Ravioli at Home

For dinner, I had ravioli and a glass of wine. And some organic Cheeto-like things...

I bought the ravioli Saturday at the Spec's downtown. First, I'll say that the flagship Spec's on a Saturday afternoon is about as much interesting cultural experience as you can have for free in Houston. I decided on a whim to grab some prosciutto San Daniele, one of my favorite guilty porky pleasures, because the price was the best I've seen anywhere.

While waiting, I had to deal with the obnoxious woman ahead of me in line who would not move for me to look into their meat display. She then proceeded to request a sample of, like, eight different things. Between each sample, she would spend a few minutes cogitating, and then request another sample of something else. Not to be rude or anything, but I think this story makes a little more sense if I add that she was Russian. The poor meat counter lady tried to help me while the woman was busy contemplating her many samples, at which point the woman proceeded to throw a hissy-fit. So, I got to wait. And wait. And wait. The Russian woman actually walked off before her last bit of charcuterie was done, never to be seen again.

It was finally my turn, but then they had to open a new ham for me. I don't think the San Daniele was very popular. It took the woman ten minutes to open it and slice off the outer cap of fat. However, it made my wait worthwhile when she handed over a sample, a few ounces worth (we're talking $2-3 of ham here). At which point some incredibly strange older man, also Eastern European, walks up and requests "cheese samples" in a thick accent. No specific type, no intent to actually buy cheese, he was just cruising Spec's for samples. The counter woman was so frustrated by this point that she couldn't understand anything he said. I translated, and offered him a bit of my prosciutto sample, which he accepted. I finally got my pork, and toddled off to the wines. On the way out, I grabbed said pack of whole wheat Putney Pasta spinach-cheese ravioli.

I was concerned when I took it out of the freezer to cook, only to discover large chunks of frost and patches of freezer burn. I guess the lesson here is to avoid buying pasta at what's basically a big wine store with a deli/specialty foods wing on the side. Despite the icky look (even after it was cooked, several pieces were an entirely different color due to serious freezer burn), the flavors were very good. I think the presence of very good Italian parm made the difference, as did the homemade garlic butter sauce I tossed it in.

The wine, also from Spec's, turned out to be nice, after much speculation. It was Alamos' malbec, 2007. Alamos is the less expensive brand made by Catena Vineyards, from Argentina. All of their wines I'd had before were at least great, and some exceptional. They get kudos for making excellent chardonnay, something Argentina is definitely not known for. But I opened this wine Saturday night, and it was terrifying. I love very dry tannic reds, but this was almost like vinegar. I wondered if it was corked. But no, once it had a few hours to breathe it was fine. Still not my favorite wine from them, nor my favorite malbec, but not bad. I think it just needs more aging before it's truly drinkable.

Then, the Cheetos. Jon bought some organic Cheeto-equivalent puffs from Whole Foods the other day. I was left with a ton of garlic butter sauce from my ravioli, and no bread in the house to soak it up...I didn't want to waste all that garlicky yumminess. Solution: cheese puffs. All those little internal pores really sucked up the garlic butter nicely. I know it sounds disgusting, but it was yummy.