Ham and Swiss Ravioli March 18, 2008

I saw this recipe on the food network while watching Ultimate Recipe Showdown-Pasta. It was the winning stuffed pasta recipe and it was FAB! A pain in the balls, but definately worth it. Next time Im going to use the filling to make stuffed shells instead of battling with those damn wonton wrappers. This is definately not a weeknight meal. It took me an hour just to get Andy’s serving to him, and another 10 minutes to cook mine. Really annoying. Anyway here it is:

 Make sure you make half of the filling for a pack of wonton shells. I didn’t even use half, but maybe my pack of wonton shells was small or something? It was weird. I also added a couple tablespoons of ricotta, just because Next time I will be using the filling for stuffed shells so I will probably still make half per box of shells.

1 pound sliced cooked ham, small dice
1 pound domestic Swiss cheese, (buy the shredded)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 teaspoon salt, plus more for cooking water
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese 1 package square wonton wrappers1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons water, reserved in small bowl

Mix ham, cheese, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper, eggs, and Parmesan in a medium bowl until well mixed. On a dry cutting board, place 1 wonton wrapper. Use 3/4 to 1 teaspoon of filling and brush the edges of the wrapper with egg/water mixture. Place a second wonton wrapper on top and press edges to seal, pushing out any air bubbles. Use ravioli cutter to trim edges or leave in a square (definately don’t leave it square, use a cookie cutter, or a glass to punch it out).Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil. Add salt, to taste, after it begins to boil. Gently place ravioli into the water and return to a gentle boil until ravioli rise to the top, about 4 to 6 minutes (more like 2-3) Use spider or slotted spoon to remove ravioli from the water and serve with your favorite sauce, or serve with butter and grated Parmesan. Enjoy!

I made this sauce for it from allrecipes.com

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 1/2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes, then add garlic and cheese and whisk quickly, heating through. Stir in parsley and serve.

**I added a little bit extra cream, and a little less cheese, I wanted it to be thin.

Seafood Alfredo March 14, 2008

I got this recipe from Cooking Light, but modified it quite a bit, so here is what I did:

Take 1.5 tbsp of butter and melt it with a little bit of EVOO in a skillet. Thinly slice about a cup of green onion and crush maybe 4-6 cloves of garlic. Let that all simmer until the onions are tender. Then add shrimp to the pan and let them cook through (your call on how much, I think I added maybe 20 small shrimp)…add 1 can of crabmeat (or fresh crab) and let that all simmer all together for a couple minutes after adding some S&P. Now add 1 pint of half and half and stir (I added about 1/2 cup of milk to this too). Here I added a tsp of cornstarch after disolving it in some water, but I suggest waiting until after you add the cheese to do this, cause it ended up being thicker than I would have liked. Add about 1 cup of parm cheese, I used the shredded Kraft parm cheese that comes in the bag. Stir until creamy and adjust S&P… Pour over pasta of choice and enjoy!

 Its a good base for the sauce. I think Im going to try it next time with Fat Free Half and Half to make it a little healthier. The green onions and garlic really gave it a punch of flavor. I think I might try it with some chicken, peas and mushrooms (per Andy’s request) next time!