Procrastination Cooking: Goat Cheese Ravioli al Ragu

by Julie Sophonpanich

No one ever really wants to take classes on a Friday afternoon. It’s already the end of the week and it’s time to relax. But how are you supposed to spend your time when a) you don’t want to do work, b) its too early to rage, and c) you don’t really want to be SO unproductive that you truly waste away your whole afternoon. Well, that’s an easy one: cook!

This past Friday before the long weekend (aka Columbus Day weekend; Canadian Thanksgiving), I decided to spend my whole afternoon making ravioli and meat sauce from scratch.

Cooking my extended dish was a great way to spend my afternoon after a week of stressed paper-writing and exam-taking. Chop, knead, pound, and chop some more. Trust me, this can get as physical as boxing.

Here’s a brief timeline of my cooking adventure:
1.00pm grocery shopping
3.30pm prep goat cheese mixture
4.00pm prep and cook tomato sauce
4.20pm grind beef and bacon
4.30pm cook beef and bacon
4.45pm combine sauce ingredients
5.30pm prep ravioli dough
6.30pm make ravioli
7.45pm cook ravioli
8.00pm dinner is served!

Julie Sophonpanich is a senior at Brown University where she studies History of Art and Architecture. She enjoys baking, cooking, and strolling through grocery stores.

**Recipe**

Goat Cheese Ravioli al Ragu
Serves 6

Ingredients

For the ravioli stuffing:
10.5 oz Goat cheese (298g)
1 stalk rosemary
5 basil leaves

For the sauce:
3 tbsp olive oil
7 cloves garlic, chopped
½ onion head, diced
5 medium tomatoes, cubed
5 basil leaves, chopped
1 pound beef (whole or ground)
3-5 bacon strips
2 tsp salt
1 tbsp mixed dried herbs (basil, rosemary, lavender, thyme)

Ravioli Dough (recipe follows)

In a tupperware, combine goat cheese, chopped basil, and rosemary. Let it sit in the fridge until needed for making ravioli.

Heat up 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a pot on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the garlic and sautee until golden brown. Then, add the onion, tomatoes, and chopped basil. Combine the mixture well. Turn the heat down, cover the pot with a lid, and let the sauce simmer.

At this point, mince the beef and bacon in the food processor until smooth. If you bought ground beef, simply cut the bacon into small pieces and combine it with the beef.

Heat the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil on medium high heat in a separate pan. Cook the beef and bacon mixture for 5 minutes or until fully cooked.

Combine the meat with the tomato sauce. Add dried mixed herbs. Let the entire concoction simmer for 2 hours on very low heat. Stir occasionally.

Take out the ravioli dough from the fridge and break off a small section to work with. Roll the dough out as thin as possible on a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter (or something round) to cut the ravioli into small rounds.

Take the goat cheese mixture out from the fridge. Measure out 1 teaspoon of goat cheese and place it on a ravioli round. Use water to wet the edges of the ravioli and place another round on top. Press down the edges of the ravioli until it is sealed.

Boil a pot of water with 1 tablespoon of salt. Cook the ravioli for 3-5 minutes (until it floats).

Combine the ravioli and the meat sauce and serve on a plate.

Ravioli Dough
Recipe adapted from Alton Brown
Serves 6

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 large eggs
1 tbsp olive oil
5 tbsp water
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Measure out 3 cups of all purpose purpose flower into the bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix eggs, water, olive oil, and salt. Slowly pour the mixture into the bowl of flour and mix it well. Mix as much flour into the wet mixture as possible; the dough will not take all the flour.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Once the dough is combined, cover it with a plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least half an hour.

Recipe Index Keywords:

Categories: Campus Cooking, Dinner Parties, Eating, and Recipes.
Cooking Method: On the Stove.
Mealtime: Dinner.
I'm Cooking For...: Birthday, Dates, and Dinner Party.
Type of Food: Meat and Pasta.