Baked ravioli bites

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I am starting to think about bite-size food a lot more now that Veggie Baby is eating solids. And while she's a little way off eating these gorgeous cheesy bites, it doesn't mean you have to be! A fun weekend dinner for your kiddies, or even an appetiser or cocktail party food with a difference for you.

The possibilities are in no way limited to cheese ravioli with pasta sauce. You can use any flavour ravioli (and yes, I know these are actually agnolotti!) and any flavour sauce. You could even hand-make the ravioli if you are so inclined... and have the time.

I like to bake these, as they come out just a little crisper than fried. But fried helps to cook the ravioli dough better. It's up to you! It's probably easier to throw them in the oven, you can fit more in and they don't have to be watched so intensely. And that whole "they're not fried" thing.

Try them. They'll be a hit!

Ingredients

refrigerated ravioli

egg

breadcrumbs

pasta sauce

Directions

1. Dip ravoli first into egg and then into breadcrumbs. You can add spices and flavourings to the breadcrumbs if you like, but I prefer to keep these simple.

2. Place on a baking sheet and spray lightly with oil. Bake at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

3. Serve with your favourite pasta sauce.

Think your kids will like them?

Crazy Vegas and the Deep Fried Pickle.

Two insanely amazing things happened to me when we were in Las Vegas last year.

I found out I was pregnant.

I ate my first fried pickle.

I blame/thank my dad for getting me started on the whole pickle train. He and I used to eat canned cucumber slices straight from the tin when I was a teeny little veggie, and I've been hooked on any kind ever since. I love the sweet-tartness of gherkins the best, but I'll eat any pickle I can find. I was never the one to remove it from burgers, instead I would eat everyone else's discarded goodness before they had a chance to throw them at the window or ceiling (what a waste!) or each other. I also remember once in high school my best friend and I went halves in a cheeseburger, and she very diligently also halved the lone pickle inside. Bestest friend ever!

Before I even made it to Vegas, we visited Disneyland for a day, where I found pickles in bags in among all the rest of the snack food one could purchase in the park. Just a pickle. In a bag. Ready to eat.

Veggie Dad was bordering on horrified, but I felt as though I was finally among my people.

The Pickle Fan in her natural habitat.

 If I thought that was amazing, I had no idea what was in store for me when I finally met the fried version. For an insatiable pickle fan, I was embarrassingly unaware it was even possible to fry them. And for them to taste so fricking good. While Veggie Dad played a slot machine in every casino, I gently nursed my little basket of fried goodness from one place to another. Bought from a random concession caravan at the last minute, and with a little pot of ranch dressing for dipping, I thought the pinnacle of my life had arrived. Nothing, surely, would top that moment when I first bit into a crazy-hot, crunchy-crumbed and golden fried spear into the sweet tang of soft pickle below.

Except the next day I took a pregnancy test and it was positive. The pickle was all but forgotten.

We took a bus through the desert. A bus. through the desert. And it was delayed due to a huge accident on the freeway. Desert. Height of Summer. Never Again.

Wasn't much cooler when we got here either. Fairly sure my shoes melted to the sidewalk.

So funny to see the small versions of tourist attractions.

The strip really was quite pretty, once you got around the Elvis impersonators, hammered frat boys with glowing yardglasses around their necks, families of 20 ambling along the sidewalk and ninety-five policemen.

Another highlight of the trip! I wanna be big!!

Sadly, the only way for me to indulge my fried pickle needs these days is to make them myself. Sometimes I just make a whole batch and sometimes I crumb and fry a few when I'm already doing a bunch of other stuff. I don't often eat fried things at home, so it's a bit of a treat.

Ingredients

1 jar dill pickles (or any pickles really, I find bread and butter pickle slices to be lovely and sweet)

1 cup flour

1 cup cornmeal/polenta/breadcrumbs/panko/whatever you like

1 cup milk/buttermilk or 1 egg

Any flavourings you like. I add a dash of paprika, garlic powder and onion powder. And black pepper.

Oil for frying.

Directions:

1. Slice the pickles quarterly lengthwise into spears. Dry on a paper towel.

2. Dip into the milk or egg - egg will create a thicker crumb that will stay together better.

3. Dip into mixed flour, cornmeal and flavourings to coat.

4. Fry (deep or shallow) in hot oil until golden brown.

5. Eat. Faint. Recover. Eat more.