The men around here like meat and potatoes, seriously
The other day HHjr showed up with this beef brisket, his eyes were sparkling like Santa on Christmas~
“Isn’t that an awful lot of meat just for us?” Silly me
“Oh no Mom, we can eat it all weekend and I’ll make sandwiches for work next week!” Uh huh.
Several problems with this theory. I don’t really eat meat, just a bite or two. His sons don’t eat meat. He will never be organized enough to make his lunches for work. That leaves him and his Dad to eat this Texas sized beef brisket.
“That’s a lot of meat,” I repeated. “It’s going to be soooooooo good,” he declares, “I’ll take some to DD & NG, they’ll love it!
So when I’m in charge of dinner I cook with a lot of vegetables and just a little meat to try to get things back in balance
This dish can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until baking or you can make and serve it immediately. I’m a do ahead girl because I am generally out of steam by dinner time.
Butternut squash and spinach filled fresh ravioli cooks up in 3 minutes and it’s ready to go in your dish. Pour a little cream in the bottom of your cooking oil sprayed dish just to give it something to sit on.
Break the ends off asparagus and rinse. Wrap in a clean kitchen towel
Microwave on high for 2 minutes and it will be just right to add to the casserole after cutting into pieces.
Brown the sausage and drain. I only used about 1/3 lb. for 4 servings, but add as much as you like. Brown the mushrooms in a scant amount of sausage drippings. Return sausage and asparagus to pan and sprinkle with Parmesan and drizzle with cream. Add a tsp of basil paste, salt and pepper. Cook and stir to melt cheese. Taste sauce and adjust seasonings. Add more basil if you like. You are just making a simple sauce with the seasonings, cream and cheese so add more or less of things until it looks right to you~
Place half of the sausage mixture on top of half of the ravioli, sprinkle with cheese and repeat layers. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan and a last drizzle of cream. Cover and refrigerate.
Bake at 325 about 30 minutes until hot and cheese has melted.
This is a great one dish meal, full of different flavors and enough meat to satisfy the meat eaters
and lots of vegetables for healthier eating. With only a small amount of half and half, it’s very light for a pasta dish!
Here’s the recipe:
Vegetable Ravioli with Italian Sausage and Basil Cream
Ingredients
- 1 package Butternut Squash filled Ravioli about 2 servings per package [Monterey Gourmet Foods brand]
- 1 package Spinach filled Ravioli about 2 servings per package
- 1/3-1/2 lb. Italian sausage
- 8 oz. sliced Baby Bella mushrooms
- 16-20 fresh asparagus spears
- 4 oz. freshly grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup half and half cream
- 1 tsp Basil paste or pesto or more to taste
- salt and pepper.
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to package directions until just done. Do not overcook or filling will leak out.
- Cook asparagus until crisp tender, about 2 minutes on high, wrapped in a towel in the microwave. Cut into bite size pieces.
- Brown sausage in a skillet and drain.
- Brown mushrooms in a scant amount of sausage drippings.
- When mushrooms are done return sausage and asparagus to skillet.
- Sprinkle with half of cheese. Drizzle with half of cream. Season with basil paste and salt and pepper.
- Cook and stir to melt cheese and to form sauce.
- Pour a little cream in the bottom of a prepared baking dish. Lay half of the ravioli in dish.
- Top with half the sausage mixture and a little of the remaining cheese.
- Repeat layers and top with remaining cheese and drizzle with remaining cream .
- Cover and refrigerate.
- Bake uncovered at 325 for 25-30 minutes until hot and cheese is melted. Serves 4
Watch out for low flying planes!
By the way, the brisket was REALLY GOOD! I will share HHjr’s recipe when it gets a little warmer, I hate to make you crazy when most of the country is battling snow drifts~ we had a sunny 65 degree day last weekend and grilling was the priority!
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