Federal: I love ravioli!

Since childhood my favorite pasta has been ravioli. Maybe Chef Boyardee is to blame. Who knows. Or maybe growing up in KC where there were always good, old-fashioned Italian restaurants is the reason. In the 70s KC had the kinds of Italian restaurants where the maitre d' packed a gun. On the few occasions we got to eat at those establishments, I nearly always ordered ravioli in a meat and tomato sauce.

I still love ravioli. More often than not I will order it when it appears on a menu and looks half interesting. Imagine my utter delight to see ravioli on the list of specials at Federal tonight. As a side note, I've never had anything but good food at Federal. YUM. Anyway, the dish was fried ravioli stuffed with roasted veggies and ricotta with roasted artichoke hearts in a garlic butter sauce. I could not resist. It fit my criteria of plate-licking good. The artichokes were real ones, not from a jar or can (although these are very tasty in many dishes). No, these were fresh artichokes and they were roasted until almost charred. The ravioli were cooked in water and then thrown into a pan of olive oil until they were lightly browned. The butter sauce was basically melted butter with garlic and parsley. I'd say run to Federal while they still have this on the menu! If you don't like it, I don't want to know!

A few times I've even made ravioli. It's quite a messy ordeal and it would probably be more fun if I'd had some help. One day I'll give it another whirl and let you know how it goes.