Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Ravioli with Sage Brown Butter

I am going to try to focus on the point of this blog: food and house projects (and some Gertie: so basically, our favorite things). The latest food: Sweet Potato Goat Cheese Ravioli for our dear friends Abby and Adam after they put us up in DC.

Pasta is a labor of love. It's easy but repititious, and it's a perfect 2-person job. Robin and I have fallen hard for the excitement of homemade pasta. So here goes...

For the pasta:
-Approximately 1 egg per serving, and roughly 2/3 cup flour per egg (ie: for this ravioli, 4 people = 4 eggs)
-If you have a kitchenaid, dump eggs and flour in and use a dough hook to mix until dough is "raggy" (Robin's word, and he's the pro).
-Turn onto floured surface and knead well for at least 10 minutes. Add flour as needed. Dough needs to only stick to itself.
-Make a ball, wrap in cellophane, and let rest for 30 minutes.

**Cheater tip: if you don't have a pasta maker, ignore all the pasta making steps and buy wonton wrappers.**

For the filling:
-Roast sweet potatoes in 425 degree oven until soft.
-Let cool, then smash with goat cheese (we used 4 ounces of garlic and herb, but whatever floats your boat). I am of the mindset that you can never have to much goat cheese, so amend according to your goat cheese philosophy. Don't use any if you don't like goat cheese, omit it all together.
-Add spices: for us, black pepper and a tiny bit of nutmeg.

For the sauce:
Super easy, terrible for you, and delicious. Totally my style.

Melt 6 T of butter in a saucepan. Heat until butter is barely starting to brown. Add chopped fresh sage. I added 2 T of heavy cream at the end, but I'd leave that out next time.

Construction:
-Roll out the pasta dough. If you have a pasta maker, you know the drill. We did ours to '8' thinness. If you don't have a pasta maker, you are smart and using wonton wrappers.
-Place dollops of filling on half of pasta sheet (or in the middle of each wonton wrapper).
-Use water to draw around the edge of the filling, then seal, pushing all of the air out.
-Cut ravioli apart using a pizza cutter, then boil for ~4 minutes, or until the ravioli float to the top. The wonton wrappers should take the same amount of time.

Eating:
-Serve with parmesan and more fresh sage.

The photos don't do it justice, but here's another one anyway:

I am sure my arteries are just now recovering from this meal. But it was so, so worth it. And if you wanted to be healthier, you could do olive oil infused with sage. And if you cut out most of the goat cheese, it wouldn't be quite so bad for you. And if you had a good camera, you might have more lovely photos. But if wishes were fishes....

Time Flies...

When you're....studying?

We are having some fun too though:

 Brunch with friends,

 

A day full of sunshine (and sticks to chew on!),

Family to share delicious food with, 

a sleepy puppy while I study,

and spring has sprung! Or at least some daffodils. 

 

Oh and what I was theoretically going to write about: my latest go-to meal.  

You guessed it - roasted vegetables! I am nothing if not predictable. But I can't get over how little work it is, and how much it feels like a meal. This was quinoa (in the rice cooker! who knew?) 2 cups of water, 1 cup quinoa. Roasted sweet potatoes, onions, and zucchini. Baked some kale chips, because what meal is complete without kale? And made a little balsamic/mustard/honey dressing for it. It was pretty lovely. 

Hope it is feeling like spring in your neck of the woods, or at least like sunshine! 

Rare Disease Day

Today is Rare Disease Day! Thirty million Americans are affected by rare diseases, and today is dedicated to raising awareness about a variety of rare diseases. Our friend Sarah has headed the effort, and today Robin and I are wearing our shirts:

 They say: "Sarah got a RARE DISEASE & all I get is this lousy t-shirt?" on the front, and "TEAM ZEBRA UNITE! 2-29-12" on the back. The term "zebra" is medical slang for a surprising diagnosis. 

Gertie didn't want to miss out on the fun either: 

So today, learn about rare diseases here or here. Team Zebra unite!

Two of my Favorite Guys

Just a photo of two of my favorite dudes. They are pretty fun!

Food for February

February has brought a few fun meals so far. First up: I officially believe corn starch is the answer to delicious tofu.

For Coconut Kale Tofu:
-Drain, press, and slice tofu. Thinly coat with corn starch, then pan fry in a tablespoon of olive oil. 
Remove from pan, set aside.
-Sautee 1 chopped onion and 1 sliced red pepper for a few minutes, then add 1 can tomato paste blended with a bit of water and 1 can coconut milk. Simmer until it thickens a bit, and flavor with garlic, curry, and pepper.
-Add washed and torn kale for just a minute at the end, along with the cooked tofu. Serve with rice.

When we aren't eating stir fry, February calls for soup. At least in my world. This fact, combined with my ownership of a stick blender, means we have had variations on a theme: blended soups with avocado. Curried sweet potato soup topped with roasted cauliflower...

 Followed by garlic potato and corn chowder. Both topped with avocado. Because life is better with avocado.

 Gratuitous Gertie and fam shot from Jeff's visit. A brisk and sunny (and quite lovely) walk!

 First homemade pasta. And homemade french bread. All courtesy of Robin.

 Don't forget cookies!

 Our newest kitchen appliance. Homemade pasta is officially our newest obsession.

 

Unrelated, but this weekend was my dear friend A's bridal shower. Pretty fun to see where she was raised outside of Kansas City.

And now off to homework...and homemade pasta. Guess which one I am excited about?

Activist Pup.

Gertie takes a stand against urban deforestation.


(Or, Gertie finds a fun perch to watch the dog up the street. I like the first idea better.)

Foooood

While C was with us, we made some pizza. Delicious - homemade crust (thanks Mom) and kale makes everything better. Plus C could "help" me put the cheese on which was pretty fun.

Sweet potato soup: a standby at our house. This time I used some regular potatoes, as well as some sweet potatoes. I roasted cauliflower florets while I was making the soup, and they were delicious. Sweet potato soup = so easy! Boil whatever potatoes you are going to make in slightly-watered down broth. Add curry, chili powder, cayenne pepper. If you're lucky like me, use your immersion blender to blend it (I like to maintain a few clumps, but that's just me). Served with roasted cauliflower, avocado and fresh cheese is hard to beat!

 Next up, artichoke dip for a dinner get together with friends. Again, goes under the super-easy category. To make this, I used:

-1 can artichoke hearts
-1/2 block neufchatel cheese
-1/2 cup parmesan
-1/3 cup frozen spinach, drained and thawed
-1/2 onion, browned
-Garlic, seasoning salt, and pepper, to taste

Blend all ingredients in food processor, add to oven-safe container,  cover with foil and bake 350 until warm (30 minutes?). I remove the foil at the end to get the top a little brown. I served it with toasted slices of olive bread. Delicious! Honorable mention to both sets of in-laws for the containers: platter from D and J, ramekins from K and BH.

Hope your weekend is delicious!