Ravioli

Ravioli

While not as good as my Godmother's ravioli (I still remember going over to her house as a kid with her spending the day in the kitchen preparing a traditional Italian feast!), these are good enough to make me spend the time preparing multiple batches; freezing some for later use. The use of Won Ton wrappers for the pasta greatly simplifies the process.

Ingredients:

For the pasta:

Square Won Ton wrappers.

For the filling:

Meat (use sausage, ground turkey, hamburger or chopped leftovers). For this batch I used chopped chicken.

Spinach (choose equal amounts of meat and spinach)

Spices (garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, Italian spice) and Parmesan cheese

Bread crumbs and one egg as binder

Olive oil for flavor while cooking

Directions:

If necessary, cook the meat (since I used cooked chicken I didn't need to do this).

Cook the spinach (either heat in a pan or zap in the microwave as directed on the package).

Mix the filling. Place equal amounts of meat and spinach into the bowl. Add about a third of that amount of Parmesan cheese. Spice to taste. Beat and add the egg and then add crumbs as necessary to make the mixture smooth. [Note: On subsequent batches I used a food processor to mix the ingredients and it worked even better--the mix became an easily-used paste.]

Spread some waxed paper out to place finished ravioli on. It helps to sprinkle a bit of cornmeal over the waxed paper to keep the finished ravioli from sticking.

On a flat surface, lay out one Won Ton wrapper. Wet the top surface with water (just use your finger, but you can also use a pastry brush if you really want to). Now, spoon about 3/4 teaspoon full of the mix into the center of the wrapper.

Fold the wrapper point to point, then starting close to the filling press down and seal the edges all around. Try to press as much air out of the ravioli as possible. [Note: You can leave the ravioli as a triangle or, to save space in the freezer and make them easier to handle, you can wet the top surface and then fold each of the points up making a more-or-less box-shaped ravioli.]

Repeat the above until you run out of either the wrappers or the filling. Spreading a little corn meal on the waxed paper helps to keep the ravioli from sticking. You now have a batch of ravioli.

Divide the batch into serving sizes. Freeze the ones you don't plan to immediately cook. I try to keep them separated as much as possible so they don't stick together in the freezer.

To cook, start a pan of water boiling. Add some olive oil to help keep the ravioli from sticking and to add some flavor. When the water boils, add the ravioli one at a time. Stir as you are adding to keep them from sticking to the walls of the pan. Wait until the pan comes back to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes or so. Stir carefully now and again to turn the floating ravioli over so all sides cook evenly.

Drain and serve with your favorite sauce.

Lower Fat:

The majority of the fat in this recipe is in the Parmesan cheese and whatever meat you use. To reduce the fat eliminate the Parmesan cheese and use a low fat chicken or turkey meat. Replace the volume of the cheese with additional spinach and Italian spices. Also, you can use the white only of the egg to further reduce bad fats.

When serving, use a sauce that has no meat in it.

Notes:

You don't have to use all the Won Ton wrappers. If you have some left over lay them out on a greased cookie sheet and sprinkle some sugar on them. Bake at 350 degrees until crisp and brown. Serve for dessert.

If you don't like the extra pasta after folding the Won Ton wrapper you can cut around the filling and trim it off. There is even a ravioli cutter you can use (if you can find one).

If you have extra filling, either divide it up for use the next time you make ravioli and then freeze it or freeze it and add it to the next batch of spaghetti sauce you make.

Before you write, look it up: Ravioli is both the singular and plural form of the word.

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