Ravioli Filling #1 - Sausage/Ricotta/Spinach

An afterthought note on the ricotta cheese. At the store there were two types of ricotta cheese. One came in a pint tub, but was nonfat ricotta cheese. I'm not sure how this is even possible since cheese is made from the coagulation of the protein and fats in dairy. The other was dry and crumbled; and notably very salty. There was so much salt in the ricotta cheese that it overpowered all other ingredients in the ravioli. I couldn't taste the spinach or the sage. And heck, the cheese was saltier than the Italian pork sausage. If you're going to procure ricotta cheese for this recipe, skip Trader Joe's. Neither of TJ's ricotta cheese products are right for making ravioli. You'll want to get a ricotta cheese made from whole milk. Anyhow, onto the Better Homes & Gardens recipe ratio.

Each ravioli uses 1 tsp of mix, so keep that in mind if you have only made one batch of ravioli pasta dough.

Makes 1 cup.

Ingredients

4 oz Italian pork sausage (if you buy the links, simply remove the casings from 2 of them)

3/4 c fresh spinach leaves, packed

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

1/3 c ricotta cheese

1 tsp fresh sage, minced

1/8 tsp grated whole nutmeg or ground nutmeg

Directions

1. If you bought sausage links instead of bulk sausage, simply remove the casings from two of the sausages. Fry sausage over medium heat and break up the sausage as it cooks. When no more pink remains, remove the sausage to a plate and add spinach to the hot pan. Cook the spinach until it wilts. Drain off the fat, if any.

2.  In a food processor, combine the cooked sausage and spinach. Pulse until it resembles ground pork.

3. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolk, ricotta cheese, sage, nutmeg. Stir in sausage mixture. Cover and chill until needed.

This is more than enough filling to make twenty 1" ravioli, each filled with 1 tsp filling.

Garlic-Sage Butter Spread

I'm sure there are better ways to prepare this. If you don't have a food processor, you can certainly let the butter soften at room temperature before mixing in the roasted garlic or fresh sage. For this recipe, I used a stick of unsalted butter (1/2 c) and sea salt to taste. A little bit of salt goes a long way and helps add a contrasting taste to bring out the other flavors mixed into the butter.

Lop off the top of a garlic bulb with a sharp knife and wrap the bulb with aluminum foil. Drizzle some olive oil on top of the bulb before closing up the foil. This can go into any baking cycle on Thanksgiving day, but it needs to roast for at least an hour, if cooking at 250 degrees F; or 40 minutes at 350 to 375 degrees F. The garlic should be spreadable on its own once it's done.

For the sage part, I minced three whole fresh sage leaves.

Let the butter soften to room temperature and mix in roasted garlic and fresh sage. You can then spoon this butter into decorative butter moulds and chill in the refrigerator until ready to use.

This butter can be used to cook with chicken or fish. Guests used it on the buttermilk biscuits and beer bread.