Friday, October 29, 2010

Tradition: Ravioli with spinach-tomato sauce

The spinach, tomatoes and basil complimented the cheese ravioli nicely.
Okay, the meal might not be entirely a tradition, although my college roommate and I certainly ate enough refrigerated ravioli to make it one.

Unless you make it yourself, pasta is pasta, as far as I am concerned. What sets it apart is the sauce.

Now, I've made some mean spaghetti sauces in my day, including one when I was a teenager that basically includes large chunks of whatever fresh vegetables we had lying around and a can of chunked tomatoes, spiced up with some herbs and a pinch of cinnamon. It was good, I promise.

Last night, having realized that I recently bought two packages of pasta and no sauce, Carl and I got creative.

What we ended up with was a spinach-tomato sauce that complimented the cheese ravioli perfectly. It also went nicely with Newcastle.

Spinach-tomato pasta sauce:

Dice half a small onion and a couple large cloves of garlic and saute in a bit of olive oil until the onions are clear.

Using your kitchen shears, cut apart whole tomatoes. One can is enough, depending on how much you like tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the pan with the onions and garlic.

In the meantime, put a package of frozen spinach in the microwave to thaw. Two minutes or slightly more should be enough. Empty the package into a clean dishcloth (preferably not white!) and squeeze the water out of the spinach. Add to the pan.

Add a fourth of a cup of fresh, chopped basil, a teaspoon dried oregano, a fourth of a teaspoon salt, a fourth of a teaspoon pepper, a pinch of nutmeg and a small pinch of sugar.

Add a teaspoon of capers, with liquid.

Add about a cup of water (more if necessary), bring to a boil, then lower the temperature, cover and simmer for 10 minutes.

In the meantime, cook the pasta. By the time it is finished, the sauce should be ready.

Add fresh parmesan as a topping.

1 comment:

  1. Found an adventure for you; Nutella pumpkin pie! See the recipe here:
    http://www.memphistanista.com/2008/10/pumpkin-pie.html

    I guess its an adventurous twist on tradition. Im gonna make one just for myself I think!

    ReplyDelete