Don't Forget to Eat Your Peas

Okay, so, I know the title of the blog is FRESHcipes and that means I should use fresh produce.  However, my exception is peas.  I honestly think they are better in their frozen form than fresh....but hey, what do I know!  Anyways, Tom inspired this dish.  When I first met him, he would eat frozen ravioli with red sauce and peas like at least 3 nights a week for dinner...So, I decided to make my own ravioli and put the peas inside the ravioli.

Pea Ravioli:
- 1 shallot
-1 or 2 cloves garlic
- olive oil
- about 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock
- about 1 cup of frozen peas (or fresh!)
- about 40 won ton wrappers -- I really wanted to use whole wheat, but I could not find any!
- about 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- juice of one lemon
- about 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- any sauce of your choice

In a medium pan, saute finely chopped shallot in olive oil for about 2-3 minutes then add minced garlic and saute for about 1 minute.  Add the chicken stock and let it come to a simmer.  Add in the peas for about 2-3 minutes, just until tender.  With a slotted spoon, remove peas and shallot mixture to a mixing bowl or food processor. 

I used my immersion blender for this, but you could also use your food processor and puree the pea mixture.  (I left some lumps).  Add in the ricotta, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese until your mixture is well blended.

Start boiling a large pot of water.  Get a clean dry surface ready for your wonton wrappers.  Get a small bowl of water to dip your finger in to seal the ravioli.  Spoon a teaspoon of your mixture into the center of one of the wrappers.  Trace the border of the wrapper with some water.  Place a second wrapper on top and use more water to seal the edges.  I used a spatula to transfer the ravioli from my cutting board to parchment paper so that it did not tear.  I also kept a clean, dry dish rag nearby to wipe the cutting board dry after each one since the water would sometimes drip onto the board when sealing the ravioli.

Once they were all ready, we boiled them for about 2-3 minutes and packaged the rest of them in parchment paper in the fridge and ate them another night.  I suppose you could freeze them also.

Finish product with the rest of my leftover vodka sauce.

 Packaged:

These were goooood.  We ate them last night and tonight for dinner.  I love the idea of having a good vehicle to try so many different fillings.  Look for my Venison Chili the end of this week :)

Go Bucs!