So, Thursday night I was having a little dinner party. Thursday morning in court I realized I had no idea what I was going to make. Luckily, it was a light conferencing day, so while I waited for the judge to take the bench I pulled out ye olde iPhone to browse Slashfood for ideas. I stumbled upon a "redneck-rig your fast food" feature that suggested cobbling a burrito from chipotle into little tortilla wads and calling it ravioli. Now, don't get me wrong. I don't mean to go all snark-vark on Slashfood because, really, I love it, but this sounded like a pretty lame idea to me. However, the concept of Mexican-y ravioli did not. Thus, I decided to make up my own.
I first decided on chicken instead of beef. I thought using beef sounded too pedestrian. Too much like normal ravioli. So, chicken it was. Base of the stuffing figured out, I set to work on scheming a sauce. I worked up some elaborate ideas in my head but I realized the perfect sauce was the easy obvious choice - enchilada sauce. The result? A fabulous smoky, spicy, chicken in wonton wrapper swimming in spicy tomato-y sauce success. And as an added bonus, it was totally fun to make.
Super Schmexy Spicy Chipotle Chicken Ravioli
1 package round wonton / pasta wrappers (these can usually be found in the ethnic or hippie food section of the grocery store)
1 pound ground chicken
1/2 cup sour cream
1 can Embasa Salsa Mexicana
1/2 package taco seasoning
Quesadilla Cheese, to taste
1 packet enchilada sauce
1 80z can tomato sauce
Chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (you can use either 1 Tbsp. of the goop in the can with the peppers if you don't want your dish to be too spicy, or you can use an actual pepper if you want more zip)
First things, first, wage war on the evil Salmonella and his Flagella of Doom, by placing the chicken and taco seasoning in a skillet. Brown it until the Fagella of Doom have been exterminated. Drain off the extra fat (there won't be much) and dump the chicken in a bowl. Add the Salsa Mexicana. Now at this point, it's time for a little lesson. Salsa Mexicana is this stuff
It is not this:
Or this:
Or even this:
This is important because if you get salsa that has a different consistency you may mess up the texture of your filling. And / or if you try to make ravioli out of a salsa dancer you may end up on death row. I assume you've got your salsa issues all sorted out now, so let's move on. Add sour cream, chipotle pepper (or goop from the can) and shredded quesadilla cheese. Stir until just blended. If the mixture looks disgusting, you've done it correctly.
Dump into your food processor and process it. You don't want to turn it all into total mush but you also don't want there to be big chunks. When you've got it at the right consistency, it's business time. Flour a cutting board and get yourself a little cup or bowl of water.
Lay one wonton wrapper on the cutting board. Spoon a dollop of the chicken mixture onto the wrapper. Dip your finger in your water bowl. Drag your wet finger around the perimeter of the wrapper. Top with another wrapper. Press together. Crimp with a fork to make sure it stays together. Set aside. Keep going until you run out of wrappers or filling.
You're done with all the hard work at this point. Breathe a sigh of relief. Then, put a pot of water on and bring it to a weak-ass boil. Take note: The weak-ass part is important. If you attempt to cook homemade ravioli at a hard rolling boil it will fall apart and a troupe of gnomes will burst out of your pantry and ridicule you. I promise. So bring your water to a weak-ass boil. While you're waiting on your water to come to a weak-ass boil, cook the enchilada sauce according to the directions on the package.
When the water comes to a weak-ass boil, drop a few ravioli in. Don't overcrowd them. They're paranoid little creatures and will totally spaz out and stick together. Put in three or four at a time. Keep an eye on them as they boil. When they float to the top they're done. Pull them out with a slotted spoon. Plate them up, top with sauce and some extra quesadilla cheese if you like. And you're done. Tada!
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