RAVIOLI RAVIOLI!!!!

dudes,
the ravioli scene had been too long neglected over here.
yup.
i mean, seriously,
that pasta game kind of fell off when the weather warmed up.
(don't even get me started on the pizza scene these days)
but,
i had a whole lot of basil, and it really wanted to turn brown and die.
i'm not especially cool with doo-doo buttery smeared basil leaf buttsauce,
but,
i am down to get rad on some basil-derivative dopeness every damned day.
real talk.
what's that mean, exactly?
it means pesto is the best-o,
and i activated a batch of the thickness, with the quickness,
and i'm SO glad i did.
mmmmmhmmmmm.
guys,
 i reallllllly like a good rav.
like, i like 'em like 'em.
yes.
and if i'm in charge of manifesting my very own ravioli destiny,
you can bet your backbottom gristlelumps that i'm gonna do it to eleven.
here, have a look, and see what i'm speaking about:

WOOOOOORD UUUUPPPPPP!!!!
all the notes are playing perfectly.
i'm serious.
the firmness of the ravs is 100% expert.
the filling is TOO mothereffing excellent.
the sprankles are numerous and beauteous.
the sauce is superb.
it all cooperates like it was intended to,
and the result is a synergistic exxxplosion of awesomeness.
neighbors,
this is one of those meals that sticks in your brain,
and you cannot help but reminisce about often afterwards.
for realsies.
dinner is important.
good dinner is really important.
shared good dinner is vital.
and when it's happening,
and your dinner guest is appreciative,
and the food is seriously workin' it for all it's worth?
well,
that's when you take a minute away from shoveling those
huge forkfuls of boomfire flavor into your face,
and breathe in, and be grateful for the time you have been given,
and the companions who care to participate,
and for the skills and the motivation to make the magic happen.
damned straight.
lucky us.
*
now,
i know you wanna know the secrets,
but i have good and bad news.
the bad news is, there are no secrets,
the good news is i'm down with full disclosure.
here's how it all unfolded along the well/time-worn creases
of the ever expanding origami blueprints of the secret universal planagram-
-
*
PASTA DOUGH!!
-
in a medium bowl,
combine:
1 cup white flour;
1 tsp salt;
2/3 cup semolina flour;
1/2 cup warm water;
11 turns milled black pepper;
3 T olive oil;
1/2 tsp wheat gluten.
knead it well for a few minutes,
rest it, covered in plastic, for fifteen? minutes,
before rolling it out hella thin, and cutting your shapes for filling and such....
easy easy.
*
now, you need to pt something IN your raviolis,
broksis,
and here's the winning formuoli for this versioni:
-
*
SWEET POTATO STUFFIN' STUFFS!!
-
1/2 large sweet potato, boiled until fork tender, drained, rinsed, and mashed-
with GPOP;
a scoop of nootch;
and 1 T fried garlic sprankles...
combined with:
1/2 sweet onion, minced, and caramelized in especially exxxtra-virginal olive oil;
with 3 T browned fresh torn sage leaves;;
cracked black pepper;
and about 2 tsp red pepper flakes...
^^^^DOOOOOOODS^^^^
that mixed and mashed filling is SO MUCH fire,
it'll make your eyes water,
and then instantly evaporate due to high levels of sexxx-action hottness in your skull.
that's no joke.
a half a tsp scoopled into a 2.5" serrated circle,
closed in under another 'nother one,
first mildly moistened to form a watertight seal,
and rested for eleven minutes to achieve maxxximum adhesion on both sides.
expert.
y'ever made homemade ravioli before?
you just toss them into boiling salty water until they float,
and then you pull 'em out and eat them.
how rad is that?!
YEAH!
i use a weird asian wonton wire ladle to take them out,
so the least span of time elapses from pot to plate to palate.
that's word.
*
and let's get into that sauce, bro.
yeah.
the pesto is top notch.
here's what happened to produce that sultry slippery succulent sauciness:
-
*
SUNFLOWER BASIL PESTO!!!!!
-
in your mandatory and magnificent food processor, combine:
1 huge bunch of basil (like 2 cups, which is really not very much),
stems, flowers, the works;
1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds;
1 bunch of flat leaf parsley;
pink salt, black pepper, & GPOP (to taste);
2 large-ish cloves fresh garlic;
1/4 cup nutritional yeast;
1/4 cup olive oil-
^pulverize that sh!t until it's thiqqq as heck, and well-combined.
...don't worry that it's so rugged, you'll thin it with pasta-water when you serve it....
that's right.
a few spoons of salty rav'water, to thin it and emulsify the paste
gives you a wholly satisfying consistency,
within which to toss those powerful pouches of pure-being existential awareness.
i mean it.
put your ravioli in a big bowl with a generous scoople of pesto, and a that H2O,
and kaBOOM!!!
you're living well into the future of edible excellence.
*
from there, i put the X in eXceptional,
and then i added the I, too,
to make it eXIceptional.
ha.
c'mon.
served up 21 ravs apiece over baby arugula, with it's pepper brightness,
and fire-roasted tomato flake sprankles,
AND shredded radicchio for color and texture and tartness.
that's a lot of flavor, but it's no enough, is it/
no way.
too much is the right amount.
so, there are black-pepper-infused olive-oil-toasted sunflower seed sprankles too.
rule is rules, buddy,
and we can't have any less than the most on our plates, if you know what i mean.
***********
anybody can create reasons why they aren't going to be rad.
and those same somebodies can absolutely do the same for being awesome.
the thing is,
you get a choice.
whether it's dinner, your job, your nighttime ritual, your exercise regimen, whetever,
it's all you, all the time.
yup.
free will is a real motherF* of a thing,
no doubt, no jokes-
because once we accept that we do, in fact, have it,
that means that whatever happens,
it's all about our individual responses when a reaction is due.
that's serious stuff.
things happen, but we decide what happens next.
that's a tall order,
and i'm gonna need a whole lot more ravioli if i'm gonna have to institute
protocols for self-responsibility.
this is What Is,
and there is nothing else for it but to go for it;
never quiet, never soft.....