Birthday Dinner- Arugula and Goat Cheese Ravioli

It's always fun to celebrate a Birthday at home. Only your Mom and Dad get as excited about your turning 27 as they did when you turned 9... I got to be princess for the day, princess for the week actually!

We had a celebratory dinner downtown Tuesday night with John and then celebrated my actual birthday with a fantastic meal at home. Mom and I picked fresh vegetables out of the garden in the afternoon. I swear since we were out there three days ago, whole yellow squashes have grown, tomatoes turned from green to bright red and we had a whole pot's worth of roma beans to pick! I think if we sat there and stared at the plants, we'd actually see them growing before our eyes it happened so fast...

Here are some of the fruits of our harvest....

I had requested an Italian themed dinner so we decided on an Arugula and Goat Cheese Ravioli with a fresh Tomato-Pancetta Butter Sauce recipe that my Aunt Ann found in Bon Appetit magazine a few years back. Mom, Annie and I made it once last year and it is scrumptious! It is the perfect summer Italian meal- very light and fresh.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Goat-Cheese-Arugula-Ravioli-with-Tomato-Pancetta-Butter-104784

The filling is really simple and using the wanton wrappers means that assembly is relatively painless as well! The recipe makes a ton of them. We cooked half of them and froze the rest. (Freeze them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper over night and then transfer to a zip lock bag.)

The pancetta is a must- we tried it with bacon before but this time we had the real stuff- it makes a difference if you can get it. The sauce is deliciously fresh because it only cooks for a few mins. Which means its quick too! Mom also cooked up fresh roma beans out of the garden as we did the other day (see the first Kentucky blog for recipe) but we used pancetta instead of bacon to tie it in with the Italian theme and the flavors of the ravioli. They were OUT OF THIS WORLD wonderful. Something about picking them yourself and the fact that they went from the bush to the pot in a matter of 2 hours really makes them taste better.

With dinner we enjoyed a 2005 Masi Valpolicella. We first had this wine on a family vacation in the Bahamas and Dad made a point to remember the name of it because it was great. Valpolicella's are not as popular as many Italian wines these days but there are some really great ones out there! The Masi is acidic yet fruity and packs a punch similar to a Chianti which pairs great with the acidity of a fresh tomato sauce. My parents have usually have quite the wine stock at the house and my mom has a great trick that I'll share. They are always trying new things so when she gets home from the wine store, she sits down with a sharpie and the receipt and writes the price on the back of the bottle (very small of course so you can only see it if you're looking for it). That way when they drink the wines later, she can remember the various price points for future reference. Comes in handy! Then there was of course the Birthday Cake!!!! My little sister works for a bakery and catering company out of Augusta, GA called Very Vera. They do all sorts of goodies via mail order (cookies, bars, casseroles, breads, etc) but I would bet that they are most widely known for their cakes!! They sell pound and layer cakes of ALL flavors and they ship all over the country. They come in the most adorable packaging and the cakes are packed in a cooler for shipping, great for gifts! www.veryvera.com/

Annie sent me a new flavor this year, Strawberry Lemonade, and it is RIDICULOUS. Very Vera is famous for the Strawberry layer cake and the Lemon layer cake- this one is half and half!! The perfect blend of sweet, tart and decadent... the cake is splendidly moist and it's adorable too. Would be so cute for a baby shower, for Easter, or of course a summertime Birthday!

It was a wonderful meal, capping off a wonderful day, and a fantastic 26th year!!

Those are real sunflowers out of Mom's garden too!!!!