Ravioli

Beets are back in style. Long thought of as the food of older generations, or deemed too messy to deal with, beets have come back with the help of great chefs across the world. A culinary staple for thousands of years, beets are among the more striking of vegetables, ranging in hues from yellow to dark crimson and all colors in between. There are even some varieties that resemble a bull's-eye. I usually roast beets and dress them with olive oil and a splash of vinegar, but sometimes I want to do a little more.

Beets are back in style. Long thought of as the food of older generations, or deemed too messy to deal with, beets have come back with the help of great chefs across the world. A culinary staple for thousands of years, beets are among the more striking of vegetables, ranging in hues from yellow to dark crimson and all colors in between. There are even some varieties that resemble a bull's-eye. I usually roast beets and dress them with olive oil and a splash of vinegar, but sometimes I want to do a little more.

Nobody asked me, but ... It probably wasn't the greatest idea - opening an Asian buffet in Little Italy. Somebody tried that this summer at the corner of Albemarle and Pratt, in what used to be Velleggia's restaurant. They put up a sign and a dragon statue and opened the doors for lunch and dinner. That was in June. Next thing I knew, the place was dark. Just goes to show: One should never try to sell wontons where people are looking for ravioli. Ravioli always wins. -o- Now that a federal judge's ruling will make it possible for more Marylanders to carry handguns, we should require them to display their licenses on their outer garments or hats.

Nobody asked me, but ... It probably wasn't the greatest idea - opening an Asian buffet in Little Italy. Somebody tried that this summer at the corner of Albemarle and Pratt, in what used to be Velleggia's restaurant. They put up a sign and a dragon statue and opened the doors for lunch and dinner. That was in June. Next thing I knew, the place was dark. Just goes to show: One should never try to sell wontons where people are looking for ravioli. Ravioli always wins. -o- Now that a federal judge's ruling will make it possible for more Marylanders to carry handguns, we should require them to display their licenses on their outer garments or hats.

Novices and masters gathered to make ravioli at St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church on Saturday. After cranking out 3,600 ravioli last weekend, they planned to finish this weekend with about 12,000 of the plump pouches of seasoned ricotta. Next Saturday, they will roll meatballs out of 400 pounds of beef and pork. And next Sunday, they'll serve it all up in a grand Italian dinner. Stephanie Bronner appeared mesmerized by Mary Jean DeLauney's hands, which folded one pouch of ricotta after another even as their owner's mouth carried on a lively conversation with three neighbors.

Item: Wolfgang Puck's RavioliWhat you get: 1 serving (2 cups)Cost: $5.99Preparation time: 45-60 minutes in conventional oven, 5-7 minutes in the microwave.Review: Puck has marketed his frozen pizza in groceries for years and now adds ravioli to his line. This isn't the canned ravioli your kids like. It's a dish worthy of Spago's, the California restaurant where Puck is chef: Just be sure not to overcook. We tried the four cheese ravioli with tomato, basil and garlic sauce (plenty of rich cheese)

* Item: Hamburger Helper Ravioli* What you get: 7.7 ounces, or 5 servings* Cost: $1.89* Preparation time: About 30 minutes, stove top or microwave* Review: Hamburger Helper, the skillet-dinner mix that rose to fame during the inflationary 1970s, is out to lure you with a new flavor. OK, so inflation's in check, but this ravioli practically cooks itself. I'd rate the taste halfway between ravioli from a can and the higher-priced refrigerated variety. Wish they'd put some cheese inside the pasta, but a sprinkle of your own mozzarella or Parmesan will suffice.

This delicious variation on tapenade requires no cooking and can be used in any number of dishes. Tapenade, which originated in Provence, France, is basically a paste of olives, capers, anchovies and garlic.Our fresh tomato version of tapenade can be used on pasta as well as seafood, poultry, eggs or even potatoes.Top the salad with a selection of beans (maybe from a supermarket's salad bar) for variety and nutrition.Our delectable dessert turns out to be as simple as an assembly; again no cooking necessary.

Convenience products often mean sacrificing quality for timesavings. But that's not true with the refrigerated and frozen tortellini and ravioli available in supermarkets. These Italian pastas are a tasty development in the world of fast food.You can buy them with a variety of fillings -- beef and garlic, chicken and rosemary, mushroom, cheese and basil -- to name a few. They cost about $3.40 for a 9-ounce package (that's quite a bit more than you pay for dried pasta -- you can get a pound for about 50 cents -- but they are filled, fresh and quite a bit better)

Item: Contadina Chicken & Rosemary RavioliWhat you get: 2 1/2 servings (9 ounces)Cost: $3.99Preparation time: About 12 minutes.Review: I rate this flavor tops among the new flavors of pricey but tasty refrigerated fresh pastas from Contadina. The others I tried -- Mushroom Tortelloni, Four Cheese Ravioli, Sweet Italian Sausage Tortelloni and Garden Vegetable Ravioli Light -- offer a pleasant departure from routine pastas, especially the Sweet Italian Sausage. But the Chicken & Rosemary stirred my taste buds; it was delicious even without a sauce.

The annual Pillsbury Bake-Off concluded today in Orlando, Fla.  The $1 million winner was annonced live on "The Martha Stewart Show. " Here is Christina Verrelli winning recipe for Pumpkin Ravioli with Salted Caramel Whipped Cream. Among the 100 finalists were two Baltimore area residents. Susann Studz competed in the Entertaining Appetizers category with Sushi-Style Crescent Crab Rolls , and Laura Majchrzak competed in the Sweet Treats category with her original Carrot Cake Tart recipe.

Throughout the 2011 NFL season, Langermann's in Canton is offering game-day specials inspired by the Ravens' doomed opponents. Eating one's enemies, as it were. For Week 1, against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Neal Langermann served a Devonshire sandwich, inspired by the LeMont restaurant. The original consists is composed of crisp bacon and chicken placed on a single piece of toast and then covered with a rich creamy cheese sauce. For this Sunday's game against Memphis, Langermann served Eggs Memphis, a twist on the traditional Eggs Benedict using pulled pork in Jack Daniel's barbecue sauce.

Novices and masters gathered to make ravioli at St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church on Saturday. After cranking out 3,600 ravioli last weekend, they planned to finish this weekend with about 12,000 of the plump pouches of seasoned ricotta. Next Saturday, they will roll meatballs out of 400 pounds of beef and pork. And next Sunday, they'll serve it all up in a grand Italian dinner. Stephanie Bronner appeared mesmerized by Mary Jean DeLauney's hands, which folded one pouch of ricotta after another even as their owner's mouth carried on a lively conversation with three neighbors.

The problem in Little Italy is not its fractious nature. Sitting in any of its community meetings, one understands why post-World War II Italy underwent 30-plus successive governments. Italians - passionate about everything - often engage in fierce debates and disagreements at community meetings, but when it comes to supporting the church and the neighborhood, those same adversaries work together, turning 750 pounds of ground beef into meatballs, producing more than 15,000 ravioli for the spaghetti/ravioli dinner, cooking up hundreds of pounds of dough and calzones for the festivals.

At St. Leo's Roman Catholic Church in Little Italy, parishioners call Lucy Pompa the matriarch of meatballs, ravioli and the thick red sauce she calls gravy. She presided yesterday over an assembly line of volunteers, joining them in making about 6,000 meatballs that will be added to hundreds of gallons of spicy tomato sauce for the church's biannual spaghetti and ravioli supper today. Pompa, 88, and several other women had earlier kneaded homemade dough into 14,000 pasta squares and stuffed them with ricotta cheese.

That big, inflatable pumpkin is out front again at the governor's mansion, and this year, I'm not taking the bait. My loyal readers (Mom, Dad) will remember the fury I unleashed a year ago, when I wrote that historic Annapolis is kind of persnickety about holiday decorations, and that the blow-ups at Government House were a little "Arbutus." I'd like to put Inflatagate behind me, so let me just say that in the past year I've gotten to know a lot of Arbutans, and they're all nice - if overly fond of air-filled lawn displays.

* Item: Weight Watchers Smart Ones* What you get: 1 serving* Cost: About $3* Preparation time: About 8 minutes* Review: When a fellow shopper saw me plucking these from the frozen foods, she couldn't help but sing their praises. I was psyched for quick, epicurean, low-fat dinners. The penne pollo (strips of grilled chicken, tomatoes and broccoli in a basil garlic sauce with penne pasta) won my approval. It cooked quickly, looked appealing and tasted distinctive. But the ravioli Florentine didn't score so well.

Perky, bubbly Rachael Ray, who talks as fast as she cooks, is the little darling of the Food Network's cooking show lineup. The hostess of 30 Minute Meals apparently writes as fast as she cooks, because she's just released her sixth cookbook, three more are in the works, and she's been on the air only since 2001. Her latest, which shot up The New York Times paperback list for advice books, is Gettogethers (Lake Isle Press, 2003, $18.95) and is the perfect companion for America's new cocooning stage.

Edward Kim has had success because he understands one simple truth. As a chef, you can indulge your over-the-top imagination. You can create rich and strange concoctions involving ingredients that shouldn't work together. You can fuse Asian with Tex-Mex and call it modern American. You can even mention fig syrup more than once on your menu. But at the end of the day, the food has to taste good. I'm always amazed at the number of chefs who haven't quite caught on to this. Kim is the local chef who a few years ago was a hit at Ixia.

The Macaroni Grill may be a national chain, but that doesn't mean it lacks personality. And it has found a winning formula with a sophisticated but fun atmosphere, and good food for all kinds of diets. At the Columbia Crossing location, the dining room - big enough to be considered an "area" - is large and noisy, but there's enough wood and tile to keep it from looking sterile. And distinctive touches throughout give the place flair. Each table is covered with a thick sheet of drawing paper and has two crayons at the ready.