Home-made raviolis using wonton wraps! Who knew?...

I don't know about you, but I absolutely love fresh, home made pasta, but I have to tell you, it definitely takes time.   And, on a Wednesday night at 6:00, I don't have a lot of time, so I discover this incredible plan of using wonton wraps as ravioli pasta.  From all I read, it sounded like a winner, so I decided to try it.  

First you want to get your sauce cooking.  Open a large can of stewed tomatoes, and put in a sauce pan.  Add one cut up Vidalia onion, and 2 smashed garlic cloves.  Cover and simmer on low until the raviolis are done.

I made the filling with about 2 cups of ricotta cheese, about two good-sized handfuls of fresh spinach that I cut up, a handful of fresh parsley and fresh basil, a sprinkle of onion powder and garlic powder, and salt and pepper.

I cooked 6 sweet Italian sausage that I took the casing off of and broke up. I add about 3/4 of it to the filling, the rest I will add to the sauce...

I had about a cup of Monterrey Jack cheese, so I added that, along with some shredded Parmesan cheese.  I beat one egg and dumped that in.  Oh, and don't forget fresh parsley and fresh basil.   These are key to the amazing flavor!

All you have to do now is stuff the raviolis....   I have to say, this was not difficult, but it was time-consuming, so pour yourself a nice glass of red, and get comfortable....

Get a wonton wrap, place a small portion of the filling, paint the sides with an egg white wash, fold over and press together.  That's it!  Very easy....

Get your large pan half full of water and bring to a boil.  Add a splash of olive oil, and when boiling, throw in your ravioli and cook for 5 minutes.

Take your sauce off of the heat, use a hand-blender, and blend the tomato/onion mixture.  Add some fresh chopped parsley and basil, and let simmer. 

When the ravioli is done,  spoon on to your serving dish and ladle sauce over them so they won't stick together.  Sprinkle with some Parmesan cheese.

The only thing left to do is eat them.  And, I can't wait to hear what you think!  Everyone here could not believe how delicious they were!  

I have to agree that they were really yummy!  and the possibilities of what you could use for a filling are endless....shrimp, lamb and mint, or what about steak and cheese?  Enjoy.

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Would you believe Pumpkin, Langostino, and Ginger soup with yummy corn muffins?

I think you will enjoy the story about the construction of my soup....it took me two days to make it, which in my book, is a record!  Normally it would have been made and ate in one night, but I had a little trouble with one of the ingredients, which is what caused it take so long... read on and find out!

So, here's how to start this.  I chopped one Vidalia onion and cooked it in the soup pot with a couple of tablespoons of butter.  To this, I added about a 2 inch piece of ginger (peeled and chopped) 4 ribs of celery, 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped, 2 whole garlic cloves, and approximately 5 carrots,  chopped as well. The original recipe called for pumpkin cut up, but I couldn't find any, so substituted the squash.

 

So far, everything is going smoothly...  I now add 2 boxes of chicken broth, a cup of white wine, one can of coconut milk, and a can of pumpkin.  If you can find lobster broth, use that instead of the chicken broth.   I let all of this simmer for a while.  The last things to add are 3 tbs of brown sugar, 1 tbs Worcestershire sauce and a cup of creme fraiche.  I don't know about where you are, but I can never find this, so I googled it and it turns out you can make it easily.  It's a combination of buttermilk and heavy cream. Unfortunately it takes over night for the result to thicken enough.  So, I decided sour cream would do the trick, so I substituted that.

Now comes the trouble.... I needed to add 2 cups of heavy cream. I had a small container of cream, just shy of what I needed, so I supplemented with milk I had in the fridge.  When I dumped the second cup into my soup pot, the whole thing began to curdle....... Can you believe it?  I just stood there, my jaw was on the floor, and my mind is racing with what to do to save the soup!                                                                                                                          

I decide my next plan of action was to drain out all of the liquid from my pot, and start over again, not losing all of the squash, carrots, celery, and onion.  I rinsed everything off and started over again with the 2 boxes of chicken broth, and the rest of the ingredients.  I found that I needed to add a lot more ginger to get the flavor back.  I just kept tasting the soup and adding whatever I thought it needed.  I even added a few sprinkles of cayenne pepper for a little heat.  I had fresh light cream that I hesitantly poured into my pot.  Luckily nothing bad happened, and it actually looked beautiful.  I quickly added my whole package of langostinos (which took the place of the required lobster meat...you could add either shrimp or lump crab meat) and let the flavors meld together...

This soup came out good, despite the horrible curdling effect!  The flavors were really delicious.  This particular recipe was one where I did a lot of substituting.   Was this as good as the original recipe would have been?  I'm not quite sure.  What I do know, is that the substitutions I made didn't seem to affect the end result.  I had a soup made with butternut squash as opposed to pumpkin, chicken broth instead of lobster broth, and langostinos instead of lobster, and sour cream instead of creme fraiche, and it was to die for! 

I decide that corn muffins are in order, so I find a great recipe on line:

Ingredients

3 c	flour
1 c	corn meal
1 1/2 c	sugar
2 Tbsp	baking powder
1 tsp	salt
2/3 c	oil
1/3 c	butter, melted
4	egg, beaten
2 1/2 c	half and half

 Mix flour, corn meal, sugar, baking powder, and salt.

 Add oil, butter, eggs, and half and half. Fold gently, until just moistened. Pour into muffin tins.

 Bake 45 minutes, or until lightly browned.

These muffins were delicious with the soup.  Very moist and flavorful!  Great meal.....

Yet another one-pan delicious pasta dinner!

I went on line to see if I could find a really interesting, different recipe for making a pasta dish.  I must have scrolled through 20 pages of possibilities, but nothing peaked my interest.  So I shut off the computer and reverted to my head, my heart, and my pantry and think I came up with  a really delicious meal.  Yes, it does have a familiar cast of characters..... sweet sausage, tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and pasta, but somehow I was able to put a different twist on it.

                                                                                                              I removed all the casings from 6 sweet Italian sausages and browned and browned them.  I chopped up on Vidalia onion and sauteed it along with 2-3 chopped garlic cloves.   After draining off the excess fat, I add quite a bit of fresh basil and parsley, cut up cherry tomatoes, and a can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped.  All that's left is salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, and some Parmesan cheese.

Well, actually, here is where the new twist comes in....I decide that instead of adding the usual mayonnaise to sort of tie everything together, I opted for about a 1/2 cup of this really delicious garlic Caesar dressing.  Once that is mixed in, I cut up about six or seven slices of fresh mozzarella into cubes and fold them into the hot pasta.

  It's kind of cool how they just soften enough and begin to get just a little bit stringy....

Well, there you have it.  The flavors were just fantastic probably because I used fresh basil and parsley. It makes a big difference and is well worth the extra trip to the grocery store!

This meal is for the ribeye steak and potatoes lovers....

I am going to share with you the best way to have tender, juicy, flavorful steak....effortlessly!  Put whatever steak you are cooking in a large pan.  Sprinkle liberally with sea salt and let sit on the counter, room temperature, for at least an hour.  Turn the steak over, re-salt, and let sit for another hour.  Just before you are ready to grill the steak, rinse it off and dry well.  The only seasoning added was some garlic powder and Montreal Steak Seasoning.  That's it.  This steak has so much flavor on it's own, you don't want to mask it.  I pre-heat the grill to high, and put the steaks on.  Close the cover and walk away for 8 minutes.    Now it's time to open the grill and flip the steaks.  They now only need 5 more minutes to come out medium rare.  If you want them more well-done, leave them on for a total of about 10 minutes on the second side.  Don't forget that they will cook a little bit longer after they have been removed from the grill.

Now for the garlic mashed potatoes.  If this were a weekend night, I would probably boil some potatoes, mash them and season them....but it is a weekday night and I don't have the time or the patience to go the extra mile, so listen up.  This is one of my trademarks....one of my secrets!  I whip up a bunch of Potato Buds...and season them.  I have never, ever, had someone ask me if the potatoes were made from a mix....they just taste that good!  

I start by following the back of the box instructions, but instead of using water, I use chicken broth.  I add butter and 2 crushed fresh garlic cloves.  Once the broth and milk come to a boil, I turn it off and add the Potato Buds.  Whisk everything together, then it's time for a little magic.  I add about 1/2 cup of sour cream, about half of a large block of cream cheese, and a handful of Parmesan cheese.  I also add salt, pepper, and some garlic powder.  All of these ingredients are what make these instant mashed potatoes taste like fresh mashed potatoes.

 The only other ingredient to this dinner was to cook up a bag of frozen corn, to which I added some butter, salt, and pepper.







The steak melted in your mouth, and the potatoes were perfect.  All in all, it was a total success.