Last night, I was watching an episode of Lidia's Italy on Tivo and was positively inspired by her recipe for Spaghetti with White Clam Sauce. All that beautiful freshly shucked clam meat swimming in a big bowl of its own liquor had me salivating and scheming, planning a trip to the fishmonger. Well, today I got up and drove to two local seafood purveyors, and I was shot down at both. It's Sunday. Not the best day to buy seafood. Neither one had clams. It was time for plan B.I wandered the aisles throwing stuff into my basket determined to dazzle Bob with deliciousness. Seafood pasta was firmly lodged in my mind and I figured I'd wing it and make some shrimp ravioli, though I'd never made ravioli before. I wrapped up shopping with some garlic, a package of wonton wrappers, a pound of lovely head-on shrimp and some ground pork, then headed home to figure it all out.
When I got back, I printed out a couple recipes for tomato sauce and had already pulled out a can of peeled whole tomatoes when I realized that I was completely ignoring the bounty in my backyard. I put everything back in the pantry and headed outside with a basket to collect cherry tomatoes and basil.
Once back in the kitchen, I cleaned everything and made sauce.
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CHERRY TOMATO SAUCE
1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
1/4 cup olive oil
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine all ingredients in a glass baking dish. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place dish in oven and cook, stirring occasionally for 45 minutes.
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Set sauce aside.
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SUMMER SHRIMP RAVIOLI
1 lb large shrimp, shelled and deveined (I had purchased one pound of head-on large shrimp. Once shelled, they weighed a bit more than 1/2 a pound.)
1/4 lb ground pork
1 dozen basil leaves
Salt and pepper to taste
1 generous tablespoon ricotta cheese
1 package wonton wrappers
1 egg white, beaten
Parmesan cheese (grated) to taste
Place shrimp, pork, basil, and ricotta cheese in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until pieces of shrimp are no longer identifiable, about 15 pulses. Add ricotta and salt and pepper and pulse again several times to combine. Mixture should resemlbe a chunky paste.
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and lay out wonton wrappers. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of shrimp mixture in the center of each wrapper. Brush edges of wrapper with beaten egg white and either fold into a triangle or place another wrapper on top. Be sure to completely seal the raviolis, expelling all air pockets.
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Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add 5-6 raviolis and gently boil for 3-4 minutes. I took one out and cut it open to test for doneness and to guage how long they should cook. I'd recommend you do the same.
Spoon some of the tomato sauce onto the bottom of your plate. Top with ravioli, then with more sauce. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
Makes approximately 36 ravioli.
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Because I was only cooking for two, I froze half of the uncooked ravioli. Simply lay out the unboiled ravioli on a parchment-lined sheet pan and place in the freezer. Once frozen, stick them into a zip-top bag and store them. To serve, just drop them into boiling water, cook until they are done, then top with sauce.
I can't tell you how well this recipe went over. It was pretty simple, the ravioli were light and fresh tasting, and the sauce was perfect. If you make this, please let me know how it turns out.
The clams only have a momentary reprieve. I'll be hunting them down soon enough!
-steen
tags: shrimp+ravioli, recipes, pasta
...I love shortcuts like using the wonton wrappers, it's a great idea - who has time these days to make their own Pasta? Not me, that's for sure!
Yay, RT! I can't wait to hear about it. I can't claim wonton wrapper raviolis as my own invention, but when I saw it, I was inspired too. As a Food Netwok junkie, I'm sure you've seen Alton's version too.
I've always thought about making my own raviolis, but I have yet to do it. This looks INCREDIBLE and is just the inspiration I needed...I will be making these very soon!
your blog don't like my comments....blah...maybe I had too many martinis and can't read the verification numbers correctly?!?
anyways, I totally forgot what I had said! something about nice garden.
I know. Like the days to not eat in Sushi bars. I'm sure that's the case and why there were no clams. It didn't even occur to me as I headed out to shop, but once there, I figured the shrimp were safe since they were undoubtedly previously frozen.
That looks soooooooo good. You've got yourself some pretty gorgeous tomatoes.
I don't know whether it's an old wive's tale or not, but I NEVER buy seafood on Sunday and I never order it at a restaurant either. I just figure it's possible the last delivery was on Saturday.
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