Foodbuzz Tastemaker: Buitoni Riserva Shrimp & Lobster Ravioli

Don't forget to enter the lifetime supply of dry peas & lentils giveaway

Thanks to Foodbuzz' Tastemaker program and Buitoni, I had the opportunity to test Buitoni's new premium frozen meal lines thanks to a coupon. I chose to test the Shrimp & Lobster with Garlic Butter Sauce because I love seafood, and the box says it's made with real Maine lobster. The ingredient list lists shrimp third and and lobster meat eighth, plus there's a lobster base further down the list. Overall, the ingredient list wasn't too bad, and most of the items were recognizable.

This is a "complete meal for two", with about 7-8 ravioli per person. Included is a packet of ravioli and a sauce packet. The sauce packets is added to the pot of water that's heated to a boil, then the ravioli are stirred in and cooked for a quick 5 minutes. Spoon the ravioli out into a bowl, open the sauce packet (carefully, because it'll be hot) and pour on top and toss to coat (I added the parsley on my own). Pretty simple.

Firstly, I was pleased with the amount of lobster and shrimp the ravioli had, and that's always a good sign because oftentimes the main ingredients are rather skimpy. The flavor was good, and the ricotta filling wasn't overpowering to the flavor of the seafood. Unfortunately, I felt that the garlic butter sauce overwhelmed the flavors of the filling, and you couldn't quite taste the shrimp or lobster when you ate the ravioli with the sauce. The sauce tasted as good as you would expect from a frozen meal, but if it had been a bit lighter, to allow the filling to be highlighted, I would have enjoyed it more. Honestly, though, the consistency and taste almost reminded me of the garlic dipping sauce you get with pizza.

Here you can see more of the filling. I found myself enjoying the ravioli sans sauce more than altogether.

So I didn't hate this, but it wasn't remarkable enough to make me want to buy it again. Thanks to Foodbuzz Tastemaker and Buitoni for letting me review their product!

roasted tomato vodka sauce with prunes

Please, don't be deterred by the addition of prunes. My idea for this sauce came from another Italian recipe for a pork loin stuffed with prunes that I really like. The sweetness of the prunes enhances and contrasts against the savory flavors to create a depth of flavor, and it was my inspiration for this vodka sauce.

Since the tomatoes, onions, and garlic are roasted, the sauce is practically already cooked once everything gets into the skillet. This isn't necessarily a quick sauce, but you could put it together in about an hour if the water for the pasta is being heated as you prep the sauce.

Besides the vodka, which probably acts just like any alcohol added to pasta sauce minus the flavor (I'm guessing), vodka sauce has cream in it. So you're thinking this might be unhealthy? Not here. Although I do use heavy whipping cream, which I feel contributes and enhances to the smoothness of the sauce (yeah, it was also what I had), you could use half and half, general cream, or even whole. I wouldn't suggest 1%, no matter how fat you're feeling, because it might make the sauce too watery. There's also only 1/4 cup of cream in here, probably coming out to about less than a tablespoon per serving (this at least has about 5 servings).

The flavor came out about how I was expecting, savory with sweet undertones. I don't generally prefer sweet sauces, but I like the subtle taste of the prunes in here. Another "secret" addition was two anchovy fillets, and again, don't be put off as you can't even taste them, it's just one of those special additions that greatly contributes to the flavor. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the outcome!

Recipe after the jump

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roasted tomato vodka sauce with prunes
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1 pound Roma tomatoes, sliced into eighths
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
2 small onions, sliced
10 garlic cloves, smashed and coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 teaspoons dried basil
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/3 cup prunes, coarsely chopped
2 flat fillet Anchovies
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 cup vodka
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 pound spaghetti

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 450° degrees. In a large pot, heat water with 1 tablespoon coarse salt for spaghetti to a boil.


2. On a rimmed baking sheet, place tomatoes, 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, onions, garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon basil, and white pepper. Stir to coat. Place on middle rack in oven and roast for 30 minutes, stirring halfway.


3. In a large skillet, heat remaining olive oil on medium heat. Stir in prunes and anchovies, using the back of stirring utensil to break the anchovies up. Saute for about 1 minute.


4. When tomato mixture has finished roasting, spoon into bowl of food processor along with the prune-anchovy mixture, leaving excess oil in skillet. Process with 3/4 cup water until smooth, no longer than 30 seconds. In same skillet, saute tomato paste, letting it caramelize a bit, for a minute; pour in pureed tomato mixture and stir to incorporate with tomato paste. Add vodka, stir, and reduce heat to maintain a rapid simmer.


5. Meanwhile, cook spaghetti according to package instructions until al dente. Halfway through cooking time, take 3/4 cup pasta water and add to tomato sauce; stir, then stir in heavy whipping cream. Check for seasonings.


6. Once pasta has finished cooking, drain portion out into bowls. Stir parsley into pasta sauce and remove from heat. Serve atop spaghetti.

lime wreaths, aka ciambelle

Whilst normally I refrain from any sort of Christmas baking, carol-listening, decoration setting things until immediately after Thanksgiving, that didn't keep me from perusing the Christmas Martha Stewart magazine.

I saw a recipe for "lemon wreaths", basically a traditional Italian cookie called ciambelle. Shaped into a circle, dipped in icing, then sprinkled, these don't have to be a Christmas cookie depending on the type of sprinkles you use. I also didn't have any lemons, so I subbed lime zest and juice. The sugar gets pulverized a bit with the rind before mixing it with the butter. It smelled awesome.

The process of shaping is pretty simple, just scoop the appropriate portion of dough, roll it into a rope, attach the two ends together. My brother and I realized too late that we were rolling the ropes out too much and the cookies ended up being larger as a result, but good and pretty nonetheless.

After being banked and cooled, the cookies are dipped in a lime glaze and sprinkled with nonpareils. Rather simple, yet very elegant in its simplicity.

I admit to being wary about making this recipe in the first place. Last time I tried a recipe like this (from a different source, and shaped into knots instead of wreaths), the end result was rather doughy and very meh. Either the recipe was quite unlike this, or my baking skills just weren't as developed then. Whichever it was, they just weren't worth the time. This, however, made me feel bad about cutting the recipe in half.

Not here. Because here, the cookies were soft and somewhat crispy like a shortbread, thought the texture wasn't as "fine". The lime glaze added a tangy-sweet element that complimented the cookie, and I loved the crunch from the sprinkles.

Also great about these, you can change the flavor up to whatever you please. Lemon, orange, even grapefruit. Don't want a citrus flavor? No problem, leave it out, add some coconut or strawberry extract. I bet that rum flavored extract would actually lend an intriguing flavor. Add a spice if you want.

One thing I noticed is that the dough was quite sticky, and I realized this after mixing in all the flour and didn't want to add more afterwards to keep from handling the dough too much. Chilling the dough for a while worked, though it was still on the sticky side and the board needed to be kept lightly floured, but not too much so that the dough didn't stick to itself when attached. Despite that, these came together quickly.

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Christine's Lemon Wreaths
From Martha Stewart Living, December 2009

Make 6 dozen

ingredient ~

For the cookies
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

For the glaze
3 cups confectioners' sugar
7 to 8 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from 4 lemons)
1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons white nonpareils, for sprinkling

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Make the cookies: Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Pulse the sugar and zest in a food processor until combined, about 2 minutes.


2. Beat sugar-zest mixture and butter in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla and lemon juice. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and beat until combined. (After this I chilled the dough for about an hour or so.)


3. Scoop 1 tablespoon dough (or use a 1 1/8-inch ice cream scoop), and transfer to a lightly floured surface. Roll dough into a 4-inch rope. Bring ends together, overlapping slightly, and press together to form a ring. Repeat with remaining dough. Transfer rings to parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart, as you work. Bake until pale golden on the bottoms and around the edges, about 18 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, and let cool.


4. Make the glaze: Whisk together confectioners' sugar and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth. Dip the top side of each cookie into glaze, letting the excess drip off. Return cookies to wire racks, glaze sides up, and sprinkle with nonpareils. Let dry completely. (Decorated cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.)

i'd rather have the gun

It occurred to me the other day that I haven't ever eaten cannoli. Why, you ask? Because it's as if I could picture how it would taste and it never really appealed to my tongue.

Going along the lines of "go big or go home", the only place to go is Macri's, the local Italian bakery. It also occurred to me that I never took a picture of the front entrance, though I'd have to look through the blog archives to be sure.

Not only did they offer the regular sized cannoli, but there were miniature versions as well. I didn't (read: forgot) to ask what the filling consisted of so I'll have to assume it was a traditional ricotta filling. I couldn't pass up the chocolate coated cannolo because it looked like a Chaco Taco!

So. Was the cannoli different than my expectations? A little. I was pleased that it wasn't exactly as I thought, though on the other hand I didn't think it was anything too spectacular. The filling reminded me of a less dense cheesecake filling that wasn't airy, yet not so dense you could patch a wall with it.

The dough is what made it err on the side of "meh". It was crispy, but in a crumbly way, and rather dense than what I would have expected, sort of like when you eat a pie and the crust seems like it was made with oil, or something.

Concluding this post, I realize that I need to try more cannoli in order to reach a more conclusive opinion on whether or not I need to get in touch with my Italian side. Isn't there a Little Italy in Chicago?

potato gnocchi

One of my favorite ways to use potatoes is turning it into pillowy mounds of gnocchi. I don't really care for mashed potatoes, although mine are excellent (does it make any sense that I can make well what I don't care for?).

The first step is to boil the whole russet potatoes in their jackets. What you have to get past is the humanizing of an edible, akin to the oysters in The Walrus and the Carpenter. All I know is that if I saw something tasty wearing shoes, jackets, whatever, I'd feel a little like a cannibal if I did eat it, which is why I am opposed to tuxedoed strawberries.
Anyway, after the boiling you peel the potatoes immediately after removing from the pan, then rice it. And I swear gnocchi was invented by the Italian mafia since this has to be a form of torture, even if you are wearing gloves or holding the potato by a clean cotton towel.

Once the riced potatoes have cooled, you make a well and dump in some of the flour, the salt and pepper, a bit of freshly grated nutmeg (just enough to enhance the potato flavor), and a beaten egg. Gather the flour into the egg and draw in the potato a little at a time, ending up with a large mound of emulsified dough that you've kneaded until all ingredients are thoroughly distributed, but not enough to make it overly glutenized.

My fake nonna, Lidia Bastianich, says that the correct texture of finished dough should resemble cookie dough with little holes strewn about, and I say it should pretty much be soft to the touch, but not sticky. This woman knows what's up.

Slice each half into half to make fourths, then keep the rest covered while you roll out one piece on a lightly floured surface. Slice the log up into evenly-sized "pillows", some recipe say 1", some less, I like making smaller gnocchi because the shape comes out better.

Take a piece and roll it down the tines of a fork, pressing down with your thumb, to create ridges on one side and an indent, which I like to refer to as a sauce catcher, on the other side.

If you aren't cooking these up immediately, place gnocchi in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with wax paper and dusted lightly with flour and freeze until solid.

While I didn't use her recipe this time, Lidia Bastianich's recipe is my referral guide as she offers precise instructions for turning out excellent gnocchi, so take a look and read through her recipe, method, and tips here.

P.S. I know all recipes say cook for 2-3 minutes, but as I have a paranoia of disintegrating gnocchi I cook them just until they rise to the surface and I'm quite certain it's not 2-3 minutes, I don't know. You may or may not want to listen to me.