Goat Cheese and Leek Ravioli With Basil Cream Sauce

Oh, Summer! WHY are you so darn hot? I mean I know this is Paso Robles and all but my goodness. We're broaching 115 around here and I am just not built for this.Do you know how much cooking I want to do right about now? None. None cooking. I want to sit with the freezer open and gobble up all the ice cream before it thaws. Nothing can be done in this heat. Nothing!

So instead of describing to you how delicious all the take out pizza and Chinese food has been, how about I share a recipe from a few months ago with you? Deal?

You might of read that we have a new photographer here at HNE who is incredibly talented (all of these gorgeous shots are thanks to her!). Well, Jessica came over a few months ago for our first photo shoot and I made her a new ravioli recipe I was working on. I have a fancy catering gig at the end of the month and this will be the first course for that event. Since it was only my first try I was really stoked with how it came out. So was my taste tester!

I worked at a French restaurant for some time and the chef taught me how to make THE most deliciously rich reduced cream sauces. The technique basically always the same but the possibilities are endless once you've nail it. This incredibly versatile sauce is what the ravioli will be swimming in. The ravioli itself was inspired by my recent trip to France with Mikey. On my birthday he took me to a really nice restaurant near our apartment. We got a full course dinner and our first course was this tiny, yet mind blowing deep dish "lasagna" made with layers of goat cheese, leeks and a creamy lemon sauce. We dunked giant chunks of crusty herbed bread into the terra cotta dish after we scarfed down all the pasta. It was pouring rain outside and this warm, cheesy dish totally hit the mark, especially paired with a glass of strong orange fortified wine. It was a  magnificent meal. I am bringing you a taste of France here, people! Do you get this? Are you feeling the refinement?

So, let's talk about the pasta. If you've never fresh pasta before, fret not. Not only is this recipe stupid easy, but you probably have all the ingredients (eggs & flour) already in your kitchen. If you have a food processor you're really ahead of the game. You can make the filling ahead of time and it keeps in the fridge for about 3 days. A note about the goat cheese: I know some people just do NOT do goat cheese, you can substitute cream cheese if you want to. For the rest of you, don't feel like you need to go out and spend a ton on this cheese, whatever's in your local grocery stores cheese counter will do. I used a small tube of chevre
from Tj's (please tell me you know what Trader Joe's is) and it worked perfectly.

Let's get to it!

Ingredients:

For the pasta:
2 Eggs
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
Salt

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
Combine the eggs and flour in your food processor until roughly combined. When it looks "sandy" turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth and fully incorporated. Don't fuss with it too much, or it'll be tough. Let the dough rest for a while. I don't know how long I let it rest for today, but I would say roughly 10-15 minutes wrapped up on the counter or until everything else is ready.


For the filling:
1 Egg, room temp
1 4oz Tube of Goat Cheese, room temp
4 oz Cream Cheese, room temp
2 Leeks, Sliced thinly and sauteed (with so much butter...)
1 Lemon, Zested
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix ingredients in a large bowl and transfer to a large plastic ziploc bag.

For the sauce:
2  Lemons, Juiced
1/4 Cup Dry White Wine
1 Cup Heavy Cream
2 Tbsp Cold Unslated Butter
2-3 Basil Leaves, Chopped Fine
Salt and Pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan reduce wine and lemon juice by half, over medium heat, this should only take a few minutes. If you've never cooked with wine before just be careful of flare ups. No need to "flambe" the wine,  by the time we're done most of it will cook out. Add the heavy cream and continue to reduce, stirring occasionally to prevent scalding, when your cream lightly coats the back of a spoon and the sauce loses that astringent boozy taste, you're ready for the next step. Take the sauce off of the heat, this is very important! Then add one tbsp of the butter and quickly stir with a spoon or whisk until it is fully melted into the sauce, then you can add the rest of it. Stir in the chopped basil and season with salt and pepper. Once you've mixed everything together you cannot reheat this sauce. It will break and separate, which looks very unappealing!

To Finish the pasta:

Unwrap and divide your dough into 4 balls. Roll out dough, one ball at a time. Think length! You're rolling each ball out into long, wide strips. I could give you measurements, but...who would actually use them?
Keep some damp paper towels nearby, place them over your strips of pasta to keep them from drying out while you work on the others. Once all four are rolled out, grab a little cup of cool water, your filling and either a pasta cutter or a dry drinking glass to help press out the ravioli (a 2-3 inch circle would work well for this, I use a knife or pizza cutter to make imperfect squares).

On one strip of pasta squeeze out a nice sized dollop (about 1 1/2 tbsp) of filling every 2 inches or so. I think I made 4-6 ravioli for one strip of pasta. Yes, they will be large ravioli! Once your filling is piped out, dip your fingers (or a pastry brush) into the cup of water and "paint" water all over the pasta sheet around your filling. Quickly take a second strip of pasta and place it over starting at one end, taking great care to gently push down all around your filling and moving on to the right. You really want to make sure there are no air pockets around the filling and that those two sheets of pasta are nice and fused together now as one. You may now cut out the pasta. I use a pizza cutter and just make a bunch of imperfect squares, feel free to use an actual ravioli cutter. Drop the ravioli a few at a time into your gently boiling water. A rolling boil will destroy them. Once they float up to the top, wait one minute and yank 'em out.

If you start to notice your filling coming out or the dough isn't holding up, stop and make sure your dough is really pressed together. If it is, try refrigerating your ravioli for an hour and trying again.

Now you can place the cooked ravioli into that wonderful delicious sauce we've been working on and very very gently warm it. But you have to be SO careful. I always make the sauce last and spoon it over the ravioli. I serve these as appetizers for the catering company, and we serve one per person then. Just between you and me, I can polish off 3 or 4 of these babies in one sitting. They are a lot of work but my goodness is it worth it! That wonderful tang of goats milk cheese, with the luscious creaminess of the reduction. Did I say 3 or 4? I meant 6-12. At least...

Spinach and Pumpkin Lasagna

Yesterday was Thursday, my busiest day of the week. I am in school for over six hours and I still have to get all my studying and cooking and cleaning done somewhere in between all my classes.

So on Thursdays, when it comes to dinner, I am looking for something easy peasy. Something I can throw together and leave in the oven for Mike, and since I wont be eating dinner until after 830, I'd like it to be healthy. Clicking through some fall themed oven meals yesterday morning I found a recipe for Spinach and Pumpkin Lasagna, mmmm. And since I still had half a can of pumpkin puree (from baking some delicious pumpkin cheesecake) I figured why not.

I haven't had this combination before but boy am I ever a fan now! There is a natural richness provided by the pumpkin puree and a subtle earthiness from the spinach and a dash of nutmeg. The recipes I found online mostly included gobs and gobs of cheese which I am normally a fan of, just not today. I opted to leave out a giant layer of cheese in exchange for a lighter bechamel made from skim milk and a 1/2 cup of shredded Parmesan that goes into our sauce and on top of the lasagna.

If you have never made a white sauce before here are a few tips:

* Use a heavy bottomed pot, something that will evenly distribute heat

* Add your milk a little at a time at first, paying special care to whipping out lumps

* Your sauce must come to a boil before you're done, this is the only way to tell how thick the end result will be

*Don't season your sauce until after the cheese has been added. Parmesan is salty as is and you don't want to over do it!

We served this lasagna with roasted vegetables and a VERY tall glass of milk. What? Don't look at me like that, milk is good and good for you!

We had carrot cake that I made in my Baking Science class for dessert. It was phenomenal, and I can say that because it was someone else's recipe and it was my first time making it so I am thrilled it came out well.

This lasagna came together so fast! And it doesn't take a ton of ingredients like the ones we found online. You can put it together and leave in the fridge until it's time to eat. It is healthy, rich, delicious and vegetarian! What's not to love??

Spinach and Pumpkin Lasagna

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups skim milk (you may replace 1 cup of milk with low fat, sodium free broth)

pinch of nutmeg

1 clove of garlic

1 bay leaf

3-4 peppercorns

1 cup wilted spinach, drained well

1 cup pumpkin puree (or half of a 15 oz can)

1 egg yolk (optional)

1/2 cup shredded parmesan

1/2 box lasagna noodles, cooked according to directions

To make the bechamel, on low heat melt butter in a large heavy sided pot. Sprinkle in flour and cook until the mixture has taken on a little color. Switch heat to medium and add the milk a small amount at a time constantly stirring. If you notice any lumps, lower the heat and whisk until they are out.

Add garlic, bay leaf, a few peppercorns and nutmeg.

Once all the milk has been added bring mixture to a slow boil, continuing to whisk out any lumps. Once at a boil, examine mixture for thickness. It should lightly coat the back of a spoon, if it is thick or paste like, add more milk or broth. Let it simmer on low heat, mixing with a spoon occasionally. Remove garlic and bay leaf.

Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, mixing furiously! Taste, then season accordingly. Set aside, stirring frequently to prevent a skin forming on the top of your sauce.

*Note: this sauce is THE balls...remember this sauce. You will use it often, I promise!

For the pumpkin layer, add puree, the remaining parmesan cheese and egg yolk to a small bowl and mix until combined. Season with a little salt and pepper, you can add Italian seasoning if you'd like but only a small pinch. Set aside.

Now we start assembling. This is how I put the lasagna together, use it as a guideline or be a rebel and mix it up. I can guarantee you no one will ever know. It's not as if someone is going to cut into their lasagna and say..."Is that a layer of spinach, THEN a layer of pumpkin? UNACCEPTABLE!" Not going to happen....I promise.

So here's how it went down:

Have your cooked lasagna sheets, pumpkin mixture, bechamel and wilted spinach all close by. Grease your favorite baking dish, I used a 9x9 I think, and put down a spoonful of bechamel. Onto the bechamel you'll layer a few sheets of lasagna noodles. If you find your lasagna sheets too long or short, do not fret. Simply cut some sheets into long or short strips to fit or fill in the gaps, it isn't an exact science...your finished product will look stunning anyway.

After the first layer is down spread all of the pumpkin mixture and top with more lasagna sheets. Put bechamel on the second layer, just thick enough that we will see it when we cut into the lasagna. You can add shredded mozzarella if you absolutely cannot do without that super cheesy layer. I didn't miss it, honestly but my gut says that some of you will NEED this layer...so go for it. This gets another layer of pasta then you sprinkle the wilted spinach all around, top with a little bechamel and lasagna sheets. Now spread the very last of the sauce onto the top of your lasagna, shred some extra Parmesan all over the top and you're done. Throw that sucker in an oven set to 350 and cook until the edges are slightly browned and your sauce is bubbling.

You're not going to want to (because your house will smell SO amazing) but you MUST let this rest. The different layers need time to chill out and relax a little before you dig in. If you are a good little boy or girl and wait 10 minutes, when you cut in the layers of orange and white and green will be perfectly distinct and stunning when you go to plate.

I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season so far. There has been a lot of snuggling and hot cocoa going on around here, not looking forward to finals week next week but here's hoping they fly by for all of us! Cheers!