Food Lust People Love: Grilled Corn Ravioli Caprese Salad

Sunday, August 7, 2016

Grilled Corn Ravioli Caprese Salad

Nothing shouts summer like a Caprese salad with lovely deep red, vine-ripened tomatoes, except perhaps a grilled corn ravioli Caprese salad. The smokey sweet corn adds more summer sunshine and the ravioli make this tasty dish more filling.

I love corn on the cob cooked anyhow you’d like to cook it. Boiled, steamed, grilled, roasted - love them all. I could cook a pot of fresh corn on the cob and eat the whole thing and call it a meal, no other dishes necessary. But for this week’s Sunday Supper theme of summer corn, that hardly sounded like a recipe worth sharing.

Cook corn on the cob.
Slather with butter.
Sprinkle with salt.
Eat.
Repeat.

So I had to get creative. Inspiration struck when I came across a package of fresh Italian ravioli called Girasole or sunflowers. They were shaped like flowers, the outside pasta cut like tiny petals, and were filled with tomato, mozzarella and olives. They would be perfect for adding to a Caprese salad, topped with grilled sweet corn! You can certainly use whatever ravioli you have available, though I'd avoid ones with meat or seafood if you are serving this at room temperature and need to leave it unrefrigerated for a while.

Grilled Corn Ravioli Caprese Salad

Recipe Type: Salad

Author: Stacy Rushton

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 16 mins

Total time: 31 mins

Serves: 6

Vine-ripened tomatoes layered with ravioli, fresh mozzarella and basil, then topped with grilled sweet corn. Like summer should always be.

Ingredients

1 package - about 9 oz or 250g fresh ravioli
4-5 ripe summer tomatoes
2 small ears sweet corn on the cob
9 oz or 250g fresh mozzarella
small bunch fresh basil
sea salt for salad plus more for water to boil ravioli
black pepper
good extra virgin olive oil

Method
Boil the ravioli according to package instructions, in salted water. Drain and cover with a damp cloth to keep the ravioli from drying out. If you are a perfectionist - as I can be sometimes - count the ravioli. Now you know how many slices to cut the tomatoes and mozzarella into to make it all come out even.

Grill the corn on grill pan over a medium high heat until it has lovely grill marks all over. Turn every couple of minutes till done. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. When the cobs are cool enough to handle, cut the niblets off with a sharp knife.

Slice your tomatoes and your mozzarella. (See comment on ravioli above.)

Pick the leaves off of the basil and discard the stalks. Set aside the smallest ones for garnish and cut any large ones in two.

On a large platter, start arranging your salad: ravioli, mozzarella, tomato, basil. Repeat until you have used up all of your ingredients.

Sprinkle on the corn and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Give the whole salad a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil then sprinkle on the remaining basil.

Enjoy!

If you love sweet summer corn, you are going to love the line up my Sunday Supper family has for you today! Many thanks to Ellen from Family Around the Table who is our host this week, and our event manager, Renee of Renee's Kitchen Adventures.

Appetizers