Review: RANA Beef Short Rib Ravioli

@Safeway

$7.49 (sale $5.99)

I had been eyeing RANA’s latest flavor offerings. I will call it their BBQ line of raviolis. I was excited to see the smoked beef brisket and pulled pork. Then I took a closer look; barbecue sauce in a ravioli…ummm, no thank you. Though I would be intrigued by BBQ meat wrapped in a macaroni & cheese flavored ravioli. Kind of like a BBQ meal in a bite - I’d try that. Further food musing, why doesn’t Kraft have raviolis filled with one of their deluxe mac & cheese sauces?

Anywho, given all that, I was delighted to come across the beef short rib with no barbecue sauce. And I’ve never met a short rib I didn’t like. I was looking forward to some beefy depth of flavor and it turned out to be just ok.

You could tell there was beef short rib in it. There was also some nutty, buttery notes of cheese. That’s about all I got from eating the ravioli plain. I think the package set up my expectations for chunks of meat and this was more of a meat filling.

The short rib was definitely mixed with other ingredients. And wow, when I read the ingredients list. There’s raisins and orange peel in there for gosh sakes!

Clearly a lot of thoughtfulness went into the short rib braise and I couldn’t taste any of it. Sad. All well. I will say this, it made for a nice blank, ravioli canvas. Feel free to adorn it with the sauce and toppings of your choice. I went with a Dijon cream sauce, spinach, and mushrooms.

And it was all delicious. Cause cream sauces are delicious. At the time, I was consumed with exuberance and bought two bags of the short rib ravioli. So for the second bag I’ll probably go with a tomato sauce, garlic, and maybe some zucchini and/or eggplant.   

Glad I tried it: Yes

Would I buy it again: No