Spinach, ricotta, and pine nut ravioli with sage butter

Spinach, ricotta, and pine nut ravioli with sage butter

My mom started to ask me to make dinner again. So I decided to go with my man Gordon Ramsay. The dude is awesome. The good thing is that my sister from Florida came up so this would be an easy meal to make. Well at least I made it a bit simpler. In his recipe he makes the pasta from scratch and cooked in water that has saffron placed in it. I am all about trying to make pasta from scratch one day, but I was pressed for time. Also, saffron is supposedly amazing, but at the price it cost to buy some, it better be sent from the gods to bless me with wisdom or a bountiful harvest.

Before I get into the help my mom gave me while making this dinner I preface it with this little story. I was telling my sister about this show called "Worst Cooks in America" and how they made my mom look like a good cook. I may have jumped the gun with that statement.

In an attempt to make it go faster, I asked them to help me with certain things. I asked my mom to toast the pine nuts. I explained to keep moving them and not to burn, just get a lit brown color. Meanwhile me and my sister are working on cooking the spinach and getting the seasoning ready. When I hear when are these suppose to be done. I look over and say are you crazy should have been done a while ago! Sure enough she watched them go from light brown to black. There were some pine nuts that were okay. Just when I thought she might not be the worst cook in America she comes back out of no where and takes the title back.

Anyway, I made some Spanakopita and just loved the combo of spinach and pine nuts and wanted to do something similar. Also, instead of making pasta from scratch I decided to buy wonton wrappers. Very easy to make a quick ravioli. I've used them before when making crab ravioli. Just let throw them in the pot and let them cook till they float.

Ingredients

For the filling:

Olive oil

2 gloves or garlic, peeled and minced

1 lb spinach leaves

1 tbsp butter

1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

sea salt and black pepper

2/3 cup ricotta cheese

2-3/4 oz Parmesan grated

2/3 cup pine nuts, toasted

squeeze of lemon juice

beaten egg for brushing

In a large skillet, brown the garlic in the olive oil. Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then increase the heat slightly and add the butter, nutmeg, and seasoning. Drain and roughly chop the spinach. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, Parmesan and pine nuts. Stir in the spinach and add a touch of lemon juice. Taste and season if needed. Let it chill for 30 minutes (I didn't chill but if you have the time, go for it).

Place about half a teaspoon onto the wonton. Brush at least two sides of the wonton with the egg, and press with a fork. At first I just made triangle ravioli's. However, my sister folded them in half and then folded up the edges on the two shorter sides and pressed them with a fork, then it looked more like a ravioli.

Sage Butter

5 tbsp butter, diced

2 tbsp heavy cream

6 sage sprigs, leaves shredded

Melt the butter in a saucepan and heat until it begins to brown. Take it off the heat and strain into a clean pan. Heat it slowly and stir in the heavy cream and sage.

This is how a meal looks when a pro cooks it.