Zesty Ravioli Skillet Dinner for Show on Monday

[babywings76]

Who has done this at a show before? Do you have an outline/breakdown of what you prepped ahead, and what you did at the show? Interactive or just a regular demo? I've made it once for my family and I loved it. Just wondering how long it's going to take me to do it. I tend to gab too much when demoing a recipe, so I'm trying to see how I'm going to get this made in 30 minutes and how I should run the show. Any advice?

 

[kam]

Haven't made this one yet.

I always have the Skillet Lasagna (from 29 Min CB) on my recipe list and was going to change things up and put this on my list this season. But was concerned about the "hotness" of the dish for guests. So, I decided to put the Pronto Pasta & Sausage recipe from the Weekday Dinners Done on my list instead.

So, I am not going to be much help...but my only suggestion from looking at the recipe is to perhaps add some fresh grated Parm to the top after cooking (in addition to the Provolone that it calls for). I usually try to pick dinner recipes that call from Parm just so I can show the Microplane :love:.

Oh, now I remember my other "hold up" on this recipe. Where do you find a block of Provolone to grate?? My store ONLY carries slices of Provolone (for sandwiches) and the only pre-grated provolone is Sargento brand - which is in a HUGE bag (and mixed with mozz). So, if the cheese is pre-grated, that means one less tool to show. So, maybe I would opt to using Mozz instead.

Sorry, not much help...

 

[ChefBeckyD]

Haven't made this one yet.

I always have the Skillet Lasagna (from 29 Min CB) on my recipe list and was going to change things up and put this on my list this season. But was concerned about the "hotness" of the dish for guests. So, I decided to put the Pronto Pasta & Sausage recipe from the Weekday Dinners Done on my list instead.

So, I am not going to be much help...but my only suggestion from looking at the recipe is to perhaps add some fresh grated Parm to the top after cooking (in addition to the Provolone that it calls for). I usually try to pick dinner recipes that call from Parm just so I can show the Microplane :love:.

Oh, now I remember my other "hold up" on this recipe. Where do you find a block of Provolone to grate?? My store ONLY carries slices of Provolone (for sandwiches) and the only pre-grated provolone is Sargento brand - which is in a HUGE bag. So, if the cheese is pre-grated, that means one less tool to show. So, maybe I would opt to using Mozz instead.

Sorry, not much help...

At the Deli Counter.

 

[kam]

At the Deli Counter.

Ahhhh! Now I know why I did not know that - our deli counter is organized horribly and it takes forever to get waited on. So I wouldn't even think of the deli counter.

I DID look in our "special" cheeses section - no provolone.

I guess if the host is getting the ingredients - then I don't have to wait in line at the deli counter!

 

[babywings76]

I didn't want to pay deli prices, so I bought the sliced provolone and just used our forged cutlery to cut it up into thin strips (I love to show our knives!) Really, it turns out fine, the point is to just get some type of cheesy layer on there, so this works fine in a pinch and will be cheaper for our hosts.I didn't think it was too hot, but I omitted the seeds of the jalepeno and could always scale back the quantity if the host is nervous.

 

[kam]

I didn't want to pay deli prices, so I bought the sliced provolone and just used our forged cutlery to cut it up into thin strips (I love to show our knives!) Really, it turns out fine, the point is to just get some type of cheesy layer on there, so this works fine in a pinch and will be cheaper for our hosts.

I didn't think it was too hot, but I omitted the seeds of the jalepeno and could always scale back the quantity if the host is nervous.

Good to know that it is not too hot. When we tried it at cluster, the jalepeno was left out and just diced tomatoes (without the onions) was added. It was good, but couldn't tell how hot it would be with the jalepeno.

 

[babywings76]

Bumping...cause I know I've seen people post that they've done this recipe at a show. I'm hoping to hear how it went when they did it. I'm needing logistical help...how to best run this recipe. I'm out of practice on shows right now (suffered major show drought) and the last one I did only 2 people came and they just wanted to sit, chat, and browse the catalog while I did the recipe. It was fine, but it felt like it took FOREVER to get it made because I would pause to answer questions, pause to go over different product lines that came up, etc.With this recipe, I'm nervous about having my back to the group while I'm at the stove. The host has a microwave that's too small and her last show I did a pizza, so she wanted something different. So I offered this one since I heard people say they did it as a show recipe and everyone loved it. Now I'm just nervous.

 

[otisbg]

Hi
This has been my most favorite recipe to date! I also make the garlic bites - not using fresh garlic but using the Garlic-Parm dipping spice instead of italian seasoing and fresh garlic. I tell them I can get dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes. I get the garlic bites in the oven. I halve and seed the jalapeno at home as I would hate to have a child or pet get the seeds. I bring the seeded pepper in a prep bowl. I basically kind of do the recipe while talking about what I am doing. I do have someone open the cans of diced tomatoes. I use one diced tomato w/onion and one diced tomato with italian seasoning. The rest of the recipe I follow as it is printed. My local supermarket sells a nice container of Asiago-Romano-Provolone that is shaved kind of thick. It can still be put in the rotary grater. Right before the cheese goes on, the bites come out and I flip those while the spinach is wilting. Then I go back and have someone add the cheese and we are good to go!
I have sold alot of garlic parm seasoning as well as cookware with this.

 

[nancyk325]

While at a cluster meeting this week our director did a Rodeo Round Table. We each brought a dish from the fall season's best and weekday dinners done. The objective was to decide if a recipe was an A, B or C. This really helps me determine what I cook. An A recipe is one that uses alot of tools (higher cost tools) easy to fix and allows you to talk about the PC opportunity or cross selling. I know it seems like a lot but trust me it works. The B recipe uses very few tools and ingrediants and is a good second recipe. A C recipe is one that is too much to do at a show. At the round up we all agreed that the ravioli while excellant was a C recipe because of the attention needed to prepare the dish. This by no means is the be all end all but just a suggestion. Hope it helps

 

[ChefPaulaB]

That's pretty cool! could you maybe give us a breakdown of which recipes were determined to be what? That would really be a great resource...

 

[junkfortara]

I feel like a dunce for asking.. but should the ravioli be added while still frozen or am I supposed to boil them first? The recipe just says add ravioli and the ingredient list does say frozen raviolis... so I'm thinking frozen. The bag of raviolis says to cook in an oven for 45 min or boil for 15... so the cook time on the zesty ravioli seems short to me.
Just over analyzing I'm sure.
Please educate me.

 

[babywings76]

They are small ravioli and they do go in frozen. You could set them out on the counter while you are preparing the dish so that they are starting to thaw, but every time I've made these they do turn out well in the time the recipe says. The first time I made them, DH did the shopping and said he could only find the big ones, so then they really did take a while longer to cook.

 

[junkfortara]

Mmmm... Just got done eating the Zesty Ravioli. Delish! My husband, a meat lover said "it's okay, good flavor but needs a big chunk of meat!".
My response in my head, was well the next time you can make it then... Maybe it's the early snow that makes me feisty? ;-)

 

[babywings76]

I cook Mild Italian sausage and add that at the end when I make this for my family. Makes it a nice, yummy, hearty meal.

 

[babywings76]

And my picky 2 yr. old ate all my DH's leftovers the next day. Felt bad for DH, he was really looking forward to eating them. He's a nice, generous daddy.

 

[Lindsay]

I made this for a show recently and it went really well.
A couple changes I made out of necessity:
1. Didn't us a pepper because I never stopped at a store that had one (my fault)
2. Instead of provolone (I couldn't find a block) I used pepper jack cheese, which also helped make up for the missing jalapeno.
3. I used cheese tortellini (refrigerated) because I couldn't find small ravioli.
4. I added some fresh chopped herbs
** I should qualify this, my host was my mom's best friend and I agreed to pick up the main dish ingredients, which is not my normal protocol **I did the following prep at the host house before the show:
- shredded all but about 1/4 of the cheese and stored it in a prep bowl
- stemmed the basil and parsely I used and placed it in another prep bowl
- premeasured my wine and cream (although I ended up forgetting to put the cream in, but everyone still ate it!)
- rinsed the spinach in the small stainless colander and left it to drain
- got my onion ready to chopThen during the show I just did the recipe as directed (well except for the cream...) and I finished it with the herbs which I minced right in the prep bowl with the shears. The major suggestion I would make is to stir the spinach down into the pasta, sprinkle the cheese and then cover it and let it sit for a few minutes. I left the spinach on top and put the cheese on top of that and once the cheese melted neither the cheese nor the spinach mixed into the pasta nicely - it was all clumpy.I'm pretty much just offering DBC recipes this season, with a skillet cake as the "B" recipe but my host for this show didn't have a microwave that would accommodate it, so this is my back-up recipe (in which case I make dessert with a piece of stoneware). Anyway, I thought it went well - it was my highest show so far!