Artichoke and Sun-Dried Tomato Ravioli

Ok so I have a confession.  Our goal was to try to only go out to eat one night a week, and so far we’re not doing too well.  This week we were going to go out on Friday and then I was going to make ravioli on Saturday.  We ended up going out for dinner on Friday, actually not to Boondoggles pat on back, but then after dinner we thought, well we can either go home and watch the Olympics, or we can go to Bdogs and watch the Olympics, so guess what we did. 

Then on Saturday, Since J would be at work I was going to have all sorts of time to clean the house then prep everything for a big meal of homemade ravioli and was also thinking of attempting to make cannolis.  After breakfast he kind of put a wrench in my plan for the day and decided he didn’t have enough work to do to go in, which I really prefer it just changed my plans.  It was nice because he stayed home and helped me clean the house (Score) and then we were able to hang out all day, but of course he was feeling more like going out Saturday night than my homemade ravioli (I know, I think homemade ravioli sounds pretty amazing too), and I didn’t argue.  So as we were trying to decide where to go to dinner we came up with a few places that sounded good, but only two of them would we be able to watch the Olympics and one was 30 minutes away and the other 5, so to Bdogs we go again.  I swear, twice in one weekend, that's even a lot for us. 

But then on Sunday I actually do get to make my ravioli and for my first time they were pretty good if I do say so myself.  I looked at a couple other recipes to try to figure out filling proportions and ended up being pretty far off.  I ended up with more filling than pasta and made more servings than I thought I was.  I also don’t think my calorie estimate is going to be very accurate today because of all this so today calories don’t exist.

8 oz ricotta cheese

1 cup artichoke hearts, diced

½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced

1 egg, beaten

Salt and pepper to taste

6 sheets of pasta about 2 inches wide rolled to setting 2

1 egg white

Mix the cheese, artichoke hearts, sun-dried tomatoes, whole egg and salt and pepper in a medium bowl until well combined.  After rolling out the pasta lay it on the table and place spoonfuls of filling down it such that there is about 1 inch between each spoonful and they are about ½ inch from the edges.  Paint around the filling with a brush or paper towel dipped in the egg white.  Egg whites are a chef’s glue, this will get the two layers of pasta to stick together.  Take a second sheet of pasta and lay it on top.  Press down around the filling until it feels well sealed then cut in between each one to make the individual raviolis.  Set aside while you prepare the rest but don’t stack them on top of each other or they will stick together.  Once they are all done cook in a pot of boiling water until they float, about 2-4 minutes.  

This ended up making 3 servings and I still had about ¾ cup worth of filling left over, I didn’t do too well on proportions today.

Alone I think these tasted just fine and I don’t really think they needed a sauce, but I made a sage butter sauce anyway.

3 tbs butter, melted

1 tbs chopped fresh sage

That’s it just pour it over the ravioli.  I don’t know that the butter really added a lot, other than calories that I am ignoring today, but I do think the sage did, so you probably could just add a little sage to the filling and get the same effect, I think the sage complimented the filling pretty well.

I served this with a mixed green salad with dried apricots, pecans, and red wine vinegar/olive oil dressing and spaghetti squash (only because I had a craving not because it really went with the meal).

This week groceries were $55 and made 17 meals at $3.23, could be better but not too bad at all.