The 9-minute Ravioli Dinner

A guest recipe from my pal Henry down in Chicago who taught me how to make fast food great. - Jeff

No big essay or long drawn out mommy blog bullshit story. It’s a recipe. This is about as fancy as I get so don’t get your hopes up.

INGREDIENTS

• Your choice of Glorioso's frozen ravioli (sausage, wild mushroom, roasted butternut squash gnocchi, or goat cheese and red pepper ravioli) (you can substitute Perfect Pasta ravioli for Glorioso's. That’s what we get here in Chicago.) 

• 2-3 tbsp. chopped fresh basil

• Good quality oil for finishing (Partanna, Paesano, Iliada Kalamata olive oil – or flavored olive oil like Iliada Truffle olive oil, or Castillo de Canena spicy Harissa Olive oil. The good shit.)

• A nice quality finishing balsamic vinegar like Leonardi 3-year balsamic or something from Giusti. (Jeff wrote about that in another article here. It’s a long ass article he writes too much if you ask me.)

• Fresh Pecorino Romano, grated (Ambriola, Locatelli, you get the idea)

You gotta have high quality olive oil, balsamic and Pecorino. Those ingredients make it good. Have some self respect. Get some quality olive oil and balsamic in that kitchen of yours. Mop up that floor too while you’re at it. How do you live?

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Put a pot on to boil & salt the water with a good amount of salt, like a small handful.

2. When water reaches a boil, add frozen ravioli, cook according to package directions (usually 4 to 6 minutes).

3. Chop basil while waiting, you can choose to make a chiffonade, which is a fancy way of saying stack about 10 leaves on top of each other, roll like a joint, and then slice up the roll, which should make pretty green ribbons of basil that look great when sprinkled on the ravioli.

4. Ok now check that damn pasta it's probably done. Drain, then transfer to bowl/plate. Add the basil to your liking, drizzle the quality olive oil (QUALITY, not that WalMart shit in your cabinet. Have some self-respect) over the ravioli, then add a slight drizzle of that good balsamic. 
   
   It's easy to make, it feels like cheating, and it’s a perfect meal to have when you are pressed for time. What’s the problem? You don't need to choke down that dry ass turkey sandwich just because you are pinched for time. Throw that disaster out and start living.