Ravioli with Pesto, Green Beans, and Bacon
Sometimes you find yourself in a carb-conscious crowd. But a tray of these Spinach and Cheese Ravioli’s tossed with fresh basil and cheese pesto, green beans, and bacon is such a delicious combination that all the rules of the carb-conscious crowd seem to totally go out the window!
Just one more. Just one more. Just one more. In mere minutes the whole platter is gone!
In fact, I think this dish seems to cause the carb-conscious crowd to lose some sense of consciousness since no one can stop eating them. I ended up preparing a tray of this dish more than a few times with the same results each time.
You can easily pick up this particular ravioli at your local Costco in double pack packages covered in hard plastic. You can also use any type of ravioli you choose, though I highly recommend these round spinach and cheese variety. It’s the common-sense knowledge of cooking an excellent meal to use the best ingredients. And these ravioli are all that.
Besides everything is better with bacon. Other best ingredients in this dish include a combined fresh basil and parsley pesto which lends a little more mellow flavor from the boldness of using only basil in the pesto preparation.
And then you have the green beans. Hmm. Maybe it’s the eye pop between the green beans and the halved multi-colored tomatoes that makes this dish appear ah… a little less ‘carby.’ Is that a word?
A colorful and tasty winner, perfect even for the carb conscious crowd in your life, Ravioli with Pesto, Green Beans, and Bacon! Manja!
Ravioli with Pesto, Green Beans and Bacon
Ingredients
- For the Basil and Parsley Pesto:
- 1 large clove garlic
- 2 cups basil
- 1 cup parsley
- 1/2 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- couple pinches coarse kosher salt, more or less to taste
- For Preparing the Spinach and Cheese Ravioli Dish:
- 6 slices thick-cut bacon, plus bacon grease
- 1/2 pound fresh green beans, stem removed, cut into bite-size pieces on the diagonal
- 16 large, round Spinach and Cheese Ravioli (may be purchased at Costco)
- 2 plus one tablespoon butter, softened
- 1/2-3/4 cup Basil and Parsley Pesto
- 8 multi-colored cherry tomatoes halved, for garnish
Instructions
- For the Basil and Parsley Pesto: Pulse the garlic in the bowl of a food processor until chopped. Add in the basil and parsley and pulse until finely chopped. Pulse in the fresh Parmesan cheese until all combined. Drizzle in the olive oil while pulsing until blended well throughout. Sprinkle in the salt, stir, taste, and check to season accordingly. Transfer pesto to a small bowl then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate
- For Preparing the Spinach and Cheese Ravioli Dish: Cook bacon until crisp in a large-sized nonstick pan. Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, reserve the grease. Once cool to touch chop bacon, set aside
- Fill a pasta pot with water, bring to a boil. Once water has come to a rolling boil add in a few tablespoons salt. Drop in the bite-sized pieces of green beans and cook for three to four minutes. Use a slotted spoon to remove green beans to a colander, refresh in cool water then transfer to a small bowl
- Topple the Spinach and Cheese Ravioli into the pasta pot. Cook Ravioli for around 5-6 minutes until the ridge ends are cooked through with ravioli floating on the top. Ladle around one cupful of the pasta cooking liquid into a side cup. Drain ravioli and gently toss with two tablespoons of butter
- Add the reserved bacon grease into the emptied pasta pot and warm on low heat with the remaining one tablespoon of butter. Tumble in the green beans, stir and cook to heat through around a minute. Stir in half of the chopped bacon, cook another minute. Gently toss in the ravioli blending with the green beans and bacon. Carefully spoon in the basil and parsley pesto to lightly coat the ravioli. A little at a time drizzle in some of the pasta water stirring to thin just a bit, add in a little more pasta water if desired to create a thinner consistency. Sprinkle with salt, check to season and adjust to taste
- Arrange ravioli and green beans with pesto across a platter. Top with the remaining chopped bacon and some multi-colored cherry tomatoes, serve hot immediately
2 Comments