Sunday, April 28, 2013

Use It or Lose It - Fried Ravioli

This was made completely from scratch. Feel free to take shortcuts. ;)

My leftovers:
-Cooked ground turkey mixed with tomato sauce and cheddar cheese
-1/3 cup of cream cheese
-A few wrinkly old potatoes

I have been craving fried ravioli for quite some time. I researched the art of making pasta dough; generally, you would use eggs for this. I only had 1 egg and I needed that for egg wash, so I left the eggs out. This is how the vegans do it. Act like you're making Italian bread dough, but leave out the yeast. Place in an airtight container and rest for 30 minutes. It's that simple.
To make the filling, I made mashed potatoes and mixed them in with the cream cheese and meat mix.
To make a proper fried ravioli, you really need breadcrumbs. I didn't have bread...hell, I didn't even have crackers. I started to worry....then I found my Matzo. Matzo can be breadcrumbs, with a little love.
A good ravioli warrants a nice chunky tomato sauce. In the food processor, I combined: 1 can tomato paste, 1 can diced tomatoes, 1 cup water, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp salt, 2 tsp dehydrated onion, 1 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp black pepper. I pulsed this until it was nice and chunky, then cooked for 30 minutes.
Rolling out the dough is a little difficult, it won't want to stay flat. Just keep rolling and be sure your surface is sufficiently floured. Use egg wash to stick them together. I don't have a crimper or a stamp or anything, so I cut squares with a knife and pressed with a fork.
To be safe, I froze the raviolis for 30 minutes, coated with egg wash and breadcrumbs, and froze for another 30. You don't have to, but this will guarantee no fall-apart.
Fry in an inch of oil for 2-3 mins on each side and drain on paper towels.

...Sorry these instructions are a little vague, but this took like 3 hours. Which is why I encourage you to take shortcuts if you can. There are many detailed recipes out there; this post is more of an inspiration for those leftovers you don't know what to do with.

ABC = Always Be Creative. :)
(Also, I am temporarily without a camera. These were taken on my Nintendo DS, hence the funky look. Thanks for reading. This dish was a lot of work and a whole lot of fun.)



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