Portabella Ravioli with Spicy Garlic Sauce

Hey there....no, I didn't fall off the earth, just cocooned till Book 1 was finished and...Ta-Da...it's finished! It is with the first read editors. This is a big step, it was like turning over my newborn. Thankfully, I have faith and trust in both, so I know they will do their job of editing and still take care of my baby!! Tomorrow, I start writing Book 2 in the series. I have my outline in place, some research done and I'm eager to start.

So, I've got a new Tweaked Recipe for you. This is a take on a recipe I saw on Lidia's Italy...tweaked, of course! My Go-To staple, Portabella Mushroom Ravioli, makes the base of this simple mouth tingling delight.

I used a heavy cast iron skillet for the sauce and a tall pot of boiling water to start the ravioli.

Portabella Ravioli with Spicy Garlic Sauce
1 bag HEB brand of Portabella Mushroom Ravioli (can use ravioli or pasta of choice) $2.50
4 healthy sized cloves of garlic sliced, not too thin, not too fat
ground hot peppers - I used 1 hot, 1 med & 1 kind of sweet pepper, all dried, ground in coffee grinder
salt & pepper to taste
1 to 1-1/2 Tablespoons olive oil

Bring water almost to boil meanwhile warm a dry skillet over flame. Once water is boiling, drop ravioli in. Immediately put oil in skillet, when shimmering, add sliced garlic to toast over medium low heat. Watch garlic carefully, it gets bitter if burned and it burns easily. It only takes a few minutes, it's worth standing over. When garlic is starting to turn golden, add ground hot peppers - 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons, and toast together with garlic gently for a minute. Add salted pasta water, 1 ladle full at a time for a total of 3 or 4, depending on size of ladle. Turn heat to medium. This cooks down to make sauce. When Ravioli is about 1/2 done, transfer with slotted spoon into simmering sauce, it finishes cooking in sauce as it reduces. Salt & pepper to taste.

This is simple, easy, quick, cheap and makes your mouth do the happy dance. I will add a bit more ground hot peppers next time, and there WILL be a next time, because we like spicy hot stuff. It was satisfying on it's own, so I didn't add a side dish. Dried peppers in the market are cheap, so do not go with the bottled stuff if you can get around it. A pepper plant in a pot will give you a lot of peppers to dry and use throughout the year. The three peppers I used made enough ground leftovers I could make the dish 2-3 more times without needing to grind more. It's in a ziplock bag in the spice drawer, will keep nicely.

P.S. You can clean your coffee grinder after chilis by grinding up a piece of bread, works like a charm! I didn't have bread, so I put in  handful of flour, whirled it around a bit and then wiped it out. That worked well, too.

Let me know if you try it. Seriously, this was incredibly easy & fast. Budget friendly, too!