Street Food

I love street fairs - the food, the people, the art...We live close to New York City and are lucky to have all kinds of street fairs around in the summer and fall. My husband and I can never decide what to eat - Thai food, sausage and peppers, fresh smoothies, the list is practically never ending. I usually try to make healthy food at home, but like anyone else, who can turn down a good spring roll every now and then?

Back to tonight, I was making a pretty regular dinner (turkey meatloaf and roasted zucchini) and decided that we could use a treat to spice it up. I didn't have a lot to work with in the kitchen but I did have some mini-ravioli. My laptop forced me to google fried ravioli and the rest is history -- so so good. They were really easy to make and so fun to eat. No need for a deep fryer either. Give them a try!

Fried ravioli (modified from Giada De Laurentiis)

Ingredients

Olive oil, for frying

~1 cup buttermilk

~2 cups bread crumbs (Italian style is best)

1 bag mini-cheese ravioli

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Sauce (for dipping; whatever brand/concoction you like)

Steps

1. Pour enough olive oil into a large frying pan (recipe suggested 2 inches; I used about 1 inch)

2. Heat the oil over medium heat
3. While the oil is heating, put the buttermilk and the bread crumbs in separate shallow bowls.

4. Working in batches, dip ravioli in buttermilk to coat completely. Allow the excess buttermilk to drip back into the bowl. Dredge ravioli in the bread crumbs.

5. When the oil is hot, fry the ravioli in batches, turning occasionally, until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the fried ravioli to paper towels to drain.
6. [Optional] Sprinkle the fried ravioli with Parmesan and serve with a bowl of warmed marinara sauce for dipping .