Ravioli with Sun Dried Tomato Cream Sauce
Pillow-y ravioli with the dreamiest, most velvety sun dried tomato cream sauce! A 30-minute weeknight dinner yet fancy enough for company!
Ingredients
- 2 (9-ounce) packages refrigerated ravioli
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 3 tablespoons tomato paste
- 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
- ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, optional
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup dry white wine
- 1 ½ cups chicken stock
- ½ cup heavy cream
- ½ cup julienned sundried tomatoes, chopped
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
Equipment
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook ravioli according to package instructions; drain well.
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and shallot, and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in tomato paste, Italian seasoning and red pepper flakes until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Whisk in flour until lightly browned, about 1 minute.
- Stir in wine, scraping any browned bits from the bottom of the skillet.
- Stir in chicken stock, heavy cream and sun dried tomatoes; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly reduced and flavors have blended, about 5 minutes. Stir in Parmesan.
- Stir in ravioli until heated through, about 1-2 minutes.
- Serve immediately, garnished with parsley, if desired.
Notes
- Use fresh ravioli. Fresh, refrigerated ravioli is the ultimate quick-dinner hack, cooking in just 2-4 minutes. And while any ravioli filling can be used, a simple cheese or spinach ravioli is ideal for a blank canvas, allowing the sun dried tomato cream sauce to be the true star of the dish.
- Add desired protein. Crumbled Italian sausage (sweet or spicy) or ground beef, chicken or turkey will all work very well here.
- Make it spicy (or not). For more of a spicy kick, increase the amount of crushed red pepper flakes. For milder flavors, especially for the little ones, skip the red pepper flakes altogether.
- Choose a wine you will drink. A dry white wine (pinot grigio or sauvignon blanc) is great here – it does not have to be anything fancy or overpriced. Just something you don’t mind sipping on since you will have an open bottle.
- Deglaze with wine. Lift up the caramelized brown bits (fond) stuck to the bottom of the pan to bring more flavor to the dish, substituting the wine with chicken stock if needed.
- Use good-quality stock. The better quality your stock, the better your cream sauce. Many brands love to pack in the salt so always opt for unsalted or a lower-sodium variety. Homemade stock is even better.
- Heavy cream will add ultra-richness. Due to its heavy fat content, heavy cream will add the ultimate richness and silkiness to the sauce. Half-and-half can certainly be substituted to lower calorie and fat intake but it can curdle easily and result in a thinner cream sauce.
- Add in leafy greens. This is a great recipe to sneak in leafy greens for those picky eaters. Spinach, kale, collard greens, swiss chard, or arugula are all great options.
- Mix it up. Swap out the ravioli for mini ravioli, agnolotti or tortellini.
- Serve with crusty bread. Serve with all the homemade crusty bread for dipping, sopping and dunking!