Fried Ravioli

When I used to live in the St. Louis area, I would get an order of this with carryout pizza or as an appetizer at Italian restaurants.  I never thought to make it myself for some reason.  Came across it the other day as I was having another look at one of my "cookbooklets" (basically, a thick magazine with a nice cover, not hardbound).  This recipe comes from "Cuisine At Home: Perfect Pasta"; I have very slightly adapted it.

Ingredients:
1 c. fresh bread crumbs
1/4 c. grated Parmesan
1 T. paprika
3 eggs
3 T. milk

25 frozen meat-filled ravioli
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
4 c. vegetable oil

shredded Parmesan
chopped fresh parsley or dried parsley (I used the latter)
marinara sauce (I used Classico Tomato & Basil)

Instructions:

1. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan, and paprika in a plastic bag:

 
2. Beat eggs and milk together in a bowl:

3. Dredge ravioli first in flour, then dip in the mixture and coat in the crumbs.  **I made it like an assembly line and used a fork to dip in the flour and eggs, did about 3 at a time.**

 

4. Arrange on a rack and refrigerate 15 minutes; heat vegetable oil to 360°F in high sided pot (I used a fry daddy).

5. Fry ravioli in batches for 2-3 minutes (I did 2 1/2 minutes, which was just after they started floating in the fryer).

6. Drain on a paper towel on a rack:

7. Garnish ravioli with the shredded Parmesan and parsley.  Serve with marinara sauce and enjoy!

Cherry Limeade Pound Cake

I'm back!  I recently took a vacation to Europe with my wonderful mother (which was AWESOME), thus my time preparing for it and then going meant no blog posts for a couple of weeks.  And yes, I do miss cooking when I go away, or when my schedule gets too busy for me to do it...very happy to be getting back to it :)

Mmmm cake.  I love cake.  I had a tough time deciding what cake exactly I wanted to make this time; very glad I took the time to end up discovering this tasty one!  I used the recipe from this blog page (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipe):
http://www.theslowroasteditalian.com/2014/04/cherry-limeade-pound-cake-recipe.html

I followed the recipe exactly and it tastes exactly as one would expect--a cake version of a good cherry limeade.  It's also quite easy to make!

Ingredients for cake:
3 c. sugar
1 1/2 c. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 T. fresh grated lime zest
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 c. Cherry 7-Up (or regular 7-Up with splash of Maraschino cherry juice)
2 (10 oz. size) jars Maraschino cherries, drained--set aside 10 for use in glaze

for Glaze:
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
10 Maraschino cherries, chopped
2 T. Cherry 7-Up
1 T. fresh grated lime zest

Instructions for cake:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.

2. Butter and flour a 12-cup Bundt pan.

3. In large bowl, use electric mixer to cream butter and sugar:

4. Mix in the lime zest, then begin mixing in the eggs one at a time:

5. Add salt to flour, then mix in 1 cup at at a time, alternating with 1/4 c. of Cherry 7-up after each addition:

6. Add Maraschino cherries, fold in to mixture with wooden spoon until evenly mixed.

7. Pour batter into prepared pan:

8. Tap pan on counter several times to remove any air bubbles.  Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or until knife inserted near middle of cake (halfway between center flute and pan outer edge) comes out clean.  **I used a fork to test, and baked for closer to 1 hour 25 min.

9. Cool cake on wire rack for 20-30 minutes (this pic was just after removing from oven, actually):

10. Invert cake onto a plate to finish cooling completely.  **I had to use a knife to help 'coax' the cake out gently.

Glaze instructions:

1. Add all ingredients to a medium mixing bowl.

2. Beat ingredients until glaze forms (add slightly more powdered sugar (1 T. at a time) if consistency is too runny):

3. Pour over cake:

Grab a glass of milk and enjoy!!