Monday, March 17, 2008

Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce

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There are weekends and then there are weekends. Of late, the day after I arrived from my Chennai trip, I was told that I would be moving to handle a new business for the organisation. Though it was something I had handled before in the company, the only difference this time being that it was not looking too good and almost everybody was looking at its numbers on a daily basis (read CEO's ). That day was the beginning of the end ...atleast for my spare time. Numerous crazy, 18 hour days followed, days turned into weeks and finally a month. With some sanity coming back to things, I decided to take an extended break...a luxurious 3 day off. I spent the time catching on some much sought sleep :), a lot of golf and quality time with the family. One of the main events of this quality time was the "cook a meal for your wife" day.
After a long time, I finally decided to don the chef cap and cook some exotic fare. It wasn't an elaborate meal, a just right trio of main course, the accompaniment and a 'to-die-for' dessert to round things off.
The menu for the evening was,
Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce
Mint Potatoes
Strawberry Cheesecake with Strawberry Coulis
Could have tossed in some garlic bread but then that would have meant to sacrifice a round of golf :)

To start with Ravioli is a stuffed pasta whose name is derived from the verb ravvolgere (meaning 'to wrap').

Heart Shaped Cheese Mushroom Ravioli in Herbed Tomato Sauce

Ingredients:

For the Pasta:
Refined Flour - 1 Cup
Egg - 1
Salt - a Pinch
Water - To knead into a dough

For the Filling:
Garlic, minced - 4-5 cloves
Onions,finely chopped - 2
Mushrooms, finely chopped - 5-6
Cheese - 10 gm
Olives - 5-6
Black Pepper- 2 tsp
Chilli Flakes - 2 tsp
Salt - To Taste
Olive Oil - 2 Tsp

For the Sauce:
Tomato, concasse - 5-6 No.s
Tomato Paste - 1/2 Cup
Onion, finely chopped - 1 Cup
Garlic, minced - 6 cloves
Basil - 1 Tblsp
Thyme - 1/4 Tsp
Oregano - 1 Tsp
Tarragon - 1/2 Tsp
Black Pepper - 1 Tblsp
Parmesan Cheese, grated - 1/2 cup
Salt - To Taste
Olive Oil - 2 Tblsp

Method:

Make the pasta dough:

1. Combine the ingredients.
2. Knead until a firm & smooth dough forms.
3. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour.

Make the ravioli filling
1. Heat oil in a pan.
2. 2. Add Onions & garlic. Saute till onions turn translucent.
3. Add in the mushrooms and cook till they are done.
4. Add in the grated cheese, olives, chilli flakes, black pepper and salt.
5. Mix well and cook for another 2 minutes. The filling is ready

Make the sauce:
1. Heat Olive Oil in a non-stick skillet.
2. Add Onions, garlic, thyme, basil, tarragon & oregano.
3. Cook till onions turn tender. (5 minutes)
4. Add tomatoes & tomato paste. Bring to a boil.
5. Add in water, black pepper, salt & grated cheese. Simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes.

Make the ravioli
1. Roll the dough into thin sheets.
2. Arrange tablespoon-size dollops of the filling 1 1/2" apart on one of the sheets.
3. Brush a little egg white around each dollop, then place another sheet directly on top.
4. Gently press around the filling to remove any air pockets and seal the sheets.
5. Using a cutter or a knife, cut out ravioli squares or shapes that you want. ( I used a heart shaped cookie cutter)
6. Sprinkle with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.

Cooking the ravioli
1. Boil water with salt and a few drops of oil added to it.
2. Cook the ravioli in plenty of boiling salted water until they float to the top, 3 to 4 minutes.
3. Take out and Drain well.
4. Toss with the tomato sauce.
5. Garnish sprinkled with some fresh parsley. Serve.

Note :
1. The tomato sauce is the basic way to make it. I ended up using the short cut by using Prego. You can do the same by using either Prego or Ragu.
2. Another thing that I tried out was using cream cheese in the filling.

9 comments:

jayasree said...

Lovely looking Raviolis. Ur wife is indeed very lucky. Cooking up a meal, inspite of a very tight schedule, shows ur passion to cooking. Gr8 work.

Srivalli said...

now that is something we will love...cook a meal for your wife should not be just one day ok...ravioli looks good..

Unknown said...

Ravioli looks really nicely done! A nice meal!

Anonymous said...

sounds good...and cooked by someone you love makes it all the more delightful....way to go gaurav!!

Gaurav said...

Thanks a ton! Already got me thinking on what to do next weekend.
Jayasree - lovely looking and tasting good too! Cooking is a great stress reliever believe me! Have tried it out so many times and it works.
Srivalli - If it becomes a daily thing...then it'll be the run of the mill stuff. On other thoughts, Plan to do a cook a meal for your wife day for all bloggers. All female bloggers should ask their spouses to cook up for one day :)
Divya - Thanks ...yes its a great filling meal. You can experiment with different fillings.
Arundati - Thanks ...the heart shaped cutters was something I picked up at Q-Mart ..good buy!

Mansi said...

that looks delicious! I made raviolis some time back, and I'm dying to try a sweet version now:)

btw Gaurav, it's be great if you could participate in the WBB-Balanced Breakfasts event I'm hosting on my blog this month:)

Cham said...

Cooking a meal to ur wife , Lucky women in the earth.... Only few i can say .... Wife doesn't expect any fancy meal, even a simplest rasam would be highly appreciated... Ok,i will stop here. The ravioli shows how much u enjoy being a chef . Bravo!

Laavanya said...

Making pasta from scratch is cool and what is even more fundoo is cooking for your wife. So, where are these classes you propose to host to train husband to do something similar? Please let me know so I can sign my husband up.
First time in your blog and I must say it's fabulous.

Gaurav said...

Mansi, the entry for the Balanced Breakfasts will be there :)

Cham, I'm sure there have been moments ... atrlast a hold on, I'll get you a glass of coke ones:)

Laavanya, no classes ....never been a good instructor. But yes host a blogging event and give the onus to all you bloggers to ocnvince your spouses :)

 
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