Monday Dinner

Lobster Ravioli with white wine cream sauce, Romaine salad

The other day I mentioned that I don't pay much attention to the gourmet chicken sausages in the meat case because they're too expensive. Well, the same holds true of the fresh pastas in the dairy case. If I were only feeding 2 people, they'd be a reasonable splurge from time to time. But since I have to buy 2 packages to feed my family of 3, it never seems like a good value. (To me, a pasta dinner should always be less expensive than serving meat.)

A few weeks ago, I was looking at something next to the fresh pastas, and noticed a few packages had peel-off coupons for .75 off. I took one, thinking it might come in handy if the pasta were ever on sale. Lo and behold, it went on sale last week (making me wish I'd snagged 2 coupons, because there were no more to be found). The normal price of the pasta was $3.99 per package, but they were BOGO last week. After the .75 coupon doubled (this was Harris Teeter, after all), the price for 2 packages sunk to $2.49. Perfect! But now what to do with them?

I hunted around on the internet and quickly found the general consensus was to pair lobster ravioli with a light cream sauce. (Everyone seemed to be in agreement that ready-made sauces, especially tomato-based, were too heavy and overpowering.) So while the water was heating for the pasta, I whipped up a quick white-wine cream sauce. I sauteed 1/2 a large shallot in a pat of butter until softened and translucent, then added in about 1/2 cup white wine. I let the alcohol cook off for a few minutes, then added about 1/2 cup heavy cream. Once that had reduced and thickened over medium heat (about 3 minutes), I added salt & pepper to taste, then folded in the cooked and drained ravioli.

I knew the dish would need a green of some sort, but I couldn't come up with an appropriate accompaniment in my head. Asparagus? Perfect, but too expensive - not to mention bitter - this time of year. Artichokes? Yum, but too time-consuming for a Monday night (also hella pricey). Broccoli, or any veggies from the cruciferous family have too strong of a flavor. And so forth, until a simple salad of dressed romaine (which I already had on hand) seemed the only solution. So I whipped up a quick salad dressing of 1 T. diijon mustard, whisked together with about 2 T. balsamic vinegar (bought in a $3 jug on my last trip to Trader Joe's), and about 3 T. olive-canola oil blend, plus salt & pepper to taste. I drizzled this over my greens and gently tossed, and that was my side dish.

The verdict? I would have rather had meat. Oh it was very tasty (especially the dressing on the greens, which was the perfect counterbalance to the richness of the entree), but it just wasn't substantial enough for a work and school night dinner. The Kid loved it, and finished off the meager leftovers later in the evening, but that just goes to show that nobody was really satisfied. We all went snack-hunting in the kitchen within a few hours of dinner.

I'd make this exact dish again for a first course if I were the sort of person who had dinner parties served in courses. But I'm not. So I'll probably go back to ignoring the fancy fresh pastas in the dairy case.

Totals:

$2.49 - lobster ravioli
$1 - ingredients for sauce
$1 - romaine
.25 - ingredients for dressing

$4.74 for dinner for 3


NOTE: It doesn't happen often, but Harris Teeter sometimes has a regular, everyday price on an item that is lower than WalMart. Shallots are sold loose, in bulk, for $3.99/lb at HT - one large shallot cost me 75 cents. WalMart, on the other had, only sold shallots that were pre-packaged in little mesh bags (like the onions). A 4 oz. bag was $2.29, which works out to $9.16/lb. It pays to compare.