Relief!

The other day I somehow deleted all the passwords I'd saved in Firefox, including the password to this blog. For some reason, I wasn't able to recover them either through Firefox or Google. But I figured it out! And I am immensely relieved, because I thought that I may never be able to access this blog again. Yikes!

Anyway, I have been busy in the last few days. Feast your peepers on these lovelies:

I really thought that it would be a shame to hide the delicate flavour of these ravioli with a sauce, so I simply drizzled them with some extra virgin olive oil and a little freshly ground black pepper. I think this is the best way to really enjoy fresh pasta. If you wanted to use a sauce, perhaps a light roasted red pepper or tomato sauce, like a marinara, would be good so that the flavour of the sauce doesn't overwhelm the pasta.

As an aside, it hasn't escaped me that these ravioli look just like sunny-side up eggs!

Hand-made Roasted Yam Ravioli with Thyme

1 pkg. Chinese wonton or dumpling wrappers
1 1/2 cups roasted yams, cooled, skins removed and mashed
1/2-1 tbsp. finely chopped fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

In a medium bowl, mash the yam until there are no lumps. Add the thyme, salt, pepper and garlic powder and mix well.

Taking one wonton/dumpling wrapper, place the wrapper on a dry surface and in the middle of the wrapper place 1 tsp. of the mashed yam. Then, with you fingers or a pastry brush, pat some water all around the exposed dough. Don't use too much water because that will make the dough soggy. But you want to be sure to use enough to make sure there are no gaps between the layers of dough and you create a good seal all around the pasta. Carefully place a second piece of wrapper over top, matching up the edges of the dough and taking care to leave part of the wrapper open to let out air that is trapped between the layers.

Using a dry finger, trace the area around the filling to nudge out any air. When you have made sure there is no air trapped in around the filling, seal the ravioli. By doing this, you will make sure there is a good seal around the filling and that the ravioli don't open up in the water and let out their filling when you cook them.

Next, take a cookie cutter and place it over the ravioli, centering the filling in the middle of the cutter. Press down firmly. Remove the cutter and carefully remove the excess dough from around the ravioli. Transfer the ravioli to a rack to sit until you are ready to cook them. If not cooking them right away, place them on a non-stick cookie sheet in the freezer for up to 30 minutes and then transfer to an air-tight container or freezer bag.

When ready to cook, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Turn down the heat so the water is gently boiling. Add several ravioli to the water at a time for two minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon to drain the excess water and add the ravioli to whatever sauce you may be using to keep warm and to keep the ravioli from sticking together.

Makes 3-4 servings
(or 36 ravioli, depending on how many wonton/dumpling wrappers you have).