guess who’s coming to dinner?

so after a couple of weeks of watching iron chef america back in the states, i came back to shanghai inspired to cook some new things.

after watching battle cheese, i figured homemade ravioli would be an easy choice – especially since the “making your own wrappers” can be short-cut-ed by using pre-made jiaozi wrappers. (i’ve made my own pasta before – it is a LOT of work and very time consuming. buying a pack of wrappers is a huge time saver)

i didn’t have a solid idea of what i wanted to use for the filling, but walking around city shop, i chose lardon (french streaky bacon), ricotta cheese and peas.

i was going to roast my own chicken, but the city shop in the basement of times square was selling fresh whole chickens for over 70 rmb per, while selling whole already roasted rotisserie chickens for 30rmb. i figured discretion was the better part of valor – obviously buying fresh meat in china, one would do a lot better to go to the local wet market, but i was pressed for time and will leave that for next time.

to start the meal off, i made a simple salad with rosemary roasted tomatoes topped with warmed goat cheese and a honey balsamic chili vinaigrette dressing.

i served the ravioli with a thyme brown butter sauce (don’t look up how it’s made. it will scare your cardiologist), topped with creme freche and lemon zest (i bought a new microplane when i was home. i want to go around zesting every citrus fruit i see now)

the verdict? well, the jiaozi wrappers worked pretty well. i would’ve added another dish – it really didn’t turn into a substantial dinner. it did, however, engender the most conversation on my facebook feed for a while.