Uova...the hens are laying

Hey All,

So I went on a crazy hiatus there.  Crazy from the standpoint of "JCF"....its sounded so much more adorable coming out of an old alcoholics mouth.  I've been working hard, and barely keeping my head up, so the Thanksgiving break has been welcomed.  I'm extremely excited to be enjoying time off.  Usually, I get just enough sleep to have a productive Monday and Tuesday, and then struggle through the rest of the week.

OK, let's put that aside for a minute and talk about fun new food ideas.  This past summer we got chickens.  Turns out we got the perfect mix of one horny rooster who keeps our girls satisfied, and five beautiful hens, who just started laying a couple of weeks ago.  Its not going to be too long until we are up to our eyebrows in eggs.

I was watching Chopped, or maybe The Next Iron Chef, it gets blurry sometimes, and they made a Uova da Raviolo.  Something about eggs on meals fascinates the daylights out of me, especially when a perfectly cooked egg oozes all over a dish and crystalizes just perfectly and makes it all sorts of tasty.  A while back I did a fried egg on a burger with Asian flair and it was amazing....drippy, rich....on  and on.

So I'm going to make this egg ravioli, but with a lot of shortcuts and adaptations....so here's the plan.  We'll know tomorrow how it turns out.

So for the ravioli, I'm cheating and using wonton skins.  Its a weird 9+9=27 kind of thing that I remembered wonton skins are basically pasta....so that part is easy.

I'm going to mix chiffonade chard, a powdered and reconstituted dried shitake (sorry kids, I don't have the cash for a truffle, but I hope this will give the meaty/earthy/oniony flavor that is needed), garden fresh oregano (usually I'd use dried because it has a stronger flavor, but I want these to be a subtle meld of awesome), garden fresh thyme, ricotta, and parmesan cheese.  I'm going to go ahead and use the powdered parmesan in a can, as the only alternative would be freshly cut, and well, again, see my bank statement......  This will make a well in the middle of the ravioli to hold the egg.  Seal up with egg wash and drop into boiling water for no more than 8 minutes :)

Over the top, will go a bacon cream sauce.  I plan to render up 4 slices of bacon, top up the drippings to make 2 Tblsp fat, then add 4 tblsp flour to make a roux, diluting up with about a cup of creme to make a sauce, and salt to taste.  Drizzle over the top and garnish with a blend of 50/50 oregano and parsley, just enough to add color.

I'll try and post pictures tomorrow.....it should make for an amazing meal.