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Ravioli Salad with Bacon, Herbs & Basil Vinaigrette

by Ann
4 comments

Mini Ravioli Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

My kids both love ravioli. Usually I buy it frozen for them … my son makes what he calls “ravioli sushi” … one beef ravioli on the bottom, one cheese ravioli on top, then dips the “sushi” in his favorite pasta sauce. My daughter eats them plain, but she only likes the cheese ravioli.


I wish I could say we make ravioli from scratch all the time (we HAVE done that and they were SO good … someday we shall do it again and next time I will share it with you my foodie friends!), but our busy lives don’t often allow for big projects like ravioli, so yes, I buy it frozen most of the time. It makes for a quick and pretty healthy meal many a night when we’ve been out at the kids’ activities.

Alas, last time I was at the store they were out of the ravioli I normally buy. BUT they had these adorable mini-ravioli that I thought my daughter would just love. And she did love them … she thought they were SO cute! … until she tasted them. Then she said they just didn’t taste good to her. I tasted them and they tasted just fine to me. She is really congested this week, has a cold, so I’m thinking maybe her taste buds are just off?

Anyway, that left me with a bunch of adorable little cooked ravioli that nobody wanted. And I can’t let good ravioli go to waste.

So I made it into a salad for lunch today. I’ve done this before with tortellini and it is really good. Well, okay, when I did this with tortellini I did it as a layered salad with ranch dressing. I didn’t have any ranch dressing made today, so I used my basil vinaigrette which was really lovely with the cheesy pasta.

Mini Ravioli Salad with Bacon, Herbs, and Basil Vinaigrette

Ravioli Salad with Bacon, Herbs and Basil Vinaigrette

Of course you can always adjust the vegetables in the salad to whatever you have on hand. Play! It’s fun to try new combinations of flavors.

For each salad you will need:

  • A dinner-sized salad bowl filled almost full of mixed salad greens
  • A handful of cheese mini-raviolis or tortellinis, cooked and drained
  • Cucumber shards (that is, sliced cucumbers and if they are overly seeded like mine was, cut out the seedy part to make “shards”)
  • Chopped tomato or halved cherry tomatoes
  • Thinly sliced vidalia or red onion
  • Shards of Parmesan or Romano cheese (Thinly slice little “shards” of the cheese from the block … or you can use shredded if you prefer)
  • 1 strip of bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
  • Fresh oregano and/or basil leaves
  • Basil Vinaigrette (scroll to the bottom of this post for the dressing recipe–it IS there, I promise!)

Directions:

  1. Fill the bowl(s) almost full with greens.
  2. Take the cooked ravioli and toss it with a tablespoon or two of the basil vinaigrette. Add the ravioli and dressing to the salad with about half the cucumber shards, onion and tomato.
  3. Top with the remaining ingredients and add more dressing to taste.

I think a little bit of a drizzle of  light ranch dressing would be nice on top of this salad … combined with the basil vinaigrette? Wouldn’t that be good?

Ravioli Salad with Bacon, Herbs, and Basil Vinaigrette

But then after all those lovely greens I needed some chocolate. I had a little bit of a Black and Tan Brownie to finish off my meal. What a FINE lunch! 🙂

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4 comments

EA Stewart (@TheSpicyRD) September 29, 2011 - 6:01 am

Really yummy looking salad! My daughter especially loves ravioli, and we’ve been planning to try and make some homemade gluten-fee ravioli, but, like you, can’t quite seem to find the time 🙂

Reply
Jennifer @ Mother Thyme September 30, 2011 - 3:08 am

This salad looks so refreshing and delicious and incorporating ravioli is just perfect! Pasta + salad all in one delicious dish; that is calling my name!

Reply
Lisa @ Lisa's Dinnertime Dish October 2, 2011 - 2:25 pm

I saw you a EMM’s Church Supper. You’re salad looks beautiful!

Reply
Krista@Everyday Mom's Meals October 2, 2011 - 2:30 pm

You have me at bacon! Lol Thanks for sharing at Church Supper. See you next Sunday!

Reply

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