Recipe. You Won't Want to Miss This!

Ravioli with Asparagus & Sage

With delicious local asparagus now available at nearly every farm stand, this recipe presents it in all its glory!

1 package of frozen ravioli (usually packaged 9 oz., 12 pieces) or use any pasta of your choice (see note below)
1 bunch of local asparagus, washed, dried, bottoms cut off and cut into thirds
5 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/4 cup whole grain panko
2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tbsp. chopped fresh sage leaves
1 tbsp. chopped fresh flat parsley
Salt and black pepper to taste
1/4 cup grated parmesan or Romano cheese, in this case, the more, the better to your liking

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Put up a pot of salted water for the pasta.

Toss asparagus with 1 tbsp olive oil and sea salt. Place into glass casserole or pan (I find a pyrex pie size is perfect) and place into preheated oven.

Heat a skillet that will be large enough to hold your finished dish. Add 2 tbsp. of olive oil, and when heated, toast the panko for about 4-5 minutes. Once it’s lightly browned, set aside

Add balance of olive oil to your pan. Turn heat down to low side of medium, and add garlic first for a minute and then parsley cooking until garlic is fragrant, but not browned, about 4-5 minutes.

Drop ravioli into boiling water and cook for approximately 5-6 minutes (or other pasta per cooking directions. WOW, homemade pasta would be amazing in this recipe!)

While pasta is cooking, add butter and sage to your pan. Turn up oven to 375 degrees F. Channel sage brown butter, but lighter.

When pasta is ready, scoop out with a slotted spoon and add to your pan. It’s OK for a little pasta water to sprinkle in, but don’t intentionally add a larger amount. Spread the ravioli out so it is a single layer. Add the roasted asparagus to the pan. Cover and continue to cook covered for 2 minutes. And voila!

Separate pasta into 2 plates. Assemble other ingredients: first freshly ground pepper to taste, spoon herb oil/butter from pan drizzling over each, add toasted panko—about 1.5 tbsp to each plate, add cheese. And serve!

Serves 2.

Chef’s Note: Any kind of pasta will work well. I happened to have a package of organic ricotta/spinach ravioli in the freezer that I purchased from Wild by Nature. The fresh local asparagus was the inspiration for this dish, but all the ingredients come together into a beautiful and delicious plate. I happened to have some truffle pecorino cheese leftover in the fridge, and I’m not going to lie, it might have been second place in the star of the dish line up… but the sage was so good too… well you get the picture! No need to hold back cheese lovers! And use the best you have on hand!