Cheater's Ravioli Two ways:

Cheater's Ravioli Two ways:

 I love ravioli, unfortunately most of the ingredients on the pre-made, frozen variety found in the local super market are unpronounceable. This means my very unpredictable constitution cannot handle such diversity of ingredients. In plain terms, I like to know what is in my food.

What's that you say? Ravioli's are to difficult to make? To time consuming? To much work?  Not when you cheat. There are three wonderful items that make creating a ravioli dinner simpler than you thought. 

1. A cookie dough scoop
2. A blender of some sort
3. A package of Dim sum wrappers (you can use wonton wrappers but they cook a bit translucent)

 I made two kinds, and I made a lot. The dim sum wrappers come in 100 count packages and I made 2 packs worth (they freeze wonderfully for later use, so make a lot).

The first was a vegetarian version stuffed with eggplant tapenade (recipe below) that I had canned over the summer. The second was a pork and smoked apple-wood Gouda stuffed ravioli.  I also made two separate sauces to complement each kind.

 Eggplant Tapenande Filling:

Preheat your oven to 350°

Take the eggplant and cut the ends off. Then slice each in half.

Onions - one large onion per 4 eggplants. 

I used a variety of different types of eggplants for this. What ever you have on hand works.

One head of garlic per two onions

Cut the onions into quarters and just cut the tops off of the garlic heads.

All of this to a baking dish and add some salt and drizzle with olive oil

Place your baking pans in the preheated oven and bake until all vegetables are very soft about 30-40 minutes.

Put the soft vegetables in a food processor and process until you have a paste. Keep going until all of the vegetables have been processed.

Add salt to taste.

Add about a tsp of hot pepper flakes (or more if you like)

Prepare your jars for pressure canning.

Put the "tapenade" in half pint jars leaving 1/2" head space.

Follow the directions of your pressure canner, processing the jars for 85 minutes at 10lbs pressure

When I open the jars I squeeze a bit of fresh lemon juice in and stir it in. It really brightens the flavor.

This is not the prettiest food you will ever can but it is tasty.

 To Fill the Ravioli

Thaw the dim sum wrappers and place on a plate. Get your trusty cookie scoop and a paint brush. (A clean, never touched actual paint, brush)

Line a baking pan with wax paper. Have a small bowl of warm water and egg white mixed and ready.

Place one scoop of the tapenade in each dimsum wrapper. Use the brush to put a thin layer of water/egg onto one half of the wrapper edge. Fold the wrapper over carefully pressing to make sure there are no air bubbles. Air bubbles lead to exploding ravioli.

Place in a single layer on the wax paper. At this point they are ready to cook or freeze. I recommend freezing them flat. Then placing them into a baggie for storage. To cook them place into salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Top with sauce and off you go.

I usually make these while watching a movie. It goes faster. It is a bit time consuming but at least there is no dough to make and when you are finished you have many meals worth.

I served these with my home made pasta sauce.

Pork and Gouda Ravioli

Ingredients:

1lb pork loin, fat removed
2 cloves garlic
2 tbs parmesean
salt/pepper to taste
1 egg
1 scallion
1/2 cup riccotta
1 block of smoked apple-wood Gouda, chunked. 

Reserve the Gouda, then throw all the remaining ingredients in a blender and make a nice pink paste.

To Fill the Ravioli:

Thaw the dim sum wrappers and place on a plate. Get your trusty cookie scoop and a paint brush.

Line a baking pan with wax paper. Have a small bowl of warm water and egg white mixed and ready.

Place one scoop of the pinkish goop in each dim sum wrapper. Add a slice of Gouda about the size of a quarter. Try to not have to many edges or you could poke a hole in your ravioli. (If your really feeling lazy you could just shred and add the Gouda in with the rest of the ingredients.) Use the brush to put a thin layer of water/egg onto one half of the wrapper edge. Fold the wrapper over carefully pressing to make sure there are no air bubbles. Air bubbles lead to exploding ravioli.

Place in a single layer on the wax paper. At this point they are ready to cook or freeze. I recommend freezing them flat. Then placing them into a baggie for storage. To cook them place into salted boiling water for about 8 minutes. Top with sauce and off you go.

I usually make these while watching a movie. It goes faster. It is a bit time consuming but at least there is no dough to make.

I served this with a lemon Parmesan sauce. I would love to share but I honestly don't have a recipe. It involves a lot of butter, a little lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, and some parsley. But I have also eaten them with strait up pasta sauce. Or just a bit of melted butter and lemon. Its good no matter what.