Weekend Dinner

I'm not counting last night's dinner towards my goal, since I'm working towards cooking dinner during the week consistently. But I did make dinner last night, and wanted to record it in case I make it again.

I found a recipe in Real Simple (November Issue) for Cheese Ravioli with Toasted Walnuts. According to the magazine, the total time/hands-on time was only 20 minutes, so I thought I'd give it a test run in case it could become a quick weeknight favorite. Here's the original recipe from the magazine:

Cheese Ravioli with Toasted Walnuts
1 14- to 16-ounce package cheese ravioli (frozen or fresh)
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup (2 ounces) walnuts, roughly chopped
1 clove garlic, sliced
2 teaspoons lemon juice
Kosher Salt & Pepper
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup grated parmesan

Cook the ravioli according to package directions. Drain, reserving 3 tablespoons of the cooking water.

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add the walnuts & garlic. Cook, stirring, until the nuts are lightly toasted and fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Stir in the lemon juice, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, parsley & the reserved cooking water.

Add the ravioli and toss to coat.

Divide among individual plates and sprinkle with the parmesan.

I found fresh beef & parmesan ravioli at the store, so I decided to use that, instead. And I like basil better than parsley, so I used fresh basil, and added it at the end (during the toss to coat portion of the directions). Since the ravioli had parmesan in it, I decided to go with mozzarella for the cheese. I wasn't very impressed by how it turned out. K really liked it, but I thought there was too much olive oil, which made it seem greasy. The store-bought ravioli didn't have a very strong parmesan flavor, and mozzarella doesn't have a very strong flavor, so I mainly tasted basil. I do love basil, but overall the dish was just ehh.