Garlic Cream Sauce for Ravioli

ravioli served on white plate garnished with parsley with silver fork

5 from 11 votes

Here I'll show you how to spruce up a packet of store bought ravioli with this dreamy, creamy garlic sauce! This will feed 3 hungry people, or 4 smaller portions for four.

Prep Time10

Cook Time1

Total Time1 10

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Italian

Servings:

Author: Chris Collins

Cost: £2 / $2.50

Equipment

Large Pot & Slotted Spoon (for ravioli)
Foil (for roasting garlic)
Large Pan & Wooden Spoon
Sharp Knife & Chopping Board
Fine Cheese Grater

Ingredients

1lb / 500g Ravioli (see notes)
1 1/4 cups / 300ml Heavy/Double Cream, at room temp
1/3 cup / 80ml Chicken Stock
1/3 cup / 80ml Dry White Wine
1/3 cup / 30g freshly grated Parmesan, plus more to serve
2.5 tbsp Butter, preferably unsalted
1 small bulb of Garlic
1 heaped tbsp finely diced Fresh Parsley, plus extra to serve
1/8 - 1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg
Salt & Black Pepper, to taste
Olive Oil, as needed

Instructions

Roast Garlic: Slice the tip off the garlic bulb to expose all the cloves. Drizzle with olive oil then wrap in foil and place in the oven at 180C/356F for 45-60mins, or until knife tender, golden brown and caramelized. Don't be tempted to whack up the temp, low and slow is the aim of the game. Leave for a few minutes to cool down, then peel away the outer layers. Squeeze out as much as you can, making sure the outer peel doesn't mix in. Sprinkle over a pinch of salt then mash with a fork to smooth out any lumpy parts.
Brown Butter (optional step - see notes): Melt 2.5 tbsp butter into a large pan over medium heat. It will begin to foam, just keep gently stirring until the butter starts turning from a lemony yellow to a light brown. After a few more mins the butter will turn a deeper brown colour and will release a nutty aroma. This is when your butter is properly browned. If at any point the nutty aroma smells more like burning, then simply reduce the heat. For speedy option just simply melt butter.
Sauce: Add roasted garlic to pan and stir to combine with the butter for 30 seconds. Pour in wine and simmer for 2-3mins to reduce by at least half (important or the sauce will be too sour). Pour in chicken stock and cream, then add parsley, nutmeg and a pinch of salt & pepper. Simmer for 5 or so mins until the sauce starts to thicken, then mix in parmesan. The sauce should be fairly thick by this point.
Ravioli: Cook ravioli in salted boiling water according to packet instruction. Use a slotted spoon to add the cooked ravioli to the sauce and stir to combine. The excess water will loosen up the sauce.
Serve: Plate up with extra parmesan/parsley (optional)

Video

Notes

a) What kind of Ravioli to use? - There's a huge range of ravioli fillings that'll work well with this sauce, and fillings will vary from country to country, but here's my personal favourites with a garlic cream sauce:

Mushroom/Chicken & Mushroom
Lobster or any type of Seafood
Cheese/Four Cheese/Spinach Ricotta
Butternut Squash/Pumpkin

You can use fresh tortellini.

b) Can I use regular pasta? - Yep! You'll want to use around 10-12oz/300-350g dried pasta and just cook until al dente, using the starchy pasta water to thin out the sauce as needed.

c) Browned Butter - By browning the butter you deepen the flavour of the sauce and add a gorgeous nutty flavour. This nutty flavour compliments the roasted garlic really well. You can skip this step if you're short on time though.

d) Do I have to roast the Garlic? - Roasting the garlic turns it gorgeously sweet and nutty, and I highly recommend do it. If you're short on time you can just dice up fresh garlic. 2 cloves will give you a mellow garlic flavour, 3 a more prominent flavour and 4 will give you a good punch of garlic!

e) Calories - based on no extra parmesan, a regular cheese filled ravioli then divided by 4:

Nutrition