ravioli simple

We were served a simple, but wonderful, ravioli dish last night as an appetizer. Interestingly, the restaurant was French: Chez Papa in the Portola Hill area of San Francisco. We believe the chef was surely from the French Riviera, near Nice, which would explain his ravioli expertise, since that part of France is really Italian anyway.

The ravioli were round. (Since "mezzaluna" are ravioli in a half moon shape, we could call them "luna" I suppose). They were about one and three-quarter inches in diameter. The pasta dough was not real thin: about medium in thickness. The filling for the ravioli was simple: pure ricotta, about a teaspoon.

The serving bowl had three luna in it. On top of each luna was a teaspoon of pesto, a teaspoon of toasted pine nuts, and several shavings of fresh parmesan. The pesto was made with just garlic, basil leaves, and olive oil (no cheese or butter added).

When the teaspoon of pesto was dropped on top of the hot ravioli, it released some of its oil. An additional two teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil were added to the dish. The pine nuts were dropped on top of the pesto, roughly, and the shavings of parmesan added. That was it. Ravioli with a simple cheese filling, pure pesto, pine nuts, parmesan and some added olive oil.

So simple and so prefect.

To make the pesto, see www.classicpasta.com, click on sauces, and then pesto. Use that recipe with just the garlic, the basil and the olive oil (and salt). That's it.