Spanish Ravioli

We recently got together with some friends for homemade Spanish tapas.  Everyone was asked to bring 2 tapas dishes with an influence from Spain.  In anticipation of the evening, we scoured the internet for recipes and ideas.  We were not feeling very inspired with the recipes we were finding until we came across some Spanish Ravioli.  We LOVE making ravioli but have always stuck to very Italian flavors.  This was inspiring. There were only a couple recipes to be found and so we read some ideas from Spanish chefs and combined some different Spanish flavors to infuse the ravioli with a fiesta in every bite.

Intriguing Spanish flavors: Manchego cheese, chorizo, chili peppers, smoked paprika, lots of olive oil and garlic.

Result: 2 types of Ravioli

Sweet Potato and Feta Ravioli

2 large sweet potatoes, baked
1/2 a red onion carmelized in olive oil with 1 Anaheim pepper, both finely diced
3/4 c-ish feta cheese
a little salt
plenty of black and cayenne pepper
smoked paprika

Bake your potatoes and carmelize your onion and Anaheim.  Peel and mash the potatoes and add everything together to taste.  You may want to add a little extra olive oil (or milk) to loosen it up a little depending on how thick it is.  Stuff your ravioli.

This potato mixture is an awesome combination of flavors that could be served on its own or in a number of applications.  Since making it for ravioli we have made it several times just to be served as a side of mashed potatoes.  It goes awesome with pork, chicken or steak. 

And...

Chorizo and Manchego Chese Ravioli

1 lb chorizo
1/2 finely diced red onion
1 finely diced Anaheim pepper
4 cloves garlic
cayenne pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 cup shredded Manchego cheese (if you don't have manchego I would say baby swiss is fairly close in flavor and would probably work well)

Brown the chorizo with the onions, anaheims and garlic.  Add the cayenne pepper to taste.  Toss in the parsley and cheese.


We had enough ravioli that we had it for 2 meals.  With our friends we served it with an easy olive oil "sauce".  The next day we decided to try something a little more fun so we made a Spanish Alfredo of sorts.


Easy sauce

olive oil
garlic, minced
fresh parsley, minced
smoked paprika

Warm the olive oil and garlic over low heat for 10 min or so, to infuse the oil w/garlic flavor.  Remove from heat, cool slightly and stir in the parsley.  Toss with the Ravioli gently and top with the smoked paprika.


Cream Sauce (basically just an alfredo with finely diced Anaheim pepper and Manchego cheese instead of Parmesan)

1/4 c butter
1/2 onion, finely diced
1 Anaheim pepper, finely diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 c flour
2 1/2 c milk
1/2 cream (substitute milk if you want to)
a little salt
lots of pepper
a little cayenne
any other seasoning you desire
2/3 cup-ish Manchego cheese
1/4 cup-ish finely minced fresh parsley
smoked paprika

Saute the onion, Anaheim and garlic in the butter.  When they are translucent add the flour to make a roux.  Add the milk and cream and bring just to a boil.  Remove from heat (very important so the cheese doesn't curdle the milk) and wisk in the Manchego.  Stir in the parsley.  Toss with the ravioli gently.  Top with a little sprinkling of smoked paprika.