What’s more frugal than leftovers? Nothing!

What’s more boring than leftovers? Nothing!   

….unless you combine leftovers to make something completely new. Now that’s exciting. 

 

   We had some leftover pasta dough from our Homemade Goat Cheese and Wild Mushroom Ravioli and we had some leftover filling from our Spinach and Artichoke Stuffed Portobellos, so we decided to put those together. If you’ve made both of those recipes, then the process is very simple and very frugal – we’ll call it FREE!  If, however, you want to make this from scratch, the recipe is below:

Filling (approximately 1/2 of the Portobello stuffing):

 

1/2 cup asiago cheese, grated                    $0.75

1/2 cup spinach (frozen)                              $0.25

1/4 cup artichoke hearts*                            $0.38

1 tablespoon olive oil                                    $0.10

2 tablespoons 2% milk                                  $0.02

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg**                               $0.05

Salt and pepper, to taste                              $free (ish)

Filling price:                                                     $1.55

 

Pasta (taken directly from the Goat Cheese and Mushroom Ravioli) (this will make a lot):

 

4 eggs                                                                           $0.45

2 cups all purpose flour                                        $0.60

1 cup whole wheat flour                                        $0.30

1/2 cup water                                                            $Free

Pasta Cost:                                                                  $1.35

Total Cost:                                                                  $2.90

Put the dough hook on the electric stand mixer and crack the four eggs into the bowl of the mixer. Turn on the mixer and add the flour and water. Continue mixing until the dough forms into a ball. Knead the dough until elastic and smooth and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Combine the ingredients for the filling in a 2 qt saucepan. Be careful not to let them get too dried out – feel free to add more milk if you would like to (though 2 tablespoons should do fine for a half recipe!) Let this cool somewhat before putting it in the pasta dough.

Cut the ball of pasta dough in half and put the half you are not using in the fridge (this recipe makes enough for two dinners for 4.) Using a rolling pin, begin rolling out the dough into a rectangle shape. This is a tedious process, and you need to keep rolling until long after you are tired of it. Ideally, the pasta dough should be about 1/8 of an inch thick.

Cut the rolled out dough into rectangles and put a teaspoon to a teaspoon and a half of the spinach and artichoke filling on half of each rectangle. Fold the rectangle over and crimp the edges around the filling. One great suggestion we got was to do this step with a fork. (Thanks Mom! Notice the difference it makes in presentation between this batch and the last batch!)

Heat up a pot of boiling water and cook the raviolis for a good 10 minutes (15 may be required). Ravioli will float to the top when they are done. 

Evenly distribute the pasta on plates and drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper. ENJOY!