Naked Ravioli?

I’m vying for the 2010 web razzy for “Most Incompetent Food Photography.” Can you tell?

I got this cooking technique from Fabio, of Top Chef fame. Turns out that he has a restaurant really near to us, and we actually managed to make it there twice – but only once before he got in some sort of colossal fight with his father-in-law (the restaurant owner), and took his good knives and left. The last time we were there (post-Fabio), some guy who sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra was singing Frank Sinatra, and the guido quotient was through the roof. So things haven’t changed much, I’m guessing.

Fabio calls it naked ravioli because he’s Italian, and even though I’m Italian, I’m inclined to think of them as little baked cheese dumplings. Because food and nudity are two things I’d like to keep pretty much separate. I had some rapini in the freezer that I had managed to cook and then chop and freeze just before it went bad, so that’s what I used for the green. I would think that you could use just about any green though, except maybe kale. Because the rapini was ready to go, this whole meal literally took 7 minutes to make.

Neither of the kids would eat it. Even my good eater, after gamely putting it in his mouth, spit it back out and scraped off his tongue. This kills me, because it’s basically just cheese. Also, because it’s proving that I have zero ability to predict what my children will eat.

Baked Cheese Dumplings

1/2 C chopped greens, cooked
1 C ricotta
1/4 C grated parmesan
one egg
Pinch nutmeg
salt to taste

Preheat oven to 500 with rack at the top third. Mix all ingredients well and form into balls (if you have a 1″ scoop, that’s perfect). Place balls on well-oiled baking pan, or a silicone mat if you have one. Bake for 5 minutes.

Fabio wants you to serve these with browned butter. Fabio also apparently wants you to have an angioplasty, because Holy God, that’s rich. I chose a basic marinara instead, and it was quite lovely.