Dinner for Two

Last post I introduced you to what was Round 1 of the ravioli mania that overcame me last week, and while I thoroughly enjoyed my little pasta pillows, ravioli just isn't the same eaten alone. So tonight I invited the gent to share the joy with me.

I had two flavors of ravioli remaining from my original batch: butternut and spinach-and-cheese. Though my better half claims to be an obligate carnivore, he eagerly claimed first dibs on the butternut ravs.

Apologies for the parmesan all over the plate, but pulling these guys together couldn't have been easier. I served them in a brown butter sage sauce (wicked complicated instructions: put butter in a pan with sage and maybe some pepper, heat until brown) and a liberal shaving of parmesan.

Just look how cheery they are! The filling is made from simply boiling butternut squash with salt, black pepper and a few sage leaves, then mashing it all up and making sure to let most of the moisture boil out. It's a very simple combination of ingredients going on here, but the interesting sweetness of the squash is really great in contrast to the musky saltiness of the parmesan. Two thumbs up.

As for me? Well, I'm always happy to eat spinach.

The filling was dry-fried in a pan, giving it has a nice toasted aftertaste. Once the spinach was wilted I added in a splash of milk, a small smashed garlic clove, and Jarlsberg cheese (which I'll have you know is perfectly lovely in a ravioli, just to prevent unnecessary criticism from a certain someone).The sauce for these guys is simply chunky crushed tomato with a little of this and a little of that added for interest-- with, of course, some attention from my good friend:

I think I'll be making ravioli again in the future :).