Ravioli Al Fresco Recipe

Ravioli Al Fresco

  This dish came about due to part laziness and part heat exhaustion on my part. Let me explain, I live in a desert and currently it is reaching temps of a balmy 95 degrees with promises of it only getting hotter. This means around May we stop cooking because the oven can heat the house up so badly. When it gets this hot I really don't want to move I just want to plop down on the couch and sip at a cold drink, unfortunately that often means that we end up doing the take out thing and that is just not going to help me in my goal to lose 20 lbs this year.

  So I have been messing around in the kitchen on my days off trying to find yummy recipes that will use as little heat as possible and yet not kill my waist line. This particular dish was inspired by the Filippo Berio Olive Oil that was sent to me from BzzAgent. I am trying to follow the Mediterranean Diet and eat more vegetables, and get my starches from whole grain breads and pastas. 

  This dish is super easy to make as there is very little prep involved and is a nice light tasting pasta dish with plenty of veggies that make it not to heavy for those hot days. Please remember these measurements are not exact, as I rarely measure when cooking. Don't stress if you add a little more or a little less as it won't kill the recipe.

Ravioli Al Fresco

1 small bottle Marinated Artichoke Hearts

1 bottle Roasted Red Peppers

1 cup (roughly) Broccoli Florets (fresh or frozen your choice)

1/2 cup (roughly) Carrots Cut into Match Sticks

1 package of Fresh Ravioli (your choice in flavor I like chicken or lobster for this dish)

1 Large Handful of Basil Leaves

6-10 Kalmata Olives

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (I used Filippo Berio)

Step 1:

Chop your broccoli into bite sizes pieces like this and roughly matchstick your carrots. Then cook/defrost your veggies until they are tender crisp then dump them into ice water to stop the cooking process

Step 2:

Cook your ravioli according to package. While the ravioli is cooking cut the Roasted Red Peppers, Marinated Artichoke Hearts and Kalmata Olives into small bite sized pieces, make sure to reserve the oil and marinade the Artichokes come in. Toss them with the cooled veggies into a big bowl and combine. Tear basil into shreds and toss in too. It should look like this.

Step 3: Drain your ravioli in a large strainer and rinse well. Shake off the excess water and drizzle the pasta with olive oil and toss gently to coat. When the pasta is no longer hot add to the veggie mixture.


Step 4: Pour the marinade that the Artichokes came in over mixture and toss gently to coat everything. Drizzle with a touch more olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

  I recommend letting this dish sit in the fridge for at least an hour before serving to allow the flavors to meld. 

Even better you can make this dish the night before and serve it up the next day, if you do this I suggest allowing it to sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes before serving so it's not stone cold and serve with a nice crisp white wine

You can also sub the ravioli for some fusili or rotini and turn this into a great pasta salad!