I found this specialty shop here in Dallas. All they do is make gourmet pasta.
I bought some chicken Gorgonzola ravioli. I warmed it up just like they told me to. I brought a pot of water to a boil, dumped the ravioli in and let them simmer for about five minutes. Then I added the ravioli to the already warmed up sauce.
The meal turned out great, but I couldn’t help wondering: Why couldn’t I just bring the sauce to a simmer, dump the ravioli in and let it warm up that way? It seems like less of a fuss.
I may try to do this with my next batch unless you guys tell me I shouldn’t.
Thanks for any input.
I say give it a shot. I have a feeling it might affect the texture of your ravioli, perhaps making it a bit gooier or fall apart (that’s what happens if I don’t pre-cook fresh pasta separately from the sauce), but I don’t know for certain. What’s the worst that could happen if you try?
I think the pasta needs to absorb a lot of water to be cooked to the right texture. I suppose in theory you could start with a really soupy sauce, let the pasta absorb the excess liquid, and end up with a meal that’s just right. But it seems like it would be really tricky to pull off. I recommend sticking with cooking the pasta separately in water and combining it with the sauce afterwards.
I don’t think it will cook right. If you have the sauce hot enough to cook the pasta properly you’ll have sauce splattering everywhere. I predict the ravioli will be very chewy. However, that’s just texture, you may like the way it comes out.
One thing to consider is that frozen ravioli cooks rapidly and the heat is mainly needed to thaw the ravioli, it isn’t dried pasta and it doesn’t need to absorb as much water as dried pasta would.