Student Suppers: 10 Minute Ravioli in a Nutty Herby Butter

Hands up who has the ends of lots of things for Christmas still kicking around your cupboard or in your fridge that really should be going, but you really can’t bare to waste? I’ve got your Friday night supper sorted for you today by way of a delicious quick, easy, and leftover friendly sauce for that packet of ravioli you’re going to pick up over your lunch break or on your way home. I know I’m usually one of those 100% homemade people, but bare with me until I master good homemade ravioli that does not take simply hours to make! (We all really enjoyed the Bolognese Ravioli from Jamie’s Comfort Food on Christmas Eve, but wow was it a project!)

So, lets talk about those leftovers. First the wine for your butter sauce. You probably do have the end of a bottle of white or rosé wine chilling somewhere (I used some Côtes de Provence left from our New Years Eve party!), and if you put a cork in a bottle of champagne with the intention not to waste it, even if you used one of those special gas saver ones it won’t have enough bubbles left to drink in it. Sorry. However, it will still make a wonderful addition to all sorts of sauces, including this one! On the subject of herbs, woody herbs like rosemary, sage and thyme last the longest, and the ends of any packets in your fridge will probably still be okay. If you live in the countryside like me, rosemary and sage will also still be good in the bushes, in spite of the frost (this is what I did!) Finally, the nuts. Nuts never keep long as the oils in them go stale, so raid your cupboards for practically any nut you can chop up and throw in. I’ve used walnuts (we always have a glut from our tree in France) and pistachios, but as I said, anything goes.

I’m using filled ravioli pasta from Giovanni Rana today, who have been kind enough to sponsor this post. If you’re familiar with their filled pastas (you can find them with the rest of the fresh pasta in Sainsbury’s – but not the one in Canterbury, sadly for my local readers – Morrisons, Asda – where locals can find it and it is reduced to £1 at the moment (reduced everywhere, not just in Canterbury!) – and Ocado) but don’t recognise this one is because it is from their new range of flavours, which also includes a Parmigiano Reggiano and Creamy Ricotta Ravioli, and a Slow Roasted Beef and Mushroom in a Red Wine Ragu number.

One packet (250g) of ravioli will serve two people, but if you’re cooking just for you and saving half of the pasta pack for later, still make the same amount of sauce, because it really does not make that big of a difference. Oh, and this really does just take 10 minutes, and unless you’re on dry January you’ll probably have time to open a nice chilled bottle of white wine to go with it, too!

• 1 x 250g pack Giovanni Rana Ravioli
• Generous Handful Chopped Nuts
• Very Large Knob (about 25g) Unsalted Butter
• Small Handful Finely Chopped Woody Herbs
• Generous Slosh White Wine, Rosé Wine or Champagne
• Freshly Ground Sea Salt and Black Pepper

Heat a medium frying pan over a medium high heat and lightly toast the nuts, tossing the pan every minute or so until they’re just golden. Remove them from the pan and set aside. Return the pan to the heat, and add the butter to the pan. If you’re not confident browning butter, add the herbs for a minute until they become aromatic. If you’re happy taking the butter that far do so before you add the herbs for a better flavour. Once you can smell the herbs add the wine, toasted nuts and a generous seasoning of salt and pepper, and let it bubble away into a slightly reduced sauce. You can use soft instead of woody herbs here; add them at the end with the pasta, instead of just before the wine.

Meanwhile, boil the kettle and cook the ravioli in a pan of boiling salted water as per the packets instructions. Drain, and add the pasta to the sauce, tossing the pan until it is all coated in butter. Serve in warm bowls, with the butter and nuts from the pan spooned over.

If you’re after some more quick, cheap and easy weeknight pasta dishes perfect for this time of year, I like to make a creamy bowl of Easy Avocado Spaghetti, some Pea Pesto Whole Wheat Penne using petite pois from the freezer, and it is never not the right time of year for a pan of One Pot Pasta. Also, perfect for right now I like to make up big batches of Freeze-Ahead Red Lentil Ragu; you can defrost a block of it from frozen on the hob (though you really should defrost it naturally!) if you forgot to plan dinner in the time it takes to boil up some spaghetti to serve it over.

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