Toasted Ravioli Alfredo...

Back during my days at Cornell (1994-2000), the big restaurant to go to in town was Joe's. It was quite a sad occurrence when I went back for the five year reunion and Joe's was no longer (apparently though, it reopened, under new management, in December of 2005). This evening in a bit of nostalgia, I made a Joe's signature favorite-- Toasted Ravioli Alfredo, thanks to Giada's "Everyday Pasta" cookbook. On Page 33 Giada has a recipe for fried ravioli. I was excited when I first saw this! This is the pasta dish that I would get practically every time I went to Joe's (or more often, Little Joe's in Collegetown), the toasted ravioli, with the bottomless salad and breadsticks could a meal make for about $10!

Anyway, according to Giada it's pretty simple-- just get some store-bought refrigerated ravioli (I chose Buitoni), dip the ravioli in buttermilk and then bread with italian seasoned breadcrumbs and then fry in olive oil. Giada suggests serving these with marinara sauce (as the reinvented Joe's does these days), but that is far too healthy-- instead I made alfredo sauce and served the fried ravioli sitting on top of it, just like they used to do at the old Joe's and as an accompaniment we had artichoke sauteed in garlic and olive oil. Who knew, all these years I could have been making this at home (though in the long run my waistline may regret that I have now discovered this information!)