Adventures in farming in Central Texas.

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Greens and goat cheese ravioli

This week we ventured yet again to the delightful neighborhood cheese shop in Hyde Park - Antonelli's.  It was mainly to get their wonderful parmesan but we can't really get away from trying a few cheeses anytime you pop in.  Their latest newsletter had informed me of two new arrivals that I wanted to try - Ewephoria (a sheep milk cheese of course!) and a Wensleydale.  The Ewephoria is a gouda-style cheese from Holland...and it is delicious.  Still nutty like many sheep cheeses, this one has more sweetness and less of the typical untamed gaminess of other sheep cheeses I've tried.  So of course, that came home with us too!  The Wensleydale wasn't too Chad's liking - I think mostly because we tried it after the Ewephoria.  But before we can sneak out of the shop with just one extra thing than we had intended, John pulled out a flavored soft cheese that wowed us both.  Now, everyone in the shop knows Chad doesn't like goat cheese - and that's preciously why John didn't tell us what it was before we tried it.  It's the first batch of Pure Luck Dairy 'June's Gold'.  A simple chevre mixed with honey, thyme, and cracked pepper.  Marvelous!  So I convinced him to give it a go at home and make something with it.  This is what we ended up with:

Greens and Goat Cheese Ravioli serves 4

Filling:

14 ounces greens - spinach or chard for a mild taste, we added in about 1/3 broccoli leaves (can use kale too!)

1 egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup grated parmesan
3/4 cup goat cheese
1 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp cracked pepper
drizzle of honey

Pasta:

You can use any recipe you like - I've been working with this one lately:  "Homemades"

You can make the filling while letting the pasta rest.

1.  Rinse greens and cook over medium heat with just the water clinging to the leaves.  For spinach cook for about 5 minutes, for other thicker greens, cook for 10 minutes.  You want them well done.  Let the greens cool and squeeze out any excess water.  Chop finely.

2.  In a bowl, mix the greens with the rest of the filling ingredients.

3.  Fill the ravioli (for instance, using this technique) and spread on a floured surface for 30 minutes, turning over once or twice to let them dry.

4.  Boil salted water and cook for 5 minutes.

5.  Dot with butter and chopped sage.  YUM!