Suggestions needed for serving unusual ravioli

[tammylc]

On a visit to Columbus, OH a couple weeks ago, we discovered the absolutely fabulous North Market, a foodie paradise. There was a shop in the Market selling really unusual stuffed pastas, so we brought some home to try. I've already cooked the portabella/prosciutto/pinenut (which weren't as good as I'd hoped) and my friend shared the smoked mozarella (which were fabulous). I still have three kinds in my freezer, and while I have some ideas for what might work, I'd love suggestions.

So, what would you do with the following ravioli?

1. Goat Cheese

2. Smoked Salmon

3. Jamaican Jerk Chicken in Lime Cilantro pasta

Thanks in advance!

[Jinmyo]

1) Serve with slivered smoked salmon and salmon roe with wilted arugula and a bit of mint.

2) Serve with crumbled chevre etc etc. Or with a vodka sauce.

3) Not bother, really. Perhaps with cremini and porcini mushrooms with chile and scallions.

[marie-louise]

A local store where I live (The Pasta Shop, in The Market Hall) sells about 20 kinds daily. This is one of my favorite quick dinners: serve them in a cup or two of homemade chicken broth that contains some vegetables and fresh herbs. (Cook the pasta in water, then add it to the broth for a few minutes.) My second favorite way is to also buy a container of their Garlic-Cream sauce and serve it with that. In general, I don't care for them in tomato-based sauces.

Simple is best with these kinds of pasta.

For your goat cheese-maybe some sauteed wild mushrooms and summer squash in the broth.

For your Jerk Chicken-just plain broth, or a few carrots/onions cooked until soft.

The salmon would be better w/ cream sauce.

[carswell]

1. Walnut or pinenut sauce (ground nuts, garlic, butter, lemon zest). Arugula pesto.

2. Horseradish cream or butter sauce. Dill cream sauce. Arugula pesto.

3. A toughy. Jerk chicken is traditiionally served with fried plantains. Maybe you could whip up a batch of those (with lime juice) and combine them with the cooked raviolis at the last minute. Or how about a Pickapeppa cream?

[arlene]

I don't think that theres any reason they all couldn't be served with a simple melted butter, salt and pepper. You could, if you like make a brown butter, especially for the goat cheese, garnish with sage.

[KNorthrup]

Horseradish cream is a great idea for the smoked salmon ravioli. I've done wasabi, not sure why I didn't think of the alterative. Sometime else I do it with is lemon-artichoke "pesto."

[rxrfrx]

For the goat cheese, if you want to take it somewhere sweet: Apple slices sauteed in butter, cider reduction, maybe a couple nuts.

[tammylc]

Thanks for all the fabulous suggestions. I cooked up the goat cheese ravioli tonight. A couple different people mentioned arugula as a possible pairing, so I improvised an arugula pesto out of baby arugula, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, lemon juice, salt, and a touch of sugar. I experimented with my plating technique and sauced the plates with the pesto, then arranged three raviolis on top. I topped it with a little more sauce and garnished it with lemon zest and toasted pine nuts. The pesto was very strongly flavored, so it was important to use it sparingly, but everyone agreed that it was a really nice combination.

I paired it with a 2001 Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc from the The Crossings in Awatere Valley in New Zealand. This was a great match - SB is a classic match with goat cheese, and this particular one has a lot of green herbaceous flavors to mirror the arugula. In fact, when I opened this on Friday it was almost too herbaecous, but in comparison to the arugula it was just green enough (two days in the fridge helped some too, to be fair).