Balsamic and Brown Butter Ravioli

Has your life gone a little crazy? Mine has.



Do you barely have time to cook dinner, let alone time to sit down and eat it? Yup, me too.



Let me share a dinner with you that not only took about 15 minutes from start to finish to whip up, but looked very gourmet, and impressed the pants off of both my diners on an evening a while back.



Ravioli.....yum. Simple? Definitely.



Toast some walnuts up, melt some butter in a pan, add some balsamic, pour it over the cooked ravioli of your choice, and presto! Dinner in about 15 minutes or so. We had it with a simple side salad and some crusty bread and I couldn't have been happier. Thank you Giada. You've done it again.


Balsamic and Brown Butter Ravioli
adapted from Giada De Laurentiis and foodnetwork.com

***you can easily dress this up with some mushrooms and onions and perhaps some parsley or basil......ahhhhhhh the possibilities.....

18 to 20 ounces store-bought ravioli, of your choice (2 packages depending on what brand you buy)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup toasted, chopped walnuts
1/4 cup grated Parmesan



Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the ravioli and cook 4 to 5 minutes, until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally. Drain ravioli onto a large serving platter.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan cook the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the foam subsides, and the butter begins to turn a golden brown, about 3 minutes, turn off the heat. Let cool for about 1 minute. Stir in the balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Transfer the ravioli to the pan saucepan with the balsamic brown butter. Sprinkle walnuts and Parmesan over the top. Serve and eat immediately.

Zucchini and Olive Flatbread

A simple dinner.




I'm a little fuzzy on the exact differences between 'flatbread' and 'pizza'.  This sucker sure seemed like 'pizza' to me.  Perhaps I did not roll it flat enough.  I challenge you to try rolling it any flatter.  I have come to the conclusion that pizza dough is definitely a challenge.....and provides quite the arm workout as well.


Aside from the rolling out of the dough, the rest was a breeze.  And hey, if you have kids to roll the pizza dough out for you..... just give them the dough and let 'em rip!  Mine wouldn't do it.  He's no fool.

Just look at that.  Olives, mozzarella cheese, pecorino romano.....and, and, zucchini.  One of my favorite veggies on the planet. 



Zucchini and Olive Flatbread
Recipe courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis and foodnetwork.com

All-purpose flour, for dusting
1 pound pizza dough
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil plus extra, for drizzling
1 large (8 ounce) zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/8-inch slices (I used my mandolin slicer)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano leaves, divided
1 1/2 cups (4 ounces) shredded mozzarella
1 cup (2 1/2 ounces) grated Pecorino Romano
1/2 cup pitted sliced black olives

Place an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a roughly 12-inch circle.  This particular step might take a while..... I will say that it's much easier to do, in my experience, if you leave the dough to sit out at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half before you attempt any rolling.  Trust me.  You don't want to whip it out of the fridge and start rolling it while it's cold.  You won't get very far.

With a pastry brush, brush 1 tablespoon of the oil over the dough. Using the tines of a fork, prick the dough all over.

Arrange the zucchini slices in a single layer on top of the dough. Drizzle the zucchini with oil.

Bake the dough for 18 to 20 minutes until the edges begin to brown.

Remove the bread from the oven, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of oregano, the cheeses, and the olives. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the cheeses are melted and bubbly.

Sprinkle the flatbread with the remaining oregano, cut into wedges and serve.