I Got Nothin'

Whee! Completely blank! I'm all empty in the brainbox, and yet I'm here.

So...whaddya wanna talk about?

Tell you what. I'm hungry and daydreaming about dinner. The MOTH is working, so I'm on my own with Tank tonight, so dinner will likely be something quick and boring. Something I can cook and eat with one hand. Hopefully without dripping (much) on the baby. But here's what I wish I were having:


Sweet Potato Ravioli with Balsamic Butter Sauce...and no mini-marshmallows whatsoever.

Take a couple sweet taters (now, there are sweet potatoes, which are yellowy-white, and sweet potatoes that are orangey, and yams that are orangey-to-red...I don't know the difference between 'em all, but there is one. I know because I asked my friendly neighborhood grocer. I just can't remember what he said. It was a few years ago, when I apparently had less on my mind. Anyway, for sweet potato fries, I like the yellowy-white ones, 'cause they're less sweet. For these, I often use orangey sweet potatoes, because they're more colorful).

Where was I? Oh, yeah...take your taters and poke 'em full of holes. Microwave them for several minutes until you can mash 'em. I end up needing to add a little butter and water to get mine mashed, and there are still lumps. I don't know what to tell you about that, except to wish you better luck and great tolerance for lumps. Once you can mash them up, do so, mixing in about 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Unless you don't like nutmeg. Then you can just use the .04 seconds you would have spent adding spice to work more on that lump thing.

Now, take your wonton wrappers (what? You didn't buy wonton wrappers? Fine. Just use your home pasta machine. I'll wait.) and put about a tablespoon of sweet potato filling in each, then brush one edge with egg white and fold that bad boy in half, pressing the edges tightly to seal (if you don't do this, the ravioli leaks when it cooks and creates a messy, cloudy orange mess. Um, I heard). Make as many as you want to eat, or until you get bored of making tiny tuber origami. Then line 'em up next to a large pot of boiling salted water. Boil the ravioli in batches, for about 3 minutes, knowing that when you take them out of the water, they will want to stick to each other like crazy, so you may want a large serving plate ready to spread them out on.

In a small saucepan, put 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar in with a mashed/diced up clove of garlic and a couple pinches of brown sugar. Simmer and reduce until it gets nice and syrupy. While it's simmering, go ahead and chop up some butter (some recipes call for 1/2 cup of butter; I used only about half of that because I like my sauce balsamic-y). This is where I screwed up the first time...TAKE YOUR TIME WITH THE BUTTER! When your vinegar is ready, put a few cubes of butter in at a time and stir them in until they melt away into goodness. You'll know when it's done well--the sauce will be shimmery and velvety and mmmm...

(A word of caution: fight the temptation to take a nice deep sniff of your gorgeous sauce. I know, I know, you'll think, "But it looks pretty and it's got garlic and butter and why don't I just lean over and...AAAUGH! AAUGH! MY NOSTRILS!!!" because the acrid vinegar steam will have melted your sinuses.)

A small bed of spinach (wilted or otherwise), a handful of raviolis, and the Amazing Sauce of Goodness* drizzled over the top, and you've got yourself a schmancy little meal. I generally add some shredded Parmesan cheese and just a tiny bit of drool running down my chin. Because I am klassy.

*I originally wrote "Sauce of Love," but decided that seemed...a little...well...