Shadow and Flame with Magik

http://www.goeatandrepeat.com/ravioli-with-garlic-basil-oil/

Look, I made Thursday Dinner!  My wife had one of our (several) cook binders open and I know how to cook, so I just start prepping it, once we got home.

When I saw that it required 1/2 cup of chopped basil leaves, I was like “gosh, that’s a lot of basil leaves!” It took our entire container of basil leaves.  Once the meal was completed, I chalked it up to it being like a pesto sauce.

I should say, that this doesn’t really make a “sauce,” it is more like a mixture.

My wife didn’t care for it, at first, but after a few more bites, she was enjoying it.  It is one of those recipes where I already wanted to modify it as I was cooking it.  Walker Dennis, on the other hand, loved it – that kid of ours loves pasta.

I used Celentan’s Cheese Raviolis – which were pretty good.

We already had minced garlic, and I used six 1/2 teaspoons – I thought about with ten 1/2 teaspoons but held off.  I really should have, as my wife wanted more garlic.

At no point does the instructions state to include the red pepper flakes, I figure the best place was when I added the basil leaves.  I already committed to using a 1/2 of red pepper flakes as opposed to 1/4 teaspoon.  I think that improvement added just enough of a kick.  Especially compared to how much basil leaves the recipe calls for.  Next time, I will just do a 1/3 cup of basil leaves.  There was plenty of basil so I think a tad less would be okay.

After cooking, I had to add basil leaves and Parmesan to our grocery list.

My picture and the picture from the website looks pretty different.  Our raviolis are smaller, and our basil leaves were already chopped.  We’re a McCormick household and we’re finally getting our pantry filled with spices.  Like most families, I’m sure, we buy the Kraft Parmesan cheese, as well.  For the garlic, I’ve always gone with The Garlic Company of California, 1/2 teaspoon equals one glove.  Which now I see, that the recipe calls for “large garlic cloves” so I should have gone with ten 1/2 teaspoons, at a minimum.

. . .

TV wise, I finally watched the “Girl Who Died” episode of Doctor Who’s ninth season.  I really should have watched the next episode, the second part, but it was already late and I thought I was going to be able to watch it on Wednesday but my son stayed up to see me so I had to go straight to bed.  Which, really, is better for my work day on Thursday.

Our next episode of The Office is Season Three’s Branch Closing – this show, we can pretty much watch anytime.  Usually we watch one episode at dinner, and sometimes, we will watch a second episode (if we’re not done eating or if we just want to) and we might sneak in another episode at night.  We’ve been searching for a good 22 minute show for dinner purposes and The Office is right up there.  Seeing Rashida Jones makes us feel silly that we watched Parks and Recreation last year and dismissed The Office then, too, when we should have been watching the original show this entire time.