Lemon Broth with Green Pea Ravioli

If you are going to make Lemon Broth with Green Pea Ravioli, here is my suggestion.

Make it for a foodie friend (or group of friends).

Here's why: this dish is subtle. A facsimile of it could be made with store-bought chicken broth and fresh pasta raviolis (though good luck finding pea ravioli), and it takes a discerning palate to detect...homemade stock. Pea filling, which is associated with spring. The delightful contrast of the lemon.

And the reason you want this dish to be fully appreciated is because it is a pain in the ass to make.

Homemade raviolis are a labor of love. This particular ravioli had extra labor in it because of the darn peas. The ancient food mill we have at work didn't work and made me feel like an idiot (how can you get something like that wrong?), and I ended up pushing the peas through a sieve to get the tender insides apart from the outsides. Next time (if there is a next time) it goes in the food processor, and skins be damned.

Aha! moment...tasting the chicken broth with the lemon zest in it. Really good. Really really good. Perfect in fact for a chilly spring day when another cup of herbal tea just is not going to comfort you.

So if you're sitting at your computer cranky and chilly with cold feet and hands, and you have some chicken broth, a lemon and some garlic hanging about, try this. Hot chicken broth, lemon zest, slightly crushed garlic clove. Let the clove sit a the bottom like a tea bag.

See? I bet you feel better already.