Quick Mushroom Ravioli

As much as I like to think I have time and attention to detail to make my own pasta dough and turn it into ravioli these days, it’s just not going to happen.  I love the taste of  homemade.  I’m overwhelmed by so many things right now like Storkbite’s moodiness due to a molar, Papa’s 40th birthday, international vacation planning avec toddler, and well my eternal problem — what to have for dinner.  The molar and what to have for dinner really got me today.  I wanted fresh pasta but lacked the courage.   I came very close to buying manufactured ravioli from the refrigerated section until the tiny Michael Pollan I carry with me in my subconscious barked at me and said “Eat Plants!”. I took the plunge, bought egg roll skins and developed a quickie variation on the original.  From an economic standpoint I would have saved $3 buying the manufactured ravioli, but they definitely would not have been as good.

Quick Mushroom Ravioli

These good looking raviolis were a little bit fiddly, I’m not going to make it sound like a breeze.

For the filling, use 1 box of baby portabellas, 6 cloves of garlic, about a dozen sage leaves, shredded parmesan and shredded mozzerella.   Make sure to chop the mushrooms, garlic and sage.  Then saute everything except the cheeses on the stove in olive oil and 1 tbs. butter, salt and pepper.  Once the mushrooms slightly carmelize, remove from heat and add to a mixing bowl.  Once cool, combine cheeses and mushroom mixture.

Take egg roll skins which can be found at most Asian markets (or the Met if you live in Sunnyside). Cut the skins into quarters.  Fix yourself a little bowl of water and with wet fingers go around each edge of your skin.  Put 1 tsp. of stuffing in the center, place a skin on top and smash the wet edges together.  I made approximately 16 raviolis that were about 2 x 2 inches.

Melt 1 tbs. butter and olive oil together in a skillet and pan fry the raviolis.  I imagine that one could also boil them, but we didn’t try it.  We were after some serious richness tonight.  The mushrooms, garlic, sage and butter worked so well together and was oddly enough exactly what I had a taste for.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

I’ve been a little remiss with Storkbite Stew lately as I had to take time out to celebrate my birthday.  Storkbite treated me to sleeping in and then a lovely day in the country at Stone Barns Center for Agriculture.  If you live in the New York area, go there.  Don’t just look at the website, go there.  Especially if you have a toddler of Midwestern parentage growing up in an urban environment and said parentage both have great concern their child will be afraid of dirt.    One delicious trip to the cafe and an afternoon’s romp through the woods we were ready to swing by the grocery store on the way home to pick up the requisite St. Pat’s Day fare.

Corned Beef and Cabbage

It’s Storkbite’s Papa’s favorite meal and I hate it.  I have learned how to deal with it over the years and I only make it on March 17th.  It’s basic and easy if you own a crock pot.  Simply take a giant corned beef, put it in the crock pot with about six cloves of garlic and one quartered onion.  Cover it with water, add salt and pepper.  Let it cook on high for about six hours.  In the last two hours of cooking, add scrubbed small potatoes (about 1 dozen).  In the  last one hour of cooking add a large head of green cabbage and a small head of red cabbage rough chopped.  Make sure the beef is tender prior to serving it.  If it’s not flaky, you can also throw it in a pot of water on the stove top and boil it.  I had to do this throughout bath and bed time this year since my crockpot got overloaded by cabbage.

Slice the corned beef and serve. I must admit that I like it more this year than in the past, but I think that might have been due to the Guinness!

Faux Cassoulet

Storkbite’s Papa has been asking for a cassoulet for weeks.  The weather is getting warmer and my time to make such a hearty dish was coming to an end.  I really don’t have the time or patience to follow a Julia Child recipe at the moment so I decided to just wing it.  It turned out both hearty and satisfying.  After standing around at the park all afternoon chasing Storkbite, the faux cassoulet was the shot in the arm I needed.

Faux Cassoulet

First off — soak your beans up to two days in advance. Find the biggest white beans you can find and soak a whole pound.   This recipe really requires the right pot.  I have a large shallow cast iron Le Creuset pan with lid that is really the best tool for the job.  It allows the beans to be evenly distributed in the cooking liquid.  If you are trying this with a deep cast iron Dutch oven you may want to increase the amount of cooking liquid to almost cover the beans.

Ingredients:

• 4 duck legs
• 1 lb. soaked large white beans
• 1/4 chopped bacon
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 12 pearl / boiling onions
• 2 tbs. tomato paste
• 2 sprigs rosemary
• 1 tsp. beef “Better than Bouillion”
• 2 c. hot water
• olive oil

On high heat drizzle pan with oil, brown the duck legs that have been salted.  Add bacon and brown, add whole peeled onions.  Once the bacon is browned and onions are slightly caramelized, remove duck legs and move everything to the side of the pan.  Add tomato paste and garlic.  Reduce heat and when the tomato paste is melted, add drained  beans.  Combine beans, bacon, onions and tomato paste.  Place duck legs on top. Add two sprigs of rosemary and 2 cups water with beef bouillion mixed in, cover and place in preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour.

If toddler is cranky and you have to clean up the apartment like I did, reduce heat to 325 and let it go for a little longer.  You will want to test the beans for doneness before serving.   The duck should fall off the bone.

The taste of cassoulet in 1 hour prep and 1 hour cook time.  Take that Jules.