Brown Butter Ravioli, Chicken, Walnuts, & Sage

Mind = Blown.

I found this recipe on Pinterest quite a few weeks ago. Every time I go to the grocery store I think, maybe this is the time! But I find something else to make that week.

However. This week was The Week. Brown Butter Ravioli with Rotisserie Chicken, Toasted Walnuts, and Sage. Very easy to make. You can find the original recipe here.

I have never knowingly used sage before (its in poultry seasoning which is another awesome spice for use in chicken soup!). Nor have I ever made my own rotisserie chicken before. And apparently I have been missing out.

Sage is a soft/fuzzy green leafy herb that is (as herbs are) very fragrant. It has been around for ages and ages and is known for its many health benefits and being able to treat many different ailments. Sage is one of the main ingredients in poultry seasoning too.

Spices

Spice rubbed chicken - raw

I started with defrosting the chicken in a bowl of water bath in my sink. Meanwhile, I mixed the spices together. I didn't have thyme so I omitted it. I also didn't know what a pound of chicken would be and since I was going through all this work, I decided to go with 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (approx 3-4 servings for me). After about 20 minutes I declared them defrosted enough and covered them in the spices. Next time I'll use the full amount, (I had halved it), but it was still very flavorful.

Seared chicken

Next I seared them in a skillet until browned, only a few minutes on each side. If I had a dutch oven (Please mom?) I could have popped it right into the oven. Instead I transferred it to a pie plate and used a glass oven safe cover. I baked it for about 25 minutes at 350F. When I took it out I could see that the center was still raw. I cut it up into bite size pieces and put it back in for another 5 minutes. I'm fairly certain this has to do with me using chicken that isn't entirely thawed out... Regardless, it came out awesome and is incredibly easy.

While the chicken was cooking away, I started toasting the walnuts on medium heat. Easy enough, put some in a frying pan and stir them around a little bit until they become little aromatic morsels. This takes about 5 minutes. Note, I didn't wipe out the pan after I seared the chicken. I took the walnuts out of the pan and chopped them up into smaller pieces.

I started to boil some water in a pot for the raviolis. I used store bought store brand fresh Mini Spinach and Cheese Raviolis. I cooked them according to the directions on the packaging. Any flavor would be good, I was figuring spinach makes it healthier? Aside from the fact that spinach raviolis are delish. Tortellinis would have been tasty too (aka raviolis in a different shape). Basically any type of filled pasta could be substituted in.

As the raviolis were cooking...I melted 2 tbsp of butter in the same frying pan the walnuts had been in. The original recipe uses 4 tbsp of butter, but I'm not a huge butter fan (yes, crazy, I know). This would be good if you want more of a coating on the raviolis, but for me? This was the perfect amount. Since I didn't wait for the pan to cool I moved it to a cold burner to keep the butter from burning. Once the butter was melted I tossed the sage in and stirred it around for about a minute. Then added the walnut pieces and diced chicken.

Because I was cooking for more than one meal I didn't add the raviolis into the pan with the rest of the ingredients. I dislike re-heated pasta so I only cooked what I was going to eat for that meal. If you are going to eat this right away, add the ravioli into the pan.

This made enough for 3 large very filling no appetizer no dessert dinners.

Changes for next time? Maybe cut the chicken and bake it in the oven so it would cook faster. Use more spices in the chicken (the recipe below uses the original measurements, so don't double them...) and more sage. I used less then 1/3 cup which the recipe recommended. I used probably a 1/4 cup or a little less.

If you want to make this meal even faster use store bought rotisserie chicken. But if I had cut the chicken before cooking it, it could have been done in under 20 minutes.

Update: Prepared chicken as instructed but cooked the chicken on the stove. Tasted just as good, cooks a lot faster, whole meal was done in under 30 minutes.

Brown Butter Raviolis, Rotisserie Chicken, Toasted Walnuts, and Sage
Serves approx 2-3

2 boneless skinless chicken breast
1 tsp salt and pepper (to taste)
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp olive oil
9 oz fresh mini ravioli
(1/2 cup) walnuts
2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup fresh sage leaves

Chicken
Preheat oven to 350F. Combine spices and rub onto both sides of the chicken. Heat oil over medium-high heat in a frying pan (or dutch oven). Add the chicken and cook for 2 minutes until brown then do the same for the other side. Put chicken in oven safe pan and cover (or cover dutch oven). and cook for 25-30 minutes. Let cool a few minutes then dice into bite size pieces.

Raviolis
Cook according the to package directions.

Walnuts
Place the walnuts in frying pan on medium heat and toast for ~5 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove and chop.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the same skillet over medium heat. When the butter just starts to turn brown, add the sage and stir constantly for one minute.

Combine ravioli, chicken, and walnuts.

And try to get all of it in one bite in your mouth. Its worth it.

Enjoy!!