18.2.18

age of aquarius.
























spinach and ricotta ravioli with brown butter, walnuts and gorgonzola.

enough ravioli for 3 people, in our case it was 16 or so
3/4 cup butter, preferably unsalted but it  don't really matter if you careful
1/2 cup good fresh walnuts, coarsely chopped
2-3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, under no circumstances curly, chopped
1/4 cup heavy cream, go on, it's a special occasion
1 tsp fresh lemon juice, or "a squeeze of one half lemon into your seedcatching cupped palm held over the skillet"
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, or slightly less, I mention this in case you're the kind of person who always says "we always run out of Parmesan so I better grate a little extra": this is so you don't run out, you don't need much
1/4 cup crumbled or very thinly sliced Gorgonzola, to taste, I went light, this is the light amount
sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a medium-sized sauté pan over medium or possibly medium-low heat, cook butter without stirring until it starts to darken to a golden color. This should take 5-10 minutes. Watch it, do not take your eye off of it. You are going for the point where you notice it is browning, and then like maybe 30 seconds beyond that. It should not be smoking or smell burned.

When your butter has been noticeably brown for 30 seconds, add the nuts and cook until the butter is definitely golden brown and the nuts are fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add the parsley, cream, and lemon juice, and stir to combine. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring to integrate. Add Gorgonzola. Season with salt and pepper to taste. You can let this sit for 10 minutes or so while you do the next part if you're cooking by yourself, otherwise have someone else do this part:

Bring 3 or 4 liters of salted water (considerably less than "ocean salty", like half) to a full boil, reduce heat and then add ravioli. (if you add ravioli when the water is at a roiling boil, you risk having the ravioli pop open, nobody wants that). Have an occasional gentle stir to make sure the ravioli ain't sticking nowhere. Once water returns to a gentle boil, cook about 5-10 minutes, there's no way to be more precise b/c I didn't make your ravioli. Keep tasting for doneness. Drain carefully, or simply use a slotted spoon to remove the ravioli individually from the pot.

Spoon sauce over ravioli. If you likey, sprinkly more freshly grated Parmesany on toppy of ravioli.

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