Ravioli Salad with Black Olives and Pepitas

By polloazul

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup pepitas, toasted
• 1 cup lightly packed cilantro leaves and stems
• 1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• reserved pasta water
• fine-grain sea salt
• 1 lb fresh or frozen ravioli
• 1 bunch asparagus, ends cut off and cut into 2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup oil-cured black olives, pitted and chopped or torn

Details

Servings 4

Preparation

Step 1

1. Bring large pot of generously salted water to a boil. In the meantime, begin to prepare the pesto. Combine most of the pepitas, cilantro, parmesan cheese, garlic, lemon juice, and 2 tbsp of the olive oil and blend either in a food processor, with an immersion blender, or with a blender, until smooth. At this point, you can either drizzle in another 1/2 cup olive oil (as Heidi suggests!) or do what I did, which is wait until your pasta is done and then add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pesto to loosen it. Taste and add salt and more lemon juice, if needed.

2. When the water boils, add the ravioli and boil until they float or are cooked through. About 1 minute before the ravioli are done, add in the asparagus. Drain immediately (reserving 1/2 cup water!). While the ravioli are still super hot, toss with a big spoonful of pesto and leave it for a few minutes just to let it soak in a bit. Then, mix in the rest of the pesto, the olives, and the remaining pepitas. Serve warm or at room temperature.