Be at War with your Vices, at Peace with your Neighbours, and let every New-Year find you a better Man.  ~Quoted in Benjamin Franklin’s 1755 Poor Richard’s Almanac

I had a wonderful Christmas, visiting the great state of Colorado, my Brother and Sister-in-Law and their children, my parents, my kids and grandson. We even attended the very special wedding of 2 wonderful and inspirational people!  The holiday was made even better when my husband told me during our Christmas Eve phone call, that he “should” be home 24 January 2013!  Will it be our last Christmas spent apart?  Only God and the military know ~ 

Well, now all is back to normal, in this crazy, wonderful military-family kind of normal: Tony is still in Afghanistan, Mikaela brought in the New Year with her friends and University family in New Mexico, Mom & Dad celebrated quietly in Tucumcari, Bob & Paola are in Colorado, braving the cold as they see their clients (Mountain View Chiropractic in Parker, Co). The boys and I drove the long road back to San Antonio, getting the car, Andre and Levi ready to head back to Florida.  Soon, it will just be Toren and I dragging along, making the next 3 weeks seem like 6 months!  Needless to say, the New Year’s Eve celebration was a little quiet in the Lombardo house this year… honestly, I was in bed by 2100 (9pm) ~ but I did try to make the last meal of the year special ~ 

The last meal of 2012 had me inspired to make a Jamie Oliver style “fried” ravioli ~ besides the doughnuts I’m so crazy about, I really don’t do a lot of frying.  So, I preheated the oven to 425 degrees and…

V’s “Fried” Ravioli

• 1 batch ravioli, frozen (recipes follow)
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 T heavy cream
• 1 tsp Cholula garlic & chile sauce
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/2 cup pecorino romano cheese, finely grated
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

In one shallow bowl, combine eggs, heavy cream and cholula; set aside

In a separate shallow bowl, combine remaining ingredients; toss with your hands (its inevitable… you’ll get them messy anyway!); set aside.

Set up your work station: 1 large baking sheet, lined with foil or parchment paper, sprayed with non-stick spray; your egg and bread-crumb bowls; fork for lifting ravioli out of egg.

Start with your ravioli frozen… even 20 minutes in the freezer will make them easier to work with. Dip each ravioli in the egg/cream mix, then set in crumb mixture, turning to coat well.  Place each ravioli on prepared baking sheet; repeat with remaining pasta.  I had a few crumbs in my crumb bowl left, so I sprinkled the tops of the pasta (ravioli) with these.

Place baking sheet in oven for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and cook for an additional 5 minutes to make sure raviolis are cooked all the way through.

I served these tasty little morsels with my simple Marinara Sauce:

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 large can crushed Italian tomatoes
• 2 T tomato paste
• 2 T sugar
• 1/4 grated pecorino
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• salt & pepper to taste

Place olive oil and garlic in medium sauce pan over medium heat; simmer until garlic becomes aromatic.  Add remaining ingredients, lower  temperature to medium-low flame, simmer for at least 30 minutes (up to 2 hours); with an emulsion blender, puree until smooth.

Herbed Pasta Dough (see March 11, 2011 for entire post)

4 cups flour, plus more for kneading and rolling

1 tsp kosher salt

4 T olive oil

4 eggs, lightly beaten

scant 1/2 cup water

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 egg, well beaten for egg wash

mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl, use a sprinkling of water or dusting of flour as needed ~

knead with hands until dough forms ~ on a lightly floured surface, roll as thin as possible, in order

to roll through a pasta roller ~ start with the largest setting, work until sheets of dough are almost

transparent, using the most narrow of the settings ~ place pasta sheets on lightly floured surface, brush with egg wash, fill with 1 tsp of your choice of filling ~ top with another sheet of pasta, pressing the air out as you gently lay top pasta sheet over the sheet with filling ~ seal edges. Set aside, or freeze for later use.

5-cheese filling for ravioli

2 cups ricotta

1 egg

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

1 cup grana padano, finely shredded

1/2 cup parmigiano, finely shredded

1 small pkg goat cheese

1 tsp oregano

Stir all ingredients in a medium bowl.

1 tsp red pepper flakes

 

 Gluten-Free Pasta

• 2/3 cup corn flour
• 1/2 cup quinoa flour
• 1/2 cup potato starch
• 2 teaspoons xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon guar gum
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 large eggs
• 4 egg yolks from large eggs

Sift all dry ingredients together in large bowl; in separate bowl, whisk eggs. With a wooden spoon, stir to incorporate eggs into dry ingredients.  You may need a few teaspoons of water to moisten dough.  Wrap pasta dough with plastic wrap, place in refrigerator to rest for 20 minutes.  Continue to process like regular pasta dough.