Pea and Parmesan Wonton Ravioli & Herbed "Peasto"

Gourmet's May 2009 issue had a recipe right inside the front of the magazine that caught my eye, Pea and Parmesan Wonton Ravioli. It looked quick and simple and sounded good. Of course for some strange reason, the two stores I went to didn't have wonton skins, only egg roll wrappers and mandu wrappers, (Mandu are Korean dumplings). I ended up buying the mandu ones. Rather than drizzling the 3/4 stick of butter on the ravioli as called for in the recipe, I decided to make a pesto (or "peasto") with the last of my bag of peas and a bit of Parmesan, pine nuts and some fresh herbs I had on hand. 

Pea and Parmesan Wonton Ravioli

Gourmet, May 2009

Serves 4 (Makes about 32 ravioli)

2 1/2 cups frozen peas (3/4 lb)

1/3 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano plus additional for serving

2 tsp chopped mint

about 64 dumpling or wonton wraps

3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted

Cook peas in boiling, salted water until just tender, 3-4 minutes. Drain and cool, then puree in a food processor. Stir in cheese, mint, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper. 

Put a rounded teaspoon of filling in center of a wrapper. 

Lightly brush edge or wrapper with water, then place a second wrapper on top and seal, pressing out any trapped air. 

Repeat with remaining wrappers and filling, keeping ravioli covered as you work. Boil ravioli in 2 batches in a pasta pot of boiling water until tender, 2 to 3 minutes per batch, removing with a slotted spoon. 

Drizzle with butter and sprinkle with cheese and pepper. (I drizzled my ravioli with Herbed "Peasto", (recipe below), as well as chopped mint, a bit of grated cheese and pepper.) 

Herbed "Peasto"

by Deb, Kahakai Kitchen

(Makes about a cup)

1/2 cup cooked frozen peas

1/3 cup pine nuts

2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

3 Tbsp chopped herbs of your choice (I used mint, tarragon, thyme and lemon thyme)

juice of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp each, salt and pepper

water, (preferably reserved pasta water), to thin consistency if needed

Process all ingredients through salt and pepper in a food processor until smooth. Add water as needed by teaspoon to get to a pourable, drizzling consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning. 

Notes/Results: Flavor was excellent! Both the filling and the peasto. The texture?..., well let's just say that the mandu wrappers were a bit thicker than I would have liked, making for some slightly chewy raviolis. With the wonton wrappers, which are usually thinner, I think it would have been perfect. I ended up making a bit less than a half batch. I assumed the package of mandu had 24 wrappers in it, so it would make 12 ravioli but strangely enough it had 21 wrappers so I ended up with 10 & 1/2 instead. The bright, colorful filling is tasty, and very spring-like. I was afraid with all the peas in the filling and in the peasto it might be too much, but with the herbs, cheese and lemon, the peas provide mostly texture in the peasto rather than a strong pea flavor. I would definitely make this again and will do so soon, this time when I can find the wonton skins. 

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