Three Cheese Wonton Ravioli

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients
3 cups Quick Tomato Sauce (recipe below) or your favorite store bought brand
½ cup squeezed, chopped, cooked fresh or frozen spinach
½ cup coarsely grated mozzarella
½ cup ricotta (whole milk or low fat)
½ cup freshly microplane grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus extra for sprinkling
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
32 square wonton wrappers
shredded basil for garnish.

Directions
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Make the tomato sauce.

In a large bowl combine the spinach, mozzarella, ricotta, ½ cup parmesan, nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.

Working with a few wonton skins at a time, keeping the others covered with plastic wrap, moisten the edges with water. Put a level teaspoon of the filling in the center of each wrapper, and put another wonton on top. Press out the air and crimp the edges tightly to seal. As they are filled, transfer the ravioli to a flour dusted sheet pan.  Repeat with the remaining wonton wrappers and filling.

Add the ravioli to the pot of boiling water, turn down to a simmer and cook, until just tender, 3 to 5 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the sauce.  To serve: divide the ravioli among four shallow soup plates, top with some of the sauce and a sprinkling of the cheese. Garnish with the shredded basil.

 

Quick Tomato Sauce

Every time I make this recipe, which I do often, I marvel at its simplicity and tastiness.  Why buy prepared tomato sauce, which is often loaded with all sorts of ingredients none of us needs (like high-fructose corn syrup), when you can make a much better sauce at home in about 25 minutes?

Yields about 3 cups, 4 servings
Hands-on time: 5 minutes
Total preparation time: 25 minutes

Ingredients
1 small onion
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic
One 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes (preferably fire roasted)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes (optional) or to taste
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Directions
Finely chop the onion (about 1/2 cup). Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat until hot. Reduce the heat to medium-low; add the onion and cook 5 minutes or until it has softened. Press the garlic into the saucepan (about 2 teaspoons) and cook 1 minute longer.

While the onion and garlic are cooking, empty the canned tomatoes and their juice into a large bowl and break them into pieces with your hands or cut them with a kitchen scissors. Transfer them to the saucepan along with the red pepper flakes, if using. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat. Turn the heat down to low and simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes until it has thickened. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

 

COOK’S NOTES

Wonton wrappers can be found in the frozen food section or sometimes in the dairy area, near the tofu. They are made basically of flour and eggs and have the same texture and flavor as fresh pasta.

You should always freshly grate Parmigiano-Reggiano. I prefer to use a microplane because it seems so much safer (the fine side of a four sided grater can catch your finger easily, and suddenly a little bit of you is going into the dish). But, if you use a microplane you will get a different volume amount than you would get if you grated the cheese on a box grater, roughly twice the amount. Keep that in mind when you are following a recipe.