I love Thanksgiving...
But I may seriously love the days after even more... No, really! I know I've told you before that "already cooked" food is, to me, the equivalent of having a sous chef on call 24/7. And no time illustrates that better than the days after Thanksgiving.
So, on The First Night After, I really wanted pasta. I thought about a turkey Bolognese... I thought about a creamy turkey sauce (and both of those may yet happen)... BUT...
I had a scathingly brilliant idea... TURKEY RAVIOLI!!!
I pulled out the meat grinder attachment for my KitchenAid and, through it, I passed about 1/2 cup of trimmed dark meat.
I passed it through again, this time adding a pinch each of salt and pepper and cayenne, and 1/3 C of my homemade ricotta...
(http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/homemade_ricotta_with_fresh_herbs/)
And just to check for flavor, I sautéed a bit to taste it. I didn't need to sauté it since everything was cooked, but I wanted to taste it warm. And it was amazing.
I made a batch of fresh pasta (http://www.thisoldchef.com/blog.html/fresh_pasta_without_eggs/)... Let it rest... Rolled it out, then stuffed and cut the ravioli.
These only needed to boil for about three minutes, just enough to cook the pasta and heat the stuffing...
And the sauce? Well, it was Thanksgiving, and it was turkey... Ergo...
Sage and butter! With a sprinkling of Parmesan and peas!
Really, I defy anyone to taste this and think of the dreaded "L" word!!! Instead, think "pre-cooked..." Think "sous chef..."
Think “delicious.”