Goaty Red Pepper Wontoli with Lemon

 Once upon a time there was a girl with a coupon for wonton wrappers.  She bought the wrappers thinking, "there are so many things I could create with these!".  The wrappers sat and sat in her fridge...  until one night, in a burst of creativity and a fury of roommate cooperation, the wonton wrappers were magically transformed into delicious ravioli!  Wontoli, if you will.  See the enchanted steps below if you want to know how to turn a pack of wrappers, some spicy leftovers, and some delicious creamy goat cheese into the something magical pictured below.  

Recipe:

-1 pack wonton wrappers (or about 12 wrappers per person)

-1 c roasted red pepper and sausage sauce (see recipe below)

-4 oz goat cheese

-olive oil

-zest of one lemon

-juice of 1 1/2 lemon

-Parmesan and freshly ground black pepper for serving.  

->Lay half of your wonton wrappers (like the ones below) out on a large flat, dry pan.  

Mix sauce and goat cheese together.  

Put a scoop (about 1.5 Tbsps)of this mixture in the center of each wonton wrapper on the tray.  Wet the tip of your finger and run it along the edges of the wonton wrapper.  Place a second wrapper on top, squeeze out any air pockets and pinch edges together, forming a ravioli.  

At this point, you can either bake the ravioli or boil them.  We boiled them, which worked fine, but I recommend only boiling them briefly (maybe 5 minutes) until they float to the top.  They will begin to get a little soggy fast.  

Next take them out of the boiling water and put them directly into a pan generously covered with olive oil and at medium to high heat.  Brown both sides and remove from pan.  

Toss with lemon juice and lemon zest.  Top with Parmesan cheese and freshly ground black pepper at the table.  There you have your wontoli...  spicy, goaty, lemony, and magical!  

~*TIP:  You can either use some browned Italian sausage paired with some chopped roasted red peppers for the sauce required above or try out the sauce recipe below.  But be careful when roasting your own peppers!  I didn't realize I was working with as hot of a variety as I was, and I had "hands on fire" for a good hour after cleaning them of seeds and skins.*~

Roasted Red Pepper and Sausage Sauce

-roughly 15 Anaheim peppers

-2 Italian sausages

-1 large jar stewed tomatoes (32 oz)

->  Put peppers whole on a baking sheet and place under the broiler.  Allow to broil until they just start to blacken on one side.  Then take them out and flip the peppers, putting them back in for the reverse side to broil.  Allow to cool until cool enough to handle.

[NOTE:  At this point, it's important to know how spicy your peppers are.  Anaheims vary in heat considerably, and mine were much hotter than I anticipated.  If you have spicy peppers, you may want to wear gloves for the next step.  No amount of handwashing or slathering yourself down in yogurt (ok, so I was desperate) will save you from the "hands on fire" fate.]

->Pepper skins should just rub off at this point, so rub off skins and scoop out seeds and seed membrane.  You can either dispose of these or save the skins to fry up with your eggs the next morning.  That's what my friend's Italian grandparents do.  Roughly chop the skinned, seeded peppers.

Now, squeeze the Italian sausage from its casing and brown over medium heat.  Once brown, add chopped peppers and saute until mixed.  Add stewed tomatoes and simmer until reduced into a thick chunky sauce.  

Serve over pasta as is and/or use leftovers in the recipe above!  Be careful.  Depending on your peppers, this sauce could be pretty spicy!