Ravioli Pasta Salad with Bacon and Tomato

Ravioli Pasta Salad with Bacon and Tomato

(serves 4)

5 slices of turkey bacon

1/2 package whole wheat cheese ravioli (about 2 cups)

1/2 c. cherry tomatoes

1/8 c. mayonnaise (I used Hellman's Olive Oil mayo)

1/4 c. plain yogurt

1/4 tsp. celery salt

1/8 tsp. sweet paprika

1. Cook ravioli according to package directions, do not overcook. Drain and rinse with cold water until ravioli is completely cool

2. Fry bacon until almost (but not quite) crispy

3. Cut all cherry tomatoes in halves

4. In a small bowl combine mayo, yogurt, celery salt and paprika.

5. In a larger bowl toss together the ravioli, bacon and tomatoes. Gently stir in dressing being careful not to crush the raviolis. Let stand in refrigerator for at least an hour. Serve.

I've had these whole wheat raviolis in the freezer for a couple weeks and I've been trying to think of something creative to do with them. I thought about putting them in a cold pasta salad and thought that was pretty darn clever. If I was making this for adults I would try it a couple different ways:

-with ceaser dressing, anchovies and fresh Parmesan cheese or,

-with a balsamic vinaigrette, fresh basil and chopped vine ripe tomatoes (caprese style!) or,

-with black olives, pepperorcinis, pepperoni and a greek style dressing (mmm)

I was, however, making it for 2 year olds. This made things difficult I will say. So I had the idea of using bacon and since I was going to do a mayo based dressing I thought tomatoes would give it a BLT flavor (minus the L). My favorite flavors in classic pasta salad are the celery salt and paprika so I had to include those. To make the dressing slightly healthier I decided to use the yogurt in place of some of the mayo.

This dish was, well, weird. I wouldn't say it is bad and Neko actually ate a whole bowl but I had a tasting serving and found myself wishing for some acidity. I reeeeeeeeally want to try one of the other versions that is more vinegar and oil based. I think mayo and ravioli don't totally marry well. Again...its not gross...just meh. I also really think pork bacon would have kicked things up a notch. Live and learn.