Sydney has some great restaurants, especially around the Circular Quay area. You just have to walk anywhere along the Opera House side and you’ll find some great menus. What’s also great is the fact that the maître d’ of the restaurants are not pushy and very friendly. I was extremely impressed with the service.

This inspired recipe comes from having something similar at a restaurant at Circular Quay. The sauce was made with cream, however I’m no fan of cream sauces and found it could easily be swapped for a lighter alternative - milk! Serve with a nice glass of Italian red Chianti.

Ingredients:

• 1 handful of semi-dried tomatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, diced thin
• pinch pepper
• pinch salt
• 1 tbs chopped parsley
• sprig parsley for garnish
• tomatoes 2 tbs diced tomatoes can
• milk 1/2 - 1 cup
• olive oil 1 tsp
• 1/2 avocado, diced
• 1 bunch asparagus
• 8-10 pieces ravioli (2 serves)
• grana padano parmesan cheese (optional)

Instructions:

1. Blanch the asparagus and once deep green, place in icy cold water to stop the cooking process.
2. Boil the ravioli and rinse in cold water once cooked to sit whilst cooking the sauce.
3. Mix the tomatoes, onion, parsley, salt and pepper in a high container with 1/4 of the milk.
4. Vitamise the mixture until the tomatoes are reduced to a liquid with the milk. This may mean you need to add more milk as you go, to get to the consistency needed.
5. Mix in the oil to the paste to give it a little gleam and simmer in a pan on low with half of the avocado cut small.
6. Once warmed through, add the remaining avocado and asparagus, reducing to a low heat.
7. At this stage, you can either place the ravioli in the pan or place on a plate and drizzle the sauce on top.
8. Drizzle some parmesan cheese, cracked pepper and a little olive oil before adding a garnish sprig of parsley!