Who needs pasta?  This tasty pair is made from thin-sliced Nueske’s applewood smoked bacon, and filled with:

Ravioli #1: Spinach and arugula, leek greens, roasted garlic, lemon zest and seasonings. It’s roasted slowly until nicely rendered and a little chewy, and drizzled with a lemon provolone cream.

Ravioli #2: Sweet potato, bourbon barrel aged maple syrup and spices, and drizzled with a dark chocolate balsamic crema.

How to make:

Create two sheets of bacon using Nueske’s thin-sliced bacon on plastic wrap in a sheet pan and affixing the slices together with transglutaminase. It rests in the refrigerator overnight. The next day, trim to fit the ravioli mold.

Filings:

Raw chiffonades of baby spinach and arugula, leeks, roasted whole clove of garlic, fresh lemon zest and coarse ground black pepper go into one set.

Finely diced sweet potatoes are sauteed with butter, fresh ginger, a splash of sherry and the maple syrup, cinnamon, coriander, chamomile, tarragon, salt and white pepper. A small dollop of the ensuing mash goes into the other set of ravioli divots.

Top layer of bacon is added, with the assistance of transglutaminase and top half of mold is placed and secured with tight rubber bands to ensure a solid seal. The entire contraption is wrapped in Saran and placed in the fridge to set overnight.

The next day, ravioli are removed from mold, cut apart and slow-roasted to render out excess fat.

Lemon provolone cream sauce starts with butter, shallots, white vermouth, cream, lemon juice and zest, dijon mustard, white pepper, coriander and thyme; the mixture is strained and provolone is stirred in until silky. This sauce is drizzled over the green-veggie ravioli.

Dark chocolate balsamic crema is so tart, sweet and richly delicious right out of the bottle that it’s drizzled directly over the sweet potato ravioli.