Monday, November 2, 2009

Raw Sausage Ravioli! That's Amore!


I’m only ¼ Italian (although apparently that was enough genetic material to form the entire lower half of my body, which seems to be made for climbing hills in Italy…but I digress…) but somehow Italian food has always been what I gravitate towards cooking. That’s been true on my raw journey as well…my favorite recipes are for lasagnas, pizza, noodles, and now…ravioli! I’ve worked with both beets and turnips as ravioli shells, and both work really well, look pretty, and taste yummy. “Rawviolis” are pretty enough for company, and seem pretty safe and comfortable for folks new to raw.

If you’ve read some of my previous blog entries, you’ll know I love the spicy, concentrated flavors of cured meats…so I did a sausagey filling in the ravioli, but you could make a simpler nut cheese and it would work as nicely!

Here’s how to make some smashingly tasty raw ravioli:

3-4 small purple turnips (this is good for 2-3 people…double the number of turnips and the rest of the ingredients for more)

1 ¼ cups walnuts, soaked for 3-4 hours

½ a medium avocado

¼ tsp ground mustard

½ tsp red pepper flakes

½ tsp fennel seeds

3 tablespoons Braggs Liquid Aminos

2 tablespoons fresh parsley

½ tsp onion powder

1 large clove of garlic

Salt & pepper to taste (watch it with the salt – after the Braggs, you may not need any)

First, prepare your ravioli “pasta”…with a spiral slicer or adjustable mandoline, make VERY thin slices out of all your turnips, about the thickness of two or three pieces of paper. Mine were small, so I made round slices to turn into sandwiches, but you could make half moon shaped raviolis with big turnip slices. Toss turnips slices with a tablespoon or so of olive oil to begin softening them.

Combine all of your filling ingredients in a food processor. For the love of Pete, try not to eat it all before you assemble the ravioli!

On the plates on which you intend to serve the ravioli, place the slices for your undersides. Places a teaspoon of filling on each, and then put the tops on, and press down until they stick.

For sauce, I used a concoction of ¾ cup sundried tomatoes, which had been soaked for several hours, ½ cup fresh parsley and basil, ¼ cup olive oil & salt & pepper. Pesto would taste great, too, or a more complicated tomato sauce.

Put a dollop of sauce on each ravioli (I use mine to cover the seams created by the spiral slicer), and warm in dehydrator at 105 or an oven set on the lowest tempt for 15-20 minutes.

Raw appétit…or should I say, appetito?

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