Goat Cheese and Chive Ravioli, in a Butter and Sage Sauce

On Monday night, because (as usual) we had leftover ingredients lying around, we decided to use up the goat cheese and make ravioli.  Here’s how it went down….

First, I mixed up the pasta dough.  I started with the basic recipe that came with the KitchenAid stand mixer roller attachments, halved, but made some adjustments of my own based on past experiences with it:

• 1-3/4 cups of all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• water (the recipe calls for a tablespoon, but the exact amount you will need will always vary depending on humidity and how packed the flour was.  I probably used about 2 tablespoons this time total; you have to go by how the dough looks – see below)
• chopped dried chives (I’m guessing about a tablespoon’s worth; I didn’t measure)

Into the bowl it all went and was mixed using the regular paddle attachment until it came together into a dough ball (this is the part where you have to add water a teeny bit at a time until it comes together, but if it gets too sticky, you add a little more flour, and so on and so forth until you get the right consistency – able to be formed into a ball, but not sticky).

Next, I switched out the paddle attachment for the dough hook, and kneaded the dough for about two minutes, after which I kneaded by hand it for another two minutes.

I wrapped the dough ball in plastic wrap and stuck it in the fridge, mostly because the recipe I was basing off of said to, but I don’t think this step is truly necessary if you are in a hurry (it’s not like this is pie dough and contains butter that needs to re-harden or anything.  As long as it’s made to the right consistency to begin with, I think you could skip the fridge and start rolling and cutting right away).  All in all, last night’s dough ball probably only spent about 10 minutes in the fridge while I was waiting for Hubby to be ready to make the sauce (that was his half of the responsibility for last night’s dinner festivities).

As for that sauce, I initially was going to simply use the sauce that I had made a few weeks ago and froze, but Hubby found a Butter and Sage Sauce recipe by Mario Batali, so that’s what we ended up deciding on.  The sauce had four simple ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 8 sage leaves (Hubby substituted about a tablespoon of dried sage leaves instead)
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Hubby put the sauce together according to Mario’s recipe, except he added the cheese right away instead of waiting for the pasta to be tossed in.  This way the sauce would be waiting for me, all done, as soon as the pasta was cooked.  He also decided after he was done that it might not be enough sauce, so he went back and doubled the recipe.

While he was doing all of this, I was rolling out pasta dough and turning it into raviolis.

First, I divided the dough into four sections and made sure they
had enough flour on the outside to not stick to the rollers.

Next, I started rolling each piece through the machine,
according to the machine's instructions....

 

....until it was as thin as I wanted it.

Next, I cut each strip of flat dough in half, inserted bits of goat cheese
on the bottom layer, wet the seams with water, and covered it with the top layer.

 

Then I cut them into individual ravioli and trimmed off the excess.



The leftover pieces of dough, which you can see here being cut off and piled
up in the corner of the cookie sheet, were brought back to the rollers
and made into more flat sections/more ravioli.  Nothing got wasted.

We ended up with twelve BIG ravioli.  Just look at those chives peeking through:

Finally, it was time to cook the pasta and toss it in the sauce.

....and.....Presto!  One delicious dinner:

I know you are probably thinking that this is awfully time consuming for a weeknight dinner, but really it’s not.  When making homemade pasta, especially with an electric mixer, you can have your dough mixed and in the fridge in less than 10 minutes.  And while you are waiting for your water to boil is when you do your rolling and cutting.  So, really, other than the extra 10 minutes to make the dough, you are looking at the same amount of time as if you cooked a box of pasta, except this time, you are doing something productive while waiting for the water to boil other than watching the pot – you are rolling and cutting pasta.  I have decided, though, that I would like to invest in some ravioli molds, maybe something like this, in order to be able to make them more uniformly sized and shaped next time.

Cook Yourself Thin - Cheezy Chicken Parmesan With Zucchini "Pasta"

This recipe comes from the Cook Yourself Thin cookbook and is a healthy take on a classic favorite: chicken parm.  It's called Cheezy Chicken Parmesan With Zucchini "Pasta"

Their original recipe can be seen on the Lifetime Network website.  What follows below is my exact modification....

For the tomato sauce and zucchini pappardelle

• 1.5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/4 red onion, coarsely chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
• one 28-ounce can Hunt’s No Salt Added Plum Tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• Salt
• Pepper
• 2 large zucchini, thinly sliced, seed centers discarded

For the chicken

• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus 2 tablespoons extra for serving
• 1/4 cup Progresso plain bread crumbs
• 1 large egg white, lightly beaten with a fork
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, split in half
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

Instructions

1. For the sauce, heat one-half tablespoon of the oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-low heat. Add the onion, garlic and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Cover, reduce heat to very low and cook until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. (Check a few times during cooking; if vegetables begin to brown, add 2 teaspoons water and stir.) Add the tomatoes with juice, basil and another 1/8 teaspoon salt. Bring to a simmer, cover and simmer gently 5 minutes. Then simmer very gently, partially covered, until thickened, about 20 minutes. Season with pepper.
2. Meanwhile, using a vegetable peeler, slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/8-inch-thick long pappardelle-like strips, turning the zucchini and slicing on 4 sides only until you see the center seeds. Discard the centers (or save them for making homemade stock).
3. Remove the tomato sauce to a bowl; no need to clean the skillet. Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add the zucchini and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Cover and cook until wilted, tossing often with tongs for even cooking, 8 to 10 minutes. Return the tomato sauce to the pan, add a third of the parsley, and season with pepper; transfer to a bowl for holding, cover and set aside.
4. On a plate, combine the bread crumbs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan, the remaining parsley, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon salt. Place the egg white on a second plate or in a shallow bowl. Dip the chicken into the egg whites, and then into the bread crumb mixture to coat completely.
5. Heat the same nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until lightly browned on one side, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip, and cook until chicken is firm, and lightly browned on the other side, 1 to 3 more minutes.
6. To serve, make a “twist” of zucchini pappardelle on each of 4 plates. Lean chicken cutlets against the side of zucchini. Scoop 1 tablespoon ricotta onto each plate.  To garnish each plate, sprinkle with a one-quarter of the remaining Parmesan.  (The only reason we didn't do the "drizzle with olive oil" from the original recipe was because we forgot....and really, we don't think the dish needed it -- so why not save some fat and calories.)

Makes 4 delicious servings.

• 364 calories
• 39 grams protein
• 24 grams carbs
• 12 grams fat
• 5 grams fiber
• 628 mg sodium

Gluten-Free Pasta (Corn Based)

On nights when Hubby and I have Muay Thai and Small Circle JuJitsu class, fast dinner is imperative.  So, one night back in September, we decided to try out one of the gluten-free pastas we had bought: DeBoles brand "Gluten Free Corn Spaghetti Style Pasta."

Many people told me that gluten-free pastas were nasty, but I have to totally disagree.  If you didn't know ahead of time that this wasn't regular pasta, well....then you'd just think it was regular pasta.  The only distinction that I could perceive was that it seemed a little ever-so-teeny-bit slightly "fluffier" than traditional wheat pasta....maybe as if it was homemade rather than store-bought; kind of similar to a good gnocchi.  Hubby totally agreed.  We give this pasta two thumbs up for sure.

I don't know if the fluffier texture would make other shapes of pasta (like penne or shells) seem weird, but I guess we will find out when we get to trying them.  :)

Nutrition-wise, there are only 10 more calories per 2 oz. serving than traditional pasta, a bit more carbs, and a bit less protein.  In my opinion, negligible differences.

The most significant divergence is price point.  A regular 16 oz. box of pasta costs about $1.19 where we live.  This was an 8 oz. box, and it cost $2.99.  A little bit of yowza there.  But for folks like us who rarely eat pasta anyways, I guess this isn't that big a deal....and can also be considered a deterrent against refined grains or an incentive to eat more whole foods as opposed to processed boxed ones.

One more picture, just for fun (and because I ♥ cheese)....

Gluten-Free Pasta (Rice Based)

Here is a review of another kind of GF pasta which we tried in early October, Hodgson Mill Gluten-Free Angel Hair.  Before, we had tried a corn-based GF pasta, and liked it despite warnings from friends that it would be nasty.  So we decided that this time, we would go for a rice-based variety:

There’s not a whole lot to say other than this was, like the corn-based one, just fine.  I truly don’t think a person that didn’t see the box would know it wasn’t regular pasta.  Like someone said to me before: "The meat and sauce are the best part anyway!"  The only thing you have to be careful of is not overcooking it.  It can go from perfectly al dente to mush pretty quickly; also for this reason, it doesn't necessarily do well being re-heated in the microwave.  (I don't know how the corn-based pasta would behave when re-heated in a microwave, because we didn't have any left to re-heat.) 

Nutritionally, it compares quite well to regular, full-wheat pastas.  Here is the label from the GF rice angel hair pasta, followed by the label from a national full-wheat angel hair pasta:

And, again just like the corn-based pasta, price point is where the real differences are felt.  A regular 16 oz. box of pasta costs about $1.19 where we live.  This was an 8 oz. box, and it cost $2.99.