10-18 Salmon ravioli in creamy lemon asparagus sauce

Our friend Crystal from northern Illinois will be our guest tonight. So, for the sake of our guest, my wife, and myself, I’m making Salmon filled ravioli to be served in cream-asparagus-lemon-butter sauce.



THE FILLING:

Salmon fillet, coarsely chopped
Ricotta cheese
Mascarpone cheese
Fresh dill
Lemon zest

Mix all ingredients loosely in a bowl, then transfer to food processor and pulse to an almost creamy consistency. Add salt and pepper to taste.

THE SAUCE:

Olive oil
Butter
Garlic
Fresh dill
Fresh lemon juice
Asparagus

Cut the asparagus into 1-1 ½ pieces and cook in olive oil w garlic and butter. Add lemon juice, fresh dill, and continue cooking for about 5 minutes. Add cream and butter and stir until slightly thickened. I needed to add a bit of roux to get the thickness I wanted. I also added a bit of mascarpone cheese.

COMMENTS:

Oh my….this was so good. You cannot go wrong with dill and lemon plus butter.

10-9…Ravioli in “Sunday gravy”

I decided to use the homemade ravioli in the freezer so I I’ll have a reason to make another batch soon. I enjoy making the pasta and the challenge of coming up with a creative filling. Since it’s Sunday we’ll have them in sausage based gravy.



INGREDIENTS:

Loose Italian sausage
Olive Oil
Garlic and onion
Fresh Basil and Oregano coarsely chopped
Red pepper flakes
Anchovy paste
Red wine
San Marzano tomatoes

PROCESS:

Brown the sausage, remove, and deglaze the pan with red wine, saving the scraps and juice with the sausage. In olive oil cook the garlic and onions with the anchovy paste and red pepper flakes. Then add the tomatoes and herbs and simmer for 5-10 minutes before adding the sausage. Continue to simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes, adding some red wine about half way through. For a thicker sauce let it simmer longer.

COMMENTS:

One word….. WOW!

9-28…PASTA DISH #100!

Tonight will be our 100th pasta meal since starting this nonsense 5 months ago. After last nights big dinner we will celebrate this milestone rather quietly and with no fan fare.

When Patience gets home from work we will sit down to a dish of ravioli with a light tomato sauce. The ravioli are frozen…from 9-20’s dinner, and the sauce will be fashioned from last night’s leftovers and left over bruschetta.

All very simple and low key…in everything but the taste.

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI MEDLEY…9-5

I woke up this morning knowing that I would try my hand at homemade ravioli. The question was what filling to use, and I decided to experiment with several different ones, using the ingredients on hand. The result was 3 different fillings: Shrimp-salmon, spinach, and beet green pesto. Common to all of them was ricotta cheese and parsley.

I made the fillings first, preparing all the ingredients and then having fun putting things together. Once they were done I placed them in the refrigerator until needed.




Upper left...beet green pesto with ricotta, parmesan cheese, and garlic. Upper right...salmon and shrimp finely chopped with dill lemon zest and lemon juice, and ricotta. Lower...spinach, ricotta, parmesan and parsley.

For the dough I used 3 large eggs and 2 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a dash of salt.

The sauce tonight was leftover creamy tomato sauce from a meal last week.



COMMENTS:

I liked the salmon-shrimp best and Patience's favorite was the spinach. It was a great learning experience for me and I look forward to more homemade stuffed pastas in the future. I think the fillings can be improved, and new ones explored.

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI W CRAB-MUSHROOM FILLING 8-31

A few weeks ago P and I joined the 21st century, tossing out our old “double wide” TV and getting a new flat screen-hi def-and internet savy stuff TV. We also tossed out Comcast for Direct TV with more channels than we will every watch. Why am I telling you this? Because the other I just happened to run across Everyday Italian as Giada De Laurentiis was describing ravioli caprese, in which the dough is made with only flour and water. Since I’ve been thinking about making ravioli for the past few weeks this seemed like something I should try.

I decided on a crab meat-ricotta- mushroom filling with a bit of Romana cheese. The ravioli will be served under a creamy fresh tomato sauce.



INGREDIENTS:

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of very hot water
Crab meant…pre cooked in refrigerated seafood section
Ricotta cheese
Mushrooms, cut into small pieces
Garlic,
Dill
Lemon zest
Fresh tomato sauce…described in recent posts
Heavy whipping cream

PROCESS:

For the filling…Cook the mushrooms and garlic with dill in olive oil and allow to cool. In a bowl combine equal amounts of mushrooms, crab meat, and ricotta cheese and mix well. Add the zest on one lemon to the mix.

For the ravioli…in a large bowl combine the flour and water and mix with spoon until large clumps form. Then work with your hands for several minutes until a large ball of dough is created. Use flour to keep it from becoming to sticky. Divide the dough in half and on a well floured surface, with a well floured rolling pin, roll the dough to a thickness of abour 1/8”. This stage requires some judgment on your part. Place a dollops of filling on the dough, cover by folding over the dough and cut. Some water may be needed if the edges of the dough do not stick.



For the sauce…after warming the sauce transfer to a blender or food processor and pulse until creamy. Return to the pan and add the cream. ( Coconut milk can be substituted for the cream.)

COMMENTS:

The sauce and filling were delicious, but I was severely disappointed in the dough. I thought I rolled it as thin as I could and still have it “workable”, but it was still too heavy and thick, taking away from the the rest of the ingredients. I guess there is a limit to what you can do with just flour and water.

I will make this again…with regular pasta dough!

Note..This was the 81st pasta dinner to close out our first 4 months of pasta!