Lamb Ravioli with Veg & Balsamic Reduction
Ah, the midnight posting. How I’ve missed you.
I bailed on both my invitations to do something fun and exciting tonight, after a mild panic over what to make for dinner in time to do both. I was about to resort to something along the lines of oatmeal or smoothies when my next-door neighbour/friend popped in the back door with a bag of something. He’s a chef – the bag, as I hoped, held lamb ravioli, colourful chopped veg and a container of balsamic reduction. Dinner.
I thought I still didn’t have time. When he left I put it in the fridge, thinking I’d make it tomorrow.
My neighbour has just launched The Passionate Plate, which is like one of those meal assembly places but you don’t have to actually go anywhere or assemble anything; all you do is go online and order, and a chef prepares it all and delivers it to your door. Pizza is so last week.
To elaborate: Tender Lamb shoulder braised in red wine, mixed with tangy goat cheese and wrapped in hand made pasta dough. Served with a rich reduction of aged balsamic vinegar and herb-infused beef broth. I boiled some water, threw the ravioli in and as it cooked, gave the finely chopped veg a quick turn in a hot pan, poured over the sauce, as I drained the pasta the sauce bubbled down until it was thick enough to drag a spoon through and leave a trail (this took about a minute), and poured it overtop. (I did this backwards: the package instructed I put the sauce down first and top it with pasta and cheese; it likely would have looked more cheffy and properly plated this way.) It was very tasty, and was finished in under 10 minutes. Ten! There’s convenience food and there’s real fast food – Hamburger Helper will put you back half an hour, and trust me, you’ll be worse for it.
Plus, with near-ready meals like this, you can have people over and pull off a relatively fancy (and fresh) dinner in next to no time, for not much more than buying the ingredients and assembling them yourself. And less than ordering pizza. Or on crazy weeks, have dinner delivered to your door for the week to pull out and finish when you get home from work. OK, now I am coming across as an infomercial. At least I’m not plugging the Thighmaster.
One Year Ago: Curly Gaspetti with Bison Meatballs
March 06 2009 | leftovers | 52 Comments »
