Bacon and Leek-Filled Ravioli

My typical weekday: get up, get ready, commute an hour to work, work an 8-hour day, commute home, exercise, prepare dinner, watch a couple of shows, and then bedtime so I can be refreshed for another busy day. I feel like I have no free time! I could easily not work out and order fast food, but you gotta make time for the little things that matter. Plus, I wouldn't be 50 lbs lighter and able to enjoy all the delicious food that surrounds us if I didn't sacrifice some of my time. But unfortunately, that also means that I have neglected my food blog for a bit, and for that I am sorry!

I made these bacon and leek-filled ravioli with some of the fresh pasta dough posted way back. Instead of cutting the pasta dough into fettuccine noodles, just cut it into squares with a knife or into circles with a round cookie cutter. Then put a little bit of filling into the center, take another square/round pasta sheet and pinch the ends together tightly. I just used my fingers to pinch the ends together, which worked just fine. I even experimented with using a fork to seal the ends which just made it look prettier.

For this dish, I used the dark green ends of the leek that you would normally throw away. I wanted to see if we could cook with it. Why not? There's actually still flavor left in those little ends. This ravioli was surprisingly not as heavy as it sounded either. The ricotta cheese lightened up the dish a bit. There was so much flavor, it was delicious.

Bacon and Leek-Filled Ravioli

Ingredients
8-10 slices of bacon
1 c leeks, sliced
1 1/2 c ricotta cheese
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp flour
2 c heavy cream
2 c pecorino cheese
1 tbsp parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

Over medium heat, cook the bacon until crispy. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Save half of the bacon dripping. In the same pan, add the leeks. Cook until tender, about 5 mins. Crumble the bacon and add it to a small bowl along with the cooked leeks, ricotta cheese, and half the pecorino. Mix well and add salt and pepper to taste. This is the filling for your ravioli.

In the same pan you cooked your bacon and leeks in, add the rest of the bacon dripping saved earlier and the butter, cooking over medium-high heat. Add the flour and cook for about a min so the raw flour cooks out. Then slowly whisk in the cream. Bring it to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Add in the rest of the pecorino (add more if you wish!). Cook for a few more mins so the sauce can thicken up. Salt and pepper to taste as needed.

Toss the bacon and leek-filled ravioli prepared earlier into the cream. Top with parsley and more pecorino. Enjoy!