Butternut Squash Ravioli with Toasted Pecans

Here is the second recipe to my Mother's Day post: Butternut Squash Ravioli with Toasted Pecans

This comes from the November 2007 issue of Real Simple magazine (told you that I have been holding onto some of these recipes for awhile now).  This is part of their "20 minute meals".  It holds true; only takes 20 minutes to make.

Ingredients

• 1 14- to 16 oz package of butternut squash ravioli; fresh or frozen (you can find them on the cheap at BJ's Wholesale.  Also, if you are more traditional, the original recipe calls for cheese raviolis :)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, sliced (I used minced from a jar)
• 1 cup (2 oz) pecans roughly chopped (you can also use walnuts or almonds)
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley chopped
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan

 Directions:

1. COOK the ravioli according to the package directions, Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the cooking water
2. HEAT the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Add the garlic and pecans.  Cook, stirring, until the nuts are lightly toasted and fragrant, about 5 minutes.
3. STIR in the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, the parsley, and the reserved cooking water.
4. ADD the ravioli and toss to coat.
5. DIVIDE among individual plates and sprinkle with the Parmesan (should serve about 4 people)

Result:  A nice, refreshing twist on the traditional, heavy cheese & tomato version.  It is a little lighter on the stomach but will not leaving you starving one bit.  This is also good if you like ravioli but the tomato sauce not kind to your stomach like mine.

Now, I know the picture looks like a bunch of little rabbit ran across it and left presents but it does present better in person.  Blame the photographer for not watching the DVD on how to use the expensive Nikon 5000 she has :( 

However, for June's post, I should have more 'professional-looking' photos as one of our new gamers in our gaming group has ever so kindly offered to take those pictures.  He is a lawyer by day but a budding photog at night and weekends.  He has been looking for an opportunity to do a "food shoot" and I am more than happy to present that opportunity to him :)

Cilantro Cream Sauce Over Chicken

Happy Mother's Day!  This is my first offical Mother's Day and I still don't feel like a mom.  I should. I have the black circles under my eyes and all so wonderful smell of formula in my clothes. Perhaps when my daughter is 2 year old, tugging on my shirt saying "mama".

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mr. Moms also!  You don't get enough credit.  All the websites, marketing, etc. out there are geared towards moms only.  Makes me sad because Mr. Moms also need the support too.

With that said, how about two simple meals to make on those busy night?  Here is the first one: Cilantro Cream Sauce over Chicken.

This is another recipe that comes from the One Minute Chef column of Chambersbridge Residence's newsletter. I can assure you right now that it takes more than just "one" minute to make; try about 30 of them.  Still a quick meal in my book. Heck, I think it took me longer to shop for the ingredients than it took to actually make the meal.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups lossely packed fresh cilantro
• 1 can (12 oz) evaporated milk
• 1 cup water
• 2 teaspoons granulated chicken-flavored bouillon
• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• ground black pepper to taste
• 6 to 8 bonelees, skinless chicken breast halves, cooked & kept warm

Directions

• Place cilantro, evaporated milk, water & bouillon in blender; cover.  Blend until smooth
• Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Remove from heat
• Add in flour, stirring constantly until smooth.
• Stir in cilantro mixture.
• Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil & thickens slightly.
• Season to taste with pepper.
• Pour sauce over cooked chicken breasts.

Results - Yes, there are *three* to this story.  The first one, the meal itself.  I had two taste testers for this meal.  My husband of course and a friend of ours (who also is the vet tech that takes great care of our two dogs).  They thought that it was alright but that it was a little too "greeny".  Translation = Got to be a cilantro lover to appreciate this dish.  Also, the chicken was a little dry.  If I was to make this again, I would make the sauce first and keep it warm instead of the chicken.

Second, the first accidently discovery.  The Cilantro Cream Sauce served cold makes a great dip :) The next day we had one of our gaming groups coming over to the house.  Not having the time to run out to pick up stuff, I was scrambling to see what I could put together.  We had left over chips from the Cheesy Pepper Jack Mac recipe.  Just need some dip.  However, all we had was this crazy hot stuff that my hubby like.  So the lightbulb went off and I took out the left over Cilantro Cream Sauce and dipped a chip.  Yummy!

Thirdly, it may make a great topping for Baked Ziti.  Two of our gamers took the Cilantro cream sauce and mixed it with the Ziti and raved about it.  I didn't try it personally myself, but I could see how it could go well.

So there you have it.  This sauce could do triple duty and can be made in very little time.