mushroom ravioli

I don't know when I first had the idea for these. I think I just wanted ravioli or at least something resembling ravioli, and the last time I was making wontons, I thought, why can't a wonton wrapper be a ravioli?

Since I used up the last of my frozen wonton wrappers on wontons (I didn't even get to use all my pork filling), the wrappers went on the grocery list and raviolis went on my menu.

For three whole weeks.

I guess when a person really wants to buy wonton wrappers and isn't just thinking, hey I should get some of these and just keep them in the freezer for when a wonton craving hits, they mysteriously disappear from the shelves. Funny, that.

Anyway, I finally found them in stock, and if you're like me and hate Superstore's filing system, I'll help you out and tell you I find these in the fancy deli meats cuz that makes sense when you really think about where a package of wonton wrappers should be.

First things first, make your filling. I decided on mushroom just because I had no other ideas for this particular vegetarian Tuesday. Er, semi-vegetarian Tuesday. I also defrosted my leftover pork mush from wontons past. That stuff can't stay in the freezer forever, you know.

I loosely based it on this recipe which I swear I didn't find before I had this wonton ravioli idea. I just decided to search for a mushroom ravioli filling and low and behold, this popped up.

So, by "loosely based," I mean my recipe went something like this:

• enough canola oil to cover the bottom of my pan
• 1 large finely chopped onion (I friggin' love onions)
• about 3 ounces of finely chopped button mushrooms (no matter how many mushrooms I get, I have yet to actually get one pound. Even when I buy "extra" mushrooms because I'm making a mushroom based recipe and I still have some in a bag at home. I've never been able to measure a whole pound. I'm starting to think a pound of mushrooms looks like an entire flat of mushrooms.)
• 3 large minced cloves of garlic (I friggin' love garlic)
• 2 minced thinish slices of fresh ginger (my tiny 11 cent bit of ginger was starting to look bad so I peeled and chopped it into slices and froze them)
• generous amounts of salt and pepper
• a few splashes (maybe about a couple tablespoons) of soy sauce
• I wanted to put more salt and pepper in, but then I remembered soy sauce has salt in it and then I was worried everything was too salty and it was definitely salty, but I liked it that way
• a sprinkling of oregano (I don't have thyme)
• a sprinkle of vegetable seasoning (I friggin' love this stuff)

And you know, saute all that in your pan until the juices evaporate and the mushrooms become thick and filling-like. Technically speaking.

Now on to the fun parts.

These pictures are not the best, but they're the best I could get in my very dark, poorly lighted kitchen with wet floury paste-hands.

lay out your wonton wrappers and add a tablespoon of filling to the center of each one. Dip your finger in some water and wet all four sides of the wonton wrapper.

Take another wonton wrapper and press it over your filling making sure to press around all four sides. I picked them up and pressed around the sides and around the filling making sure the air bubbles were all out.

Place them on a damp towel (I have issues with dampening an actual tea towel for these things so I'll use paper towel instead. You can use whatever you're comfortable with) and cover with another damp towel so they don't dry out.

Then I popped them in the fridge until I was ready to cook them. Make ahead meal! Fantastic!

When you're ready to cook them, boil a pot of salted water. Keep it at a rolling boil and drop a few raviolis in at a time. I put in 8 each time. That recipe says to cook them for 4 minutes, but once they start floating, I generally consider them done. You just want the wonton wrappers to be soft and tender, a little translucent.

Now here's where my problems started. I had made some browned butter with garlic and I had planned on using that to gently coat the wontons so they wouldn't stick together. In hindsight, I should have put each of them directly into the butter as soon as they came out because as more went in my bowl, it got increasingly harder to toss them with the butter. So there was definite stickage. Also the mushroom filling was very delicate. That meant that they easily ripped open when we tried to get them out of the bowl (stickage also contributing). I think it would have been better to have made a mushroom ricotta filling or maybe used a meatier mushroom or maybe if I'd actually used the whole pound. I just thought they should have been a little more substantial than just the mushrooms and onions.

pork filled ravioli

I'll probably make these again. They're not exactly hard but they are slightly time consuming so it's not something I'd make every week. They're a nice change from the usual pasta and they were really delicious. The mushroom filling definitely trumped the pork. It was so good! As usual, if there are any dinner leftovers, I have them for breakfast. And I'm not ashamed to say that I'm a little sad now that they're gone.