Ravioli Scampi-ish

Tonight I was going to do something with shrimp, because I had a bad day, and shrimp is my favorite food. However, I realized when I got home that I didn't feel like cooking, or prepping, so I went with the easier option (not that shrimp are not easy): pre-made frozen Ravioli.

I bought some handmade cheese ravioli from Tenuta's. I keep those on hand most of the time. They have a very good selection, including lobster, artichoke, meat, spinach, squash and a few others. If you want to add whatever sauce you want, this is the way to go. If you want ravioli with red sauce, I have another place you can go. I'll cover that another day.

So, I boiled some salted water in a large sauce pan. Meanwhile, I very thinly sliced a small section of a large sweet onion I already had on hand. I heated about 1/3 stick of butter in a saucepan with a little canola oil to prevent the butter from browning. If you want to make a butter sauce, this is a good tip. The oil heats up nicer...and you only need a touch of it to help the butter handle the heat. I tossed in my slivered onions and let them slowly simmer in the butter. When they were starting to look transparent, I added a splash of Ruffino Orvieto. See yesterday's post for some talk of this wine, my fav-o! The wine ads some depth to the dish, so it's more than just butter sauce. It's kind of a scampi...which brings me to the next step. In the end, I added some crushed garlic, a bit of sweet basil, and I opened the lid on my old stand-by red pepper flake jar and crushed a pinch of flakes in the sauce. Then I let it simmer on very low heat until it reduced nearly by half.

By then, my ravioli had been dropped gently into the boiling water and stirred gently several times to prevent sticking and breaking. I drained the ravs, let them drip a bit to get the water off, and added them to my butter sauce pan and turned the heat to medium. With a wooden spoon, I gently tossed them about in the scampi sauce making sure to coat them evenly with butter and onions. When I turned off the flame, I pinched a bit of fresh grated parmesan on top and served them straight up.

I wasn't in the mood to goof around tonight. It was good...a cross between ravioli scampi and cheese and onion pierogi. Either way, they were comforting after one of those days when you want to quit your job on the spot. The very large glass of wine I had to round the meal off also helped take the edge off. I typically don't drink much alone, but I'm known to have a glass of wine with dinner and tonight I needed it! I was done with dishes at 6:46.

Va Bene! or Spacznego! Whichever suits your fancy.