It's Time For Another Royal Foodie Joust!

The lovely Jenn over at the Leftover Queen Forum is the lovely host of a little monthly competition we like to call the Royal Foodie Joust. Brittany The Pie Lady won last month's Joust with her very first entry (congrats!), so she was able to pick this month's ingredients. Up this month, we've got any kind of mushrooms, herbs and cheese. I chose Portobello Mushrooms, Oregano and Sage, and Asiago cheese (one of my very favorites):
For my entry, I had no idea what I wanted to make. For one, I loathe mushrooms. I hate their texture (they feel like slimy little slugs). Two, I'm not big on their flavor. And three, the thought of eating a fungus really does not appeal to me. But, in Royal Foodie manner, I manned up and picked up my first set of mushrooms in God knows how long. I even picked up a jar of mushroom spaghetti sauce. I chose to make ravioli, and just did not feel like making the sauce myself. So, without further delay, here's my entry for Mushroom and Asiago Cheese Stuffed Ravioli.

Ingredients:
-1 portobello mushroom
-1/2 bell pepper
-3 cloves of garlic
-1/4 onion
-1/4 cup Asiago cheese
-1/5 cup olive oil
-1 or 2 sprigs of fresh oregano
-1 or 2 sprigs of fresh sage
-salt and pepper
-1 package of wonton/ravioli wrappers
-1 egg white
-1 jar spaghetti sauce (I use Classico)
-1 can of stewed tomatoes

Instructions: Chop up the mushroom, bell pepper, garlic, onion, oregano and sage into 1/8" bits and combine them in a bowl. Chop the herbs and add those to the other ingredients. Add the olive oil and spices and stir well to combine. Mixture should look like this:

Heat in a pan over low heat until the onions turn transparent and the mushrooms turn slightly brown. Heat a stock pot of water to a boil (you may want to add some olive oil to prevent the ravioli from sticking to each other). In another pot, heat the spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes over medium heat and season to taste. Sprinkle a couple baking trays with some corn meal to prevent the ravioli from sticking. Brush the edges of the ravioli wrappers with the egg white, then add a small amount (about the size of a large marble) of the ravioli mixture to the wrapper. Take another wrapper and brush the edges with the egg white, and place over the top of the bottom ravioli. Press the edges to create a nice seal and put on the tray. Repeat until you're out of filling (this should make about 10-12 ravioli). Place the ravioli in the boiling water and allow to soak until the ravioli become slightly transparent (I wish I had taken a picture of this step, because the ravioli somewhat resembled brains!). Once they're done, use a slotted spoon to carefully lift the ravioli out of the water and place on your plate. Pour the spaghetti sauce mixture over the top.
These were pretty good for someone who doesn't like mushrooms. You're looking at my husband's dinner, and he had me heat the leftover mushrooms in some olive oil so he'd have "something meaty" to eat with his ravioli. I felt like there should have been more cheese, or a different cheese, like ricotta, to bind all the ingredients inside the ravioli. Once they were cut open, the ingredients sort of just fell out all over the plate. But they sure were tasty, very flavorful because of the fresh herbs and you could really taste the mushroom. It was a nice combination of flavors, but the texture was just a little bit off. I'd give it a 7 out 10 points.

But, don't fret, for I came up with a tasty dessert to make up for my lackluster dinner!! We had quite a few leftover wonton wrappers, and I was craving chocolate. The only chocolate left in the house was a jar of Nutella, so I stuffed a wonton wrapper with about a half teaspoon of it, folded the wrapper in half and sealed it with some water. Plopped that bad boy in some heated oil for a few seconds (about 30, 15 per side) and tossed it in some powdered sugar when it was done. Heaven. My 2 1/2 year old neice looked at it and asked, "What is it." I said, "It's a Chocolate Dumpling" and she said "Ohhhh" and took a bite. Big grins all around! Success!

Now I'm off to come up with more exciting recipes that involve wonton/ravioli wrappers. That was just too much fun and way too tasty to never do again.

~Mehgan~

P.S. Let me just say how frustrating it is that the sun sets so early now that we're approaching Winter. By the time I get dinner done, there's not enough light left to photograph my little dishes and make them look good. My kitchen flourescents and camera flash will have to do until Spring. How sad!