Ravioli in Broth – Cheesy Comfort!
Ravioli in broth is comfort food in a bowl!
Bert is not a huge fan of pasta. The boysies and I, on the other hand, have never met a pasta dish that we didn’t like. When Bert traveled, we’d often have this beautiful little Ravioli in Broth concoction for dinner. It’s absolutely perfect for curling up in front of the TV with while watching some mindless show.
We have toned it down a bit – in the old days, I’d need to cook two bags of ravioli to make enough for everyone. I would happily eat a Jethro Bodine bowl of this stuff at any time.
Luckily, it’s not too bad for us, health-wise, although the big bowl I’d prefer is probably out.
Baby Boy thought it was ravioli swimming in butter. And he believed it for years, because I never told him otherwise. The no added fat secret was out of the bag one dinner not too long ago when he was in the kitchen while it was being made. Ah well. It was fun while it lasted.
Ravioli in Broth is the epitome of Cheap Eats, with one caveat.
Real Parmesan Cheese makes a HUGE difference, and it’s nowhere near as cheap as the stuff in the green bottle. Don’t worry if you can’t swing it – it’ll still be good. But it won’t be as good as it can be. Try a taste test, just once – I promise you’ll notice the difference.
When I prep the cheese, I use my handy dandy vegetable peeler (affiliate links follow) but a microplane works great too.
A note about the “broth”: I use a fair amount of CHICKEN SOUP BASE in my cooking, and this recipe is no exception. It’s not chicken bouillon. Stock? Nope. It’s also not prepared broth. It’s a powder, it’s pretty yellow (hence the butter confusion with Baby Boy) and it has a bit of chicken fat in it to enhance the flavor. It can get salty if you overdo, but it’s much less salty than bouillon and most commercially prepared broths.
Ravioli in Broth is nothing if not easy though –
You can absolutely use whatever type of “broth” you’d like, including switching out beef or vegetarian stock if you like that better.
Bring a big pot of water to a boil. Add some salt and then the ravioli.
Follow the directions on the ravioli – our brand has us time the cooking as soon as the ravs hit the water. These take 5 minutes to cook. They start floating when they’re ready, and you don’t want to overcook them. They don’t all have to be floating to be done. Your best bet is to actually use the timer.
I like to use the lid from the pot and drain out the water – making sure to leave a couple cups of the cooking liquid in with the ravioli. You can use a colander if you don’t mind dirtying another dish. And you don’t need a steam bath.
Just hold onto that precious cooking liquid!
Add in a couple of tablespoons of the chicken soup base and stir well. Make sure the base is completely absorbed before serving.
Shave on some parm, sprinkle on chives and red pepper flakes (your call!) and get ready for some comfort.
Ravioli in Broth
Ingredients
- 1 bag Frozen Cheese Ravioli (25 ounce size)
- 2 tbsp Chicken Soup Base
- Parmesan Cheese to taste
- Chopped Chives, Parsley, Red Pepper Flakes to Taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Add frozen ravioli (do not thaw ravioli before cooking) and prepare according to package directions.
- When ravioli is cooked, drain all but two cups of the pasta water.
- Add soup base to water and ravioli, and stir well to dissolve. Taste for seasoning, and add more soup base if needed.
- Ladle ravioli and broth into serving bowls and sprinkle with Parmesan. Garnish with chives, parsley and red pepper flakes as desired.
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