was DELICIOUS.  Maybe next time we make this I won't be 9 months pregnant and can enjoy a big glass of Shiraz...

To see the dough rolling process, see here and here, for recipes click below...

Once the dough is rolled out into sheets, the form does all the work... lay a sheet of dough over form, press down pockets with other half of form.  Then fill each pocket with sausage/beef mixture.



Brush around edges with water to "seal" the pockets... Cover the pockets with another sheet of dough.  Take a rolling pin and roll on top of the ravioli starting from the center moving out, the form will then cut the pockets. Turn over and shake em' free.



Cooking it all up...



M's yummy bread...



and dipping sauce makings... (just add olive oil)



Our final product.  Tony & Carm would be proud.



Side note: When we ate the ravioli again for lunch on Sunday, we decided to just toss it with olive oil, dried basil, garlic powder, S&P, rosemary, thyme & Parmesan cheese (all to taste).  This was incredibly quick, and we both agreed we liked it better- you could taste more of the ravioli filling.

Click for recipes...