Eats: Ravioli with sage-walnut butter sauce and balsamic reduction

Most of the time, I make dinner for Matt and myself. Once in a while, I get lazy and he does it. But sometimes...sometimes we tag-team dinner, and that is almost always the best idea ever.

Tag-team dinners usually involve the grill, because I've never grilled anything in my life, Matt loves grilling and our kitchen is just way too small for two people to cook in it. So yesterday afternoon, when I suggested we pick up some steaks to go with a ravioli recipe I wanted to try, Matt was pretty excited. Ok, I'll be honest, we both were. Steak is awesome.

It was an unconventional pairing, I'll admit, but I really wanted to make that ravioli because I had a TON of fresh sage that a neighbor gave us. And frankly, chicken just sounded boring.

About halfway through making the recipe, I decided photography was in order. I mean, seriously:




For real though. Straight-up mouth-watering, amiright?

The full recipe for the ravioli is over on the Food Network website, but here's a little rundown:

As a sidenote, I used frozen ravioli when the recipe called for refrigerated pasta. Frozen was fine, but I have no doubt that refrigerated would be even better.

So basically you just bring some balsamic vinegar, honey and a bay leaf to a boil in a small saucepot, let it boil for four to five minutes, then reduce the heat to simmer and cover it. It'll thicken and just become this gorgeous glaze that's totally drool-worthy. Protip: Use the back burner, and definitely DON'T lean over the pot while the vinegar is reducing. Trust me. It hurts.

While the balsamic vinegar stuff is happening, melt some butter in a skillet and bring large pot of water to a boil for the ravioli. When the butter's melted, add in lots of fresh sage and some chopped walnuts. The walnuts will toast up in about three minutes, which is likely how long the ravioli will take, too. (Or at least, that's how long my frozen stuff took.)

Add about a cup of the pasta water to the skillet and bring to a boil. Let it boil for a couple minutes, until it's reduced by half. Reserve another half-cup of pasta water, then drain. Add the drained ravioli to the skillet, tossing to coat and adding some of the reserved water if needed to loosen. Then stir in a whole bunch of Parmesan — my favorite part, natch. Stir to combine well.


Then you're ready to go! Just dish out the ravioli and drizzle with the balsamic reduction. To help pair the steak, we brushed it with butter on the grill and topped it with more fresh-grated Parmesan. (My friend Emily got me a Parm grater a while back and let me tell you, it has been amazing. I highly recommend getting one!)


What can I say? Matt and I make a great team :)

Have you made anything delicious lately? Tell me about it in the comments! I've been looking for some new recipes lately...