Things started off a little rough, because I wanted to make a spinach and mushroom filling with Ricotta cheese, but found that my spinach and mushrooms had sadly gone bad before I could use them. This started a refrigerator binge, and I decided to clean out the whole thing. But in doing this, I found some squash and zucchini that needed to be used before it went bad, as well as a shallot. Woohoooo! So I peeled, and chopped the squash, zucchini and shallot, and then also minced 2 gloves of garlic just for good measure...you can't have ravioli without garlic, right? After chopping everything, I threw all of  the veggies into a skillet with a little bit of Olive oil, salt and pepper, and then just let them get soft. While they were working in the pan I took out 2 bowls and 2 eggs. In one bowl I cracked the egg and beat it with about a teaspoon of water. This was going to be the egg wash that I would need to seal my ravioli together. I then cracked an egg into the other bowl and about a cup of ricotta cheese, salt and pepper, and then just stirred to combine everything together. After the veggies were beautifully cooked, I let them cool for a bit before adding them to my Ricotta mixture. Once they were combined into the cheese it was time to assemble the ravioli. I laid about 8 wonton wrappers out on a cutting board and by dipping my finger into the egg wash, I was then able to rub all around the outside of each of the wrappers. If you have a pastry brush, you could use that instead of your fingers, but my kitchen is pretty minimal with gadgets, so I just used what I had. :) The next step is to take about a teaspoon of your cheese and veggie mixture and place it in the center of the wrappers. This is where you can now decide what shape you would like your ravioli to be. I did some where I took another wonton wrapper (which had also been egg washed) and placed it on top of the filling, and I did some where I just folded the wrapper so that it made a triangle. 

Once you have done enough ravioli's you can start to drop them into boiling salty water. You want to take a spoon a and stir the pot before you put the ravioli in so that you make a whirlpool, as you are stirring you can then drop in your ravioli. Whatever leftovers you may have can be placed on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment, and then covered in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator before they are cooked. Let the ravioli cook until it has floated up to the top of the pot (about 2-3 minutes) This can then be served with a brown butter sauce, vodka sauce, or any sauce that you may like.

Ingredients List:

2 eggs

1 cup Ricotta Cheese

1 zucchini 

1 squash

1 shallot

WonTon wrappers

Garlic

Salt and Pepper

Sauce

First Thoughts: This looks like old bologna, and smells like dogfood....maybe this was a bad decision....

Upon tasting I realized that if you could get over the look and smell, you were good to go, because this was delicious. I would say that it is even better than the chicken sandwich meat! I use this just as I would normal sandwich meat, but I feel much better about sticking to not eating poor animals. (and I am sure the tofu was treated more fairly and in better conditions)

Star rating: I would give this 4.5 stars - the only reason it didn't get 5 was because of the smell :)

 

There is one show in particular that is called Cooks Country. This is a show that is set in a test kitchen. They go over all sorts of recipes and figure out how to perfect them. My husband and I were watching one day as they were making popovers. Here is where I am about to be VERY embarrassed. Not only have I never heard or eaten a popover, but I also had no idea that they were one of my husbands favorite foods! 

 

 

 

Vegetable Shortening

2 Cups low fat milk, warmed

3 tbsp unsalted butter

2 cups bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar