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!

Ragu Begone!

There is something genuinely satisfying about chopping up a bunch of vegetables. It's kind of like chopping up a whole chicken successfully, yet different.

Some time last year I stopped buying spaghetti sauce. Some time Saturday night, between bar stops, my best batch of sauce yet was created. There is still a notch out of my left index finger to prove it.

Super Chunky Pasta Sauce

Heat a splash of olive oil in a deep skillet. Add 5-6 large cloves of garlic as finely chopped as you can manage (without adding fingers to the skillet), 1/2 onion chopped, 1/2 green pepper chopped, 1/2 red pepper chopped, a handful of fresh mushrooms thick sliced (baby bellas!), 1/4 cup fresh oregano finely chopped, 1/4 cup fresh parsely finely chopped and 1/4 cup fresh basil finely chopped. If you don't have the fresh versions of the herbs use a few good teaspoons of dried. Salt and pepper it all to taste.

Once you've got your saute on and everything smells great and is tender, dump in a couple of cans (15 oz size) of fire-roasted chopped tomatoes (don't drain) and a small can of tomato paste (the teeny tiny can). You "could" run the tomatoes through a food processor to smooth them out if you wanted, but seriously...why? Let it all simmer together on low heat while you get the rest of the meal together!

Great on gnocchi, ravioli, any pasta, and for my gluten-free friends - just add to some nicely cooked chicken! Actually if I was eating it straight with chicken maybe a splash or two of red pepper flakes would be nice to wake it up a bit?

Pork: The Other White Meat

Finally back to cooking! Friday night involved me caving in on a Subway promise that's been lingering for about two weeks. Last night was grocery shopping, and the subsequent frozen pizza when you get home. But the weekend involved this:



Paprika Pork

Saute 3 cups of chopped bell peppers of various colors in a pan coated with cooking spray for about 5 minutes. Remove from pan. Coat pan again with cooking spray and add in approximately 1 pound of pork loin chopped in 1 inch pieces. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and brown pork on all sides - about 4 minutes. Stir in 4 teaspoons of paprika and cook 1 minute longer. Add 1 1/2 cups of a red wine pasta sauce, 1 cup of water, and the peppersinto the pan. Bring to a boil - reduce heat and simmer for about 25 minutes. Sprinkle again with salt and pepper to taste. Serve over egg noodles.

Very tasty and just a little spicey with the paprika. Very easy as well. I think frozen bell peppers pre-chopped would work just as well too and save some time (and possibly money), and chicken would also be good in this dish.

Thanks to http://www.cookinglight.com/ for the recipe idea.