Butternut Squash Ravioli

Although this recipe is NOT hard, it is a bit time consuming. It's exactly the type of cooking I wait all week for...my weekend therapy. The most important thing to remember is I think it will be a pretty forgiving dish. You won't mess it up!

A run down of ingredients will include:

1 pkg of wonton wrappers (mine had about 48 and it was perfect)

1 butternut squash

8oz of your favorite fresh mushrooms

Pine nuts

bacon, pancetta, or not (I used about 3 slices of centercut bacon)

Chicken stock

cream (optional)

Bread Crumbs

Garlic

1 Egg

Parmesan Cheese

Salt, Pepper, Nutmeg, Flour, Butter

First things first - get the squash sawed in half and scoop out the seeds. Season with salt and pepper. Coat a pan with a small amount of olive oil and place the squash flesh side down. Roast at about 400 degrees...until it's done. It will probably take 30-45 minutes.

In the mean time crisp the bacon or pancetta if you opt to use it. Pull it out of your frying pan and drain almost all of the grease out, but leave a bit for the sauce you will make later. By a bit I mean just what coats the bottom of it. You will also want to toast a handful - like 1/4 cup - of pine nuts in a small skillet. Shake the skillet often so they do not burn! Use a small chopper to finely chop them - not so they are ground up, but slightly chunky still.

In a bowl - scoop out one of the squash halves. Save the other for another time. Add in 1 egg, a handful of bread crumbs (1/4 cup-ish), handful of parmesan, sprinkle of nutmeg-salt-pepper, half the pine nuts you chopped, half of the bacon or pancetta, and a few mushrooms finely chopped.

Place one wonton wrapper down - top with a tablespoon of filling (hello cookie dough scoop!), wet the edges with your finger dipped in water - and then top with a second wonton wrapper. Place on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray so they don't stick. I'd also suggest maybe staying in a single layer.

Once you have all of the ravioli made, prepare a large pot of water and a dash of olive oil to heat on the stove on med-high heat. You don't actually want a full boil for cooking the ravioli.

While waiting, heat back up your skillet you used to cook the bacon. Add a (generous) tablespoon or so of butter into the pan. Slice up the rest of the mushrooms and finely chop 1-2 cloves of garlic and add to the pan to saute for a few minutes. Toss in a handful of flour - probably not a 1/4 cup this time, but more like a few tablespoons. It should make a thick paste with the oils you have in the pan for sauteing. Using a whisk or a spatula slowly start to work in some chicken broth. Add it slowly until you find a consistency you are happy with. Slightly runny is good for this use. Dump back in the rest of the bacon and pine nuts, and finish with a splash of cream if you'd like.

Sometime half-way through making happy sauce, the water should start to simmer good. If it starts to boil turn it down a bit. Drop the ravioli in a few at a time - depending on the size of your pot. I could fit about 6 in mine. They will only need to cook about 3 minutes, and then use a large slotted spoon to raise back out of the pan. Place on a large serving platter. If you need to layer them you should coat them with a bit of oil to prevent sticking - I used some olive oil cooking spray. Top with a bit of sauce (a little goes a long way!) and parmesan cheese, have some nice salad and bread on the side and enjoy!

Drunken Noodles!

I had never eaten Thai food until probably about two years ago. I was driving around with my accomplice and he suggested it. I said, "I don't know about no Thai food, just Ty food, like chicken nuggets!" Needless to say it was an addictive good time. Now my "Ty food" collection has grown to include meats cooked with spicy peanut sauce. He loves it. Might have to test out these noodles on him next!

Besides playing with some peanut sauce now and then I never attempted to actually cook Thai food. It seemed like it would be complicated. Boy was I wrong!

I found a relatively easy looking recipe for Drunken Noodles yesterday, and altered it to make it make sense to me. Delish!

Cook 6-8 oz flat rice noodles according to package directions. It should involve some form of soaking. I couldn't find the wide noodles, and used the skinny kind. The box told me to boil some water - add the noodles - shut the heat off and let them soak for 3 minutes - rinse - set aside.

In a small bowl, combine 4 T. soy sauce, 2T. oyster sauce, and 2 tsp. brown sugar. Set aside for later.

Heat 1 T. canola oil in a large skillet or wok over medium high heat. This is the part you could add your favorite meat or some tofu and cook, then set aside until the end. I made mine just with veggies and had some chicken with peanut sauce on the side.

Add 4-5 minced garlic cloves and saute for about 15 seconds. Add a sprinkle of red pepper flakes (take it easy - you can always add more!), 1 small head of broccoli chopped into small florets, 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion, and a handful of pea pods. (This is the part where you make it yours with favorite veggies. Carrots, celery, mushrooms, peppers, etc. - whatever is tasty!) Stir fry the veggies about a minute.

Next you add in that sauce from above, the noodles, a couple good handfuls of bean sprouts, a very good handful of Thai Basil coarsely chopped, and reserved meat or tofu from above if you choose to have it, and stir fry all together for another 1-2 minutes, until veggies are tender crisp.

Thai Basil was new to me, and I was certain I was not going to be able to find it. Low and behold it was there. It is definitely different from traditional basil, although the recipe said you could use traditional basil if you couldn't find the Thai. I'm not convinced of this, but I know where I can find Thai Basil now!