Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce

This month's theme for Bridget at 350's Flavor of the Month challenge was Pumpkin. I have a great pumpkin bread recipe, but decided to search for something different. For some reason I had raviolis on my brain. I think it's because while we were making wine (we decided to make Pinot Noir) the group at California Wine Works let us read a review regarding a Pinot Noir that was made at CWW. The person went on saying how great it was and that he was enjoying it while eating some mushroom raviolis. My mouth started watering, what could be better than wine and raviolis. So I started looking and came across a recipe for pumpkin raviolis. Perfect!! The funny thing was when I told Mike that I was going to make raviolis, he was like you remember what happened the last time. (He's referring to the time I tried making raviolis from scratch, dough and filling. To make a long and painful story short, we ended up going out for dinner that night). But I told him this recipe calls for wonton wrappers...so no dough making for me.

Pumpkin Ravioli with Gorgonzola Sauce

1 1/4 cups canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons dry breadcrumbs
2 tablespoons fresh grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon minced fresh sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
30 round wonton wrappers
1 tablespoon cornstarch
Cooking Spray
1 cup fat-free milk
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 cup (2 ounces) crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
3 tablespoons chopped walnuts

Spoon pumpkin onto several layers of heavy-duty paper towels, and spread to 1/2 inch thickness. Cover with additional paper towels; let stand 5 minutes. Scrape into a medium bowl, stir in breadcrumbs, Parmesan, salt, minced sage, pepper and nutmeg.

Working with 1 wonton wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers with a damp towel), spoon 1-2 teaspoons pumpkin mixture into the center of wrapper. Brush edges with water and fold in half, pressing edges firmly. Place on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornstarch. Repeat procedure with remaining wonton wrappers and pumpkin mixture.

Fill a large pot with water and bring to a simmer. Add half of ravioli to pan and cook 4 minutes or until done. Remove ravioli with a slotted spoon, lightly coat with cooking spray and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining ravioli.

Combine milk and flour in a saucepan, stirring with a whisk. Bring to a boil; cook for 1 minute or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add butter, stirring until butter melts. Gently stir in Gorgonzola.

Place ravioli on a plate or in a bowl and pour some sauce on top; sprinkle with walnuts.

Enjoy!

My Review: This recipe was really easy to make and I'm definitely going to make it again. Mike even asked for seconds. Too bad I didn't have any left to give him. Oh and we did have wine with them...not a Pinot Noir, but a wine called 7 Deadly Zins. So Good!!!

Sesame Noodle

I am in love...no maybe I should say I am addicted to a blog I have recently found out there called Pioneer Woman. She has a really great blog that covers cooking, photography, home/garden stuff and home schooling. It is really awesome you should check it out...it will change your life.

I have to confess that I had a mommy brain moment because I bought sesame oil for something else and totally forgot what recipe I bought it for. So the other day when I was doing my daily check of what is new on the blog I came across a recipe her recipe for sesame noodles. It looked interesting to me so I saved it in my recipes to try folder.

Simple Sesame Noodles
Pioneer Woman

12 ounces thin noodles, cooked and drained (angel hair, thin spaghetti, or Asian style)
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
3 to 4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 to 3 tablespoons pure sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon hot chile oil (more to taste)
4 to 5 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons hot water
3 to 4 green onions, sliced thin

Whisk all ingredients (except noodles and green onions) together in a bowl. Taste and adjust ingredients as needed.
Pour sauce over warm noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with green onions and toss.

Review: LOVE IT!!! I know it is a good recipe when Mike takes it to work with him the next day. I did not have any thin type pasta so I had to use fettuccine which was good. I also left out the chili oil because I don't think my 3 year old would have liked it but I might add a little next time. I had some fresh broccoli that I added to the mix and a cooked up the one chicken cutlet I had leftover. Overall this is a very easy and yummy recipe to make. Defiantly adding this one to my list...

Chicken with Roasted Asparagus in a Goat Cheese Sauce

The class at King Arthur Flour Company was great!! If you ever have a chance to take a class there I highly recommend it. The class size was 16 people so the instructor was able to walk around and help if you needed it. In our case to check to make sure our dough wasn't to sticky before allowing it to rest. We were all excited when we found out that we would be able to take home what we made (see pictures below, in earlier post). So last night for dinner I made the pasta from the class.

Chicken with Roasted Asparagus in a Goat Cheese Sauce

1 bunch of Asparagus
Olive Oil
2 chicken breast, diced
1 garlic clove
Pasta
1/2 cup of pasta water
4 oz Goat Cheese (I used Herb Goat cheese)

1. Preheat oven to 450 and start your water for the pasta.
2. Cut Asparagus and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook in oven for 10-15 minutes.
3.. While asparagus is in the oven heat pan with a little oil and saute the garlic. Add the chicken and cook until done.
4.. Take Asparagus out of the oven and cut into bit size pieces
5. Cook pasta according to directions, Once done reserve a 1/2 cup of the pasta water. In a separate bowl, mix together goat cheese and pasta water. Stir until cheese has melted. Return pasta back to the pot, along with the chicken, asparagus and the "cheese sauce"

Enjoy!

My review: I can't really review the recipe since I made it up, but the pasta I thought tasted just as good as one that came from a box. I had made a little "box" pasta and mixed it in with the "homemade" pasta. You couldn't taste the difference. Now if it wasn't so time consuming I think I would be making it myself all the time. Of course I would first have to get a pasta machine, but I think I would make it again for very special occasions.

1st Annual KAF Weekend!

It has been a desire of mine for many years now to take a class at The King Arthur Flour Baking Education Center in Norwich, VT. I was trying to think when I fell in love with their products but it has been for a while now.

The way this weekend came to be is sort of a bittersweet tale because it was suppose to be our annual girl's weekend away. Unfortunately it proved to be super hard to get the 5 of us together on one weekend. To make a long story short when I called up to found out information about available classes last week...this past weekend was the only one available to us. So Heidi, Jenn and myself packed our bags and headed up to Vermont for the weekend.

We were able to get the last spots in their Pasta Primavera class that was on Sunday. We learned to make 2 different recipes for pasta dough and 3 different shapes of pasta. I am going to show you will the pictures Jenn took of how to make the pasta and their shapes.

The ingredients for the pasta dough is very simple: Flour (we used two different types AP and Durum Flour) and Eggs. In the class we put them into a bowl because our teacher informed us that they have had run away eggs which created a big mess. When we are home she told us we could do this right on the place where you will knead the dough after it is mixed.



After kneading the dough for about 10 minutes until it is soft and not sticky. It must rest for at least 15-30 minutes.


Once the dough has rested you will knead it again with the help of a pasta machine. Our teacher told us what the "rule" is for cutting the dough into a more manageable size is...the amount of eggs you used in making the dough is the number of pieces to cut it too. Since we made a 2 egg dough we cut the dough in half to give us 2 pieces. You put the machine on the number 1 setting (largest size) and run it through 8 times. Each time you folding the dough in half and crank it though. Then after that you start to stretch the dough...working from 1 to setting 9 on the pasta machine but this time you don't fold the dough in half.

Once you have the dough to the correct thickness you cut out your shapes for raviolis or you run the dough through the cutters for fettuccine or spaghetti.

Our teacher told us of a place in Italy that is famous for a ravioli shaped in a hen which is what we tried to recreate in the class...Jenn was brave to try that shape out...while Heidi and I stuck to the boring round ravioli shape. We filled our ravioli with roasted asparagus and cheese...the way it was served in Italy was with a poached egg yolk in the middle of the filling.

You cook the ravioli in a soft boil more like a high simmer so they won't break apart. We got to try ours with a little bit of a brown butter sauce and some bread.

The next pasta we made is called Garganelli which is shape resembles penne. The dough is made the same way but has an added ingredient of some parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in it. The only step that is different is the shaping.


You cut a square out of the dough that is 2x2 in size which you can do with either a cutter or a pizza cutter.


Then you use a gnocci board and a dowel to shape it into the penne like shape: Lay the pasta square diagonally on the board and place the dowel at the corner of the pasta square. Curl the corner of the pasta square facing you around the dowel and, with a gentle downward pressure, push the dowel away from you and off the board. The pasta will slide right off the dowel when you tilt it.

Baked Rigatoni Cake

So I was in search for a meatless recipe for our Lent observing friends. What came to mind was a pasta "pie". A friend of my had made a spaghetti pie once that was really good, but of course the one recipe I found that I wanted to try had meat. Sorry! It's called Bake Rigatoni Cake.

Bake Rigatoni Cake

• 1 pound rigatoni pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound ground meat , (beef, pork, or turkey)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• Butter, for pan
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Bring a large pot of water to a boil; add salt. Add pasta; cook until slightly underdone. Drain, rinse in cold water, and drain.Toss pasta with 1 tablespoon oil to coat. Set aside.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper. Cook 2 minutes more. Add tomatoes; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes.
3. Butter a 9-inch springform pan.Toss pasta with Parmesan cheese. Tightly pack pasta into pan, standing each piece on end.

4. Spread 2 cups meat sauce on top of pasta, pushing it into holes. Bake 15 minutes. Sprinkle mozzarella on top. Bake until cheese is pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes more. Remove from oven, and let stand 15 minutes. Run a knife around edge to loosen; unmold. Cut into wedges. Serve with remaining sauce.

My Review: This was really easy to make and was really good. Mike and I had it with a nice a bottle of wine. Definitely something good to make for a family gathering. The sauce makes enough for two cakes. I only made one so I froze the remaining sauce for another time. I told Mike that I was going to make this for him when he goes hunting because it's something you can make ahead of time and then reheat. The only thing that I did differently was I didn't use the tablespoon of oil to cook the meat, oh and I drained the meat after cooking it. Enjoy!