Rana - Pasta Made with Passion.

Chef Giovanni Rana

Rana - Pasta Made with Passion

Website: http://www.giovannirana.com/index.php

I have mentioned many a time that I am "pasta making challenged", so buying pasta products at the supermarket is a given for me.  It's what I do with it that makes the total difference where someone cannot tell if it's homemade, or from the store.  So it was no wonder that, having a "Buy One, Get One Free" coupon for Rana Fresh Pasta found me at the store buying two bags of ravioli to try out.  "How was it?", you might ask.  The next time I was at the store, I purchased several more bags of different varieties (ravioli and tortelloni); yeah, it's that good!

Now I'm not one to buy sauces though; I make my own killer ones, so I cannot tell you about Rana's pasta sauces that are sold next to the pasta products.  I'm thinking though, if the pasta is that good, perhaps the sauces are as well?  Maybe, just maybe, if I get another of those "buy one, get one free" coupons, I might break down and try the sauces out.

Why do we like this pasta?  First off, it cooks more quickly than other brands, within three minutes of adding it to boiling water.  The texture is outstanding; the pasta itself is thin, light and feels good in the mouth; but it holds up in the boiling water and doesn't split apart.  Fillings are exceptional; a good sized portion in the ravioli or tortelloni without taking it to the point of busting.  Packed with flavor, and the cheeses are so smooth and, shall I say it again, a feel good experience in the mouth.  The pasta also holds onto the sauce well; add a good, grated Pecorino Romano cheese for the perfect touch.

We've become big fans of this product, and we'd much rather buy Rana, than other brands we've tried.  By the way, it can be frozen and the cooking time only increases by two minutes, so five minutes until a happy Italian meal...not bad!



Mary Cokenour

Move Over 007, it's Ravioli, Baked not Boiled.

There are those days when making a meal is the farthest thought from my mind. New ideas are hidden deeply, and I am in the mood for nothing special. I look in the pantry, refrigerator and freezer; hoping that something will jump out at me and scream, "Here I am! Eat me!!!" That finally happened when Buitoni's Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli peeked its green box out. Hello my little friend. One problem though is that I didn't want to use the packet of garlic butter sauce that came with it. Oh no, I didn't throw it away; that will be used for another recipe featuring rigatoni, chicken and a few vegetables. So what to do with it, and suddenly the ideas started to pop into my mind...diced tomatoes, but a creamy tomato sauce, not chunky; cheese, not as a garnish, but as a main ingredient.   Of course a plain cheese, meat filled, even chicken and cheese ravioli can be used with this recipe.   Lets see what I finally created, and it sure did taste good!  

Baked Ravioli

 

 

Ingredients:
 

1 (22 oz) box Buitoni Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli

3 cups tomato vodka cream sauce

1 cup diced tomatoes

1 cup shredded Romano cheese

2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese



Preparation:

Take the packet of garlic butter sauce from the Buitoni box, label and return to the freezer (save for another recipe).  Heat a large sauce pan of unsalted water on high heat; when boiling, cook the ravioli for only one minute before straining.  All ice has been removed and the ravioli is no longer sticking together; it will finish cooking in the sauce while baking.



Preheat oven to 375F; spray a 1 and 1/2 quart baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Begin the layering process by spreading one cup of sauce in the bottom of the dish. 








Spread out half the ravioli over the sauce.







Spread half the diced tomatoes over the ravioli.









Mix the Romano and mozzarella cheeses together; spread half the mixture over the tomatoes and ravioli.






Now repeat the layering of sauce, ravioli, tomatoes, cheese; finish off with the final cup of sauce.


 

 

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes; sauce will be bubbling and all the cheese melted.  The box of ravioli I used had 18 ravioli in them; during the baking process they expanded their bulk by half, so a serving of three was just right.  Therefore, this recipe made six servings.

The ravioli cooked up perfectly; the flavor of the sauce was infused into the pasta.  Tasting the seafood, pasta, cheese and tomatoes all together made me feel as if I was eating a decadent seafood parmigiana over pasta.  Sometimes, you have to think outside of the box, and not use everything inside it either.

Mary Cokenour



Redemption of the Frozen and the Canned.

Recently on the Food Network show "Next Iron Chef: Redemption", the chefs had to transform a canned good into a five star dish.  After all the whining and complaining, many accomplished what they thought to be the impossible.  Honestly, I did not feel their pain, I did not have any sympathy for them; the average home cook doesn't get the privilege of five star ingredients.  Depending on the average financial budget and the goods available in the supermarkets, the average home cook works with many canned, boxed and/or frozen goods.

Now I have explained before that Utah is a landlocked state and fresh fish is near to impossible to be obtained.  The fish I have to work with is frozen or canned; no shame in that if you can make it into a great dish though.  So, if those potential Iron Chefs don't like that idea, then be generous and send me even half your yearly budget for fresh ingredients.  Thank you, thank you very much.  Anyway, I am going to go through how to make a seafood stock that you can use to make a rich seafood bisque which includes ravioli and shrimp.  I'll write up the recipe for Seafood Stock as if you can find the fresh shellfish, but then tell you what to do if you cannot.

Seafood Stock (fresh shellfish available)

Ingredients:

6 cups combination of shrimp, crab and lobster shells, broken up
1/2 cup white wine
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 large stalk celery, chopped
1 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
1 Tbsp fresh parsley leaves
1 tsp whole black peppercorns
water to cover

Preparation:

Place all ingredients in a large stock pot and cover with water until one inch over all ingredients.  Set heat on high and let cook until water just begins to bubble; reduce heat to medium and let cook for one hour.  During cooking, skim off any foam that may develop; do not let the liquid boil, reduce heat if necessary.

Use a cheesecloth to strain the stock into a large bowl; discard the ingredients.  The stock can be used immediately or up to 3 days later if stored in the refrigerator.  The stock can also be frozen for future use.

Makes 2 1/2 quarts.

Now if you can only find frozen shrimp which is most readily available, don't panic as you have two choices.  Simply make shrimp stock, or add clam juice which is available in cans or bottles.  For the clam juice, put 4 cups of juice into a large sauce pan; add 1 tsp fresh thyme and 1 tsp fresh chopped basil.   Start with high heat until bubbles begin to form; reduce to low and let simmer for 30 minutes.  Strain through cheesecloth and the clam stock is now ready to be added to your large stock pot with the water you need to add.

The seafood stock is now ready for creating an indulgent seafood bisque; rich, creamy and full of flavor.

Seafood Bisque

Ingredients:

2 cups seafood stock
2 Tbsp tomato paste
3 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp flour
4 cups heavy cream
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a large sauce pan, heat the stock, tomato paste and butter on high heat until butter is melted; whisk in flour until completely incorporated.  Continue whisking as the heavy cream is slowly poured into the stock.  Bring liquid to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer for 45 minutes.  Add salt and pepper if necessary.

Makes 6 servings.

Now lets add some ravioli and seafood to that bisque and make one heck of a meal.  I like spoiling my husband and myself, so instead of using plain cheese ravioli, I used Buitoni's Shrimp and Lobster Ravioli.  I cooked it according to package directions, but instead of using the garlic butter sauce it comes with, I add the drained pasta to soup bowls and spooned the bisque over it.  I had also purchased medium shrimp which I shelled, deveined, sauteed in butter until just turning pink; added diced tomatoes, diced celery, diced carrot (cooked before hand till just softened) and thyme leaves and finished the shrimp up.  Into the soup bowls this combo all went and wallah: Seafood Bisque with Ravioli and Shrimp.  If you don't want to add the vegetables, that's fine; remember, it's your creation in the long run.

So here's my meal using frozen and canned ingredients; maybe the potential Iron Chefs could do better, but I made mine with love.

Mary Cokenour

Goodbye Childhood Favorite; Hello Homemade.

When I was younger and able to cook for myself, I would occasionally make a meal from a canned product. Now a popular item sold in the stores was Franco-American Spaghetti-O's. It was one of the most vile tasting things I'd ever eaten and avoided it whenever I saw it sitting on a pantry shelf. Sure it was cheap, probably why my mother bought it, but it was so disgusting that it didn't get eaten by me, that's for sure. However, I loved, just loved, Chef-Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti and Meatballs, or the Beef Ravioli; the sauce was so tangy and tasty and I couldn't get enough of those meatballs.

 

 

Throughout my growing up and adult years, I'd depend on the Chef for a quick meal now and then. The invention of the microwave made heating and eating quicker and more convenient. Heck, I even fed it to my son as he progressed from childhood into teenage years. Wow, has my opinion changed about the Chef recently though. Out of sheer nostalgia I opened up a can of ravioli, heated it up and started to eat. Same tangy sauce, but not so tasty now; same mystery meat filling, same mushy pasta; why the heck was I eating this garbage!?! So I threw it away, but later on my stomach gave me its opinion of the portion I had eaten...it was not a happy camper, to say the least.

The label on the can says "No Preservatives", but lets take a look at what the ingredient listing is: Water, Tomatoes (Water, Tomato Puree), Enriched Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and Folic Acid), Beef, Crackermeal (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate (Vitamin B1), Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) and Folic Acid), CONTAINS LESS THAN 2% OF: High Fructose Corn Syrup, Wheat Flour, Soybean Oil, Salt, Carrots, Textured Soy Protein Concentrate (Soy Protein Concentrate and Caramel Coloring), Onions, Flavorings, Caramel Coloring, Potassium Chloride, Oleoresin Paprika, Citric Acid, Maltodextrin, Enzyme Modified Cheese [Cheddar Cheese (Pasteurized Milk, Cultures, Salt, Enzymes), and Annatto (Color)] and Disodium Guanylate and Disodium Inosinate. CONTAINS: MILK, SOY, WHEAT

I can make out what most of the items are, but what are "Flavorings"? Why does it need "Caramel Coloring"; is that for the beef filling or the sauce or what??? "Potassium Chloride" is a substitute for salt, so why is salt already on the ingredient list? "Oleoresin Paprika" is a food colorant, so is it used to make the tomato sauce, which is red, redder? I'm not going to keep asking questions about all the other chemical compounds listed as I believe you're understanding my point here; or I hope you are.

Instead of purchasing cheap canned meals just for convenience sake, why not purchase fresh, or as fresh as you can find, ingredients and make your own meals?  I've already posted numerous pasta sauce recipes, boiling pasta hardly takes any time, and the convenience of storage containers which go from freezer to microwave to table is abundant. You're worth the time and effort, and so are family members who you're cooking for. Budget conscious? Who isn't these days, but everyone is also becoming more health conscious. Sit down with paper, pen and calculator and do the lists, do the math and see if cooking, portioning out and eating your own convenience made meals doesn't do your budget, you and your family better.

Mary Cokenour

Pasta Prima is Natural and Green.

Pasta Prima

Website: http://www.pastaprima.com/

While shopping at the Safeway in Cortez, Colorado, I came across one of those little refrigerated display cases. Inside were all kinds of cheeses, cured meats and fresh (not dried) pasta products; one being the Pasta Prima brand. Immediately the package of Lobster Ravioli caught my eye; the cost was $5.99 for 10 ravioli with a seasoning packet, so I decided to try it.

 

The ravioli are large and an orange color similar to that of a lobster; cooking them to package directions, the pasta was tender and quite delicious itself. Now according to the package, lobster is the first ingredient listed and you can see it minced up inside the filling; ricotta cheese, herbs and tomatoes (probably used for the pasta coloring) were also high up on the listing. I was very surprised to be able to taste the lobster itself, even though it was minced; there was a strong flavor, so you knew what it was called was what you were eating. The ricotta cheese was creamy; and the filling was just enough to keep the ravioli from splitting open, yet be satisfying to the mouth.

I've have tried other brands of fresh pasta, but the taste and presence of lobster was just not there; not so with Pasta Prima brand.  For the supermarket price, two people can enjoy a decadent meal without paying the cost of a fancy restaurant.   Gourmet filled ravioli can also be found with Spinach and Mozzarella or Grilled Chicken with Mozzarella fillings, and I'm looking forward to trying those out also.

Pasta Prima's products are 100% natural, no preservatives used; they also have a gluten free product.  The company prides itself on being green; using energy from renewable wind and solar sources.  If your supermarket carries this brand, try it; if not, ask the management to bring it in; the treat is worth the price.

Mary Cokenour