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Homemade 3 Cheese Ravioli with Garlic and Jalapeno in a Thyme, Garlic and Jalapeno Cream Sauce.

Hi all! I have not posted in a while, I know. I have been busy following a life long passion of mine: Cooking and food porn photography. While I am a beginner in this type of photography and by all means not a chef, I have decided to follow my heart.

As you all know I am a Redditor. These people are my family. I recently posted one of my new recipes and a photo on Reddit. The response was overwhelmingly wonderful. I have decided to post the recipe here as I do not want punchy face.

Comments on this dish.

This recipe is rough and I am still working on it. I want to at least get down the foundation for this recipe here so anyone can play with it. This was my first time with fresh pasta, let alone ravioli, so ouch, it was a tough first challenge. This recipe involves my “signature sauce”. I have always wanted one, so I invented the damn thing even though I am defiantly not a professional chef. Who would not want a “signature sauce”? I want it on my gravestone; “She at least made a signature sauce”.

Ok. The basics.

I made fresh pasta dough and used my Italian pasta maker to get the nice pasta sheets. I honestly believe that any store-bought pasta would go through the roof with my easy sauce. I struggled and swore with the fresh pasta but managed to survive.

My mommy gave me this great little ravioli cutter that I love, but a knife would have worked better (I will do this next time and hand cut the ravioli).

Rough as hell.

Filling

1/2 cup cream cheese (softened)

1/4 cup fresh grated Parmigiano – Reggiano (any parm will do but this is the best and gives it a very salty bite)

1/4 cup finely grated mozzarella

1 whole Jalapeño, (finely diced)

(I seeded and de-ribbed the jalapeno before adding it to the cheese mixture and it was sweet and fruity with only a little heat. Next time, I may amp it up and leave the ribs in but adding the seeds would kill the mild flavors with too much heat.)

1 garlic clove (finely diced)

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Eat this filling as you go and decide if you want more of one ingredient or another.

Please let the filling rest so as the Jalapeno and Garlic have time to bleed yummy into the cheese.

Filling is set and make your homemade raviolis as you like or grab a yummy store bought ravioli.

SAUCE

MY pride and joy. I put this on all the food!

1 1/2 tbs salted butter

1/4  of a sliced Jalapeno

2 sprigs of fresh thyme ( no need to remove the leaves)

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 – 1 tbs of flour

1/2 – 1 cup half and half or heavy whipping cream (you have to watch the sauce as it develops make sure there is not too much liquid so add it SLOWLY, trust your instincts).

Melt the butter gently in a small sauce pan (med-low heat) with the jalapeno, garlic and sprigs of thyme. (I Smash the garlic with my knife to open the clove and throw it in whole).

When butter is melted and bubbly and yummy smells are about, add the flour, a pinch at a time while whisking until you get a paste (a light rue). Be sure to keep the thyme, jalapeno and garlic in there while whisking so as to flavor the flour and cream as well.

With whisk, add the cream very slowly, break your arm in the process, whisk, whisk, whisk.

Bring that temp up (med-high heat) and wait for sweet, lovely thickening to happen.

Strain all of the sauce with what ever you have that will strain (I cannot afford “special” strainers so I use my little old tea strainer).

Get that sauce on your ravioli. Eat that and eat some more. Adjust heat as you like with the jalapenos. I added fresh thyme on top as garnish but upon tasting would recommend that only a little, very FINELY chopped thyme would work or no thyme at all. Sub parsley for that fresh green color. The fresh thyme works in the sauce but on top it seems to over power the gentle flavor of the sauce.

I will update this recipe as I get feedback from it and will keep trying ways to make it better. Food is love. I love food. Thanks Reddit, for giving me the balls to start cooking again.

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Oven 1 – Cassie 0

As I slide into the raw food world like a greasy sausage off of the roll I ponder my decision to become a mostly raw food consumer. It has been a very interesting year dabbling in and out of raw foods. From a $400 Vitamix with a two horsepower motor that can jump start my Honda to a buzzing top line Excalibur dehydrator that makes everything oh so yummy and crispy. I have no doubt that eating raw has not only changed my life thus far but will continue to do so even more. That is if my oven doesn’t kill me first.

But I have to be honest about the frustration raw food causes, nothing is perfect in it’s entirety. Products must be stored and handled correctly and with patience. These sensitive raw foods are quite unlike the mystery meat you purchased a week ago that is still hanging in there with help from unknown, ungodly additives. The ease of  boxed macaroni and cheese and boiled hot dogs is now a very dearly missed thing of the past. Now time must be filled with sprouting, cleaning, chopping, blending and dehydrating for hours on end.

I love to cook, I always have, so these changes have been very difficult and I will never give up cooked food %100. I see no point in living without Italian food and if I die so many years younger for eating earthy cheese on bread with pasta covered in whatever has been on the stove all day then so be it.

I have tried to organize my now, very small kitchen that looks as though it has a severe case of multiple personality disorder. Half way in the middle sprouting equipment meets the finest French cookware, piles and piles of fresh produce and nuts meet stinky earthy cheeses and bags upon bags of Italian pastas. Throw in a couple grilled cheeses on sprouted bread with oh so much butter and we have quite a mess on our hands.

My oven knows… as in the thing is now betrayed, we have been the best of friends for years, I feel the hostility. I keep a pretty clean oven and I still cook in it. But yesterday as I went to give it a cleaning I found at the bottom a very disturbing amount of what can only be animal fat drippings (as it was solid at room temperature). I know it did not come off of anything I had cooked (I am too anal, I wouldn’t let that spill over, also I do not cook bulk meat in the oven) but I live with another carnivore so my imagination was left to fend for itself when no answers were presented as to the origin of this disturbingly large pool of grease. I truly felt that the oven was mocking me as it spewed forth smoke from its bowels and even more so as I scraped up its “leavings”.

To say the least I looked lovingly at my Vitamix (which cleans itself) and my dehydrator (which requires little more than a damp cloth). For all of the work involved in preparing raw foods I feel it just may be worth it. The oven and I are not quite on good terms yet and dirty looks are still being given but I feel we may come to an understanding, hopefully. As I lean more to the raw side of my kitchen I expect that the toaster oven and my All – Clad cookware may get a bit feisty and take lead from the oven. I made sure the oven was watching this morning as I removed my raw granola from the dehydrator and gave it a few pats and a job well done wink. Perhaps this was a hostile move but I see no other choice I must even the score.

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If…

If you intend to make a cheese sauce please remember to base it with a rue. Cheese sauce with no rue is quite pitiful and painfully chunky.

Cheese Sauce:

Butter

Flour

Cheese (what ever strikes your fancy)

Cream/milk

Melt the butter down and slowly incorporate flour, stirring constantly. For a cheese sauce you want a honey colored rue. Add flour until you get a sticky paste at the bottom of your pot. When you rue is achieved please add, SLOWLY your cream/milk in small increments. Whisk all the while. Slowly add your dairy until you see what looks like a cream sauce and then, over LOW heat, start adding your cheese. Whisk in in 1/4 cup portions, your cheese of choice. I commonly combine variations of both Swiss, German, English and American cheeses.

The whisking is the key. Over low heat. Think of it like a cheesy dream. Create your heart out. Or get medication to control the level of cholesterol that this cheese sauce may bring.

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Mushroom and Garlic Whole Wheat Couscous

Mushroom and Garlic Whole Wheat Couscous

2 ¾ cups of organic mushroom broth

2 cups whole wheat couscous

2 garlic cubes or 2 tbsp garlic powder (I have tried fresh it is not the same)

½ tbsp garlic pepper

2 tbsp of dried herbs

1 tbsp olive oil

Add all ingredients except couscous to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Add couscous to the boiling stock and stir. Remove from heat and cover. Allow to rest for 5 – 10 minutes. Fluff with fork and serve.

You can add in chopped roasted vegetables or sautéed mushrooms of all types.

You can sub chicken broth for a milder flavor.

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Red Gunge with Linguine

Ingredients

This recipe pertains to your taste = no measurements

Canned fire roasted tomatoes

Garlic

Onion

Fresh basil/oregano or dried (if that’s what you have that’s what you got)

Red pepper flakes

Ground chicken (dark meat or dark/white mix)

Tomato paste (bring the guns if you have them) Optional

Linguine (please buy the good stuff )

Crema Mexicana (Mexican sour cream) Usually can find this at speacialty/whole food stores

Whatever else moves your fancy

In a large dutch oven or other heavy bottom cookware begin browning you meat and as soon as you have finished strain and remove it for a minute.

After the meat has been removed start sweating down your garlic and onion in olive oil (in the same cookware). As soon as you have good aroma and the onions are slightly translucent add in your red pepper flakes (to your taste) and allow them to flavor the olive oil for a few moments.

Return the browned meat to the cookware.

Add in your canned roasted tomatoes (I prefer organic) and any herbs that you like as well as salt and pepper.

This sauce should really cook for a few hours, the longer it cooks, the deeper the flavor, the more tender the chicken.

Boil up your fettuccine to al dente and strain.

Before adding your fettuccine to the sauce mix in as much as you like of the Crema Mexicana. I usually add enough the turn the sauce rose.

Add the fettucini and toss well.

Garnish with Parmesan and Basil.

Yummy.

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Calamari

Black pepper and Fleur De Sol crusted Calamari steaks.

Fresh calamari steaks

Panko bread crumbs

Course ground black pepper

Fleur De Sol salt (found at specialty markets)

Unsalted butter

Olive oil

Lemon

Fleur De sol “flower of salt” gives these steaks a rich salty flavor balanced out by fresh ground pepper. This is as simple as it gets so use the highest quality of ingredients. The calamari is featured here so a simple garnish of lemon is all you need.

Make a plate of plain panko crumbs and loads of black pepper (as much or little as you like). The salt should be applied directly to the calamari but be very careful, this salt packs a punch and is not for the weak of taste buds (I actually place single grains on the steaks, one grain per square inch) take your time with the salt application it shows your love of food (the food will respect you more). In a large skillet (please no non stick we don’t need training wheels) heat up your olive oil and a wee bit of butter (maybe a teaspoon or two) until the butter is slightly starting to brown over medium high heat (depending on the cookware).

After coating the steaks give them a little jiggle to get any excess crumbs off (the skillet is hot they don’t need a heavy coat to go in) and fry them (depending on thickness) about 1-3 minutes per side. Don’t let those beautiful babies start curling up on you, they get tough and rubbery. Serve with plenty of lemon wedges.

I cannot stress this enough; if you are unsure of the cooking time to get cooked yet tender calamri ask your fish monger. Your fish monger is your friend and like all friends he loves to give advice so keep your ears open!