(of course you can eat it if you're not vegan and you wont die....probably 馃槈)
One of my absolute all time favorite things to eat is Ravioli, Pasta in general but there's something so comforting about ravioli in particular. When i started my journey as a vegan it was one of the things i missed the (shop bought) convenience of the most. Almost all store bought ravioli has cheese of some description in it. So i started making my own. It's honestly not the challenge that some people believe it to be either, the kneading is kind of a pain but other than that it's kind of a labor of love and the end product is just awesome and i'd love to show you so you can try for yourself! Oh, and before i get all the purists telling me that it's actually a tortellini in this recipe, i know.
150g of 00 flour, Plus extra for kneading and dusting.
a pinch of Salt
1 teaspoon of Olive Oil
80ml of recently boiled water - still warm
A good handful of washed baby spinach if you want green pasta.
Some filling - I used a mix of Vegan Cream cheese the spinach I blitzed ( see below) and some lightly fried, finely diced onions and garlic but you can literally use whatever you want. My only advice would be that it should be not too lumpy and kind of "tooth pastey" consistency (i.e it should hold its shape if you were to pipe it or spoon it into your ravioli)
Combine the flour and Salt in a bowl.
Pour the boiling water over the spinach and allow it to wilt. Use a hand blender or food processor to blitz the spinach, Strain the spinach, keeping the water. Add the oil and the correct amount (80ml) of your beautiful, green water from the spinach. Mix with a fork until a dough starts to form. Knead on a lightly floured work surface until smooth. It will take about 10 minutes, don't be tempted to keep adding flour as this will make the dough to firm. wrap in plastic and rest for 45 minutes.
Roll out the pasta dough with a rolling pin or a pasta machine (i actually prefer the rolling pin but I'm old school馃槑 )on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1-2 mm thickness. Start using a pastry cutter to cut out round shapes of pasta
Now for the filling...
Take one of the pasta rounds in your hand and put a small amount into the middle - dont be tempted to use too much otherwise it will scoosh out of the sides when you are shaping it.
Dab round the outside of the pasta with a little warm water and fold it over into a half moon shape. Pinch round the edges making sure your ravioli is well sealed. Any holes will either let filling escape or water inside and neither of those things will make for great pasta! take your time on the first few and you will soon be smashing them out!
The last bit is kind of tricky but is actually optional. You could quite happily cook your ravioli as is and it would be perfectly delicious and this is also where, if you want to get technical about it (which i don't 馃槤), it becomes a tortellini.
Take your pasta half moon and bend it round whichever finger you find easiest. Make sure your finger is, dry and clean and dusted with a little flour. Now pinch the tips together with another dab of water to make the tortellini shape.
Do this with all of your remaining pasta and the drop into boiled water. You can add some bouillon or vegetable stock (as seen in the photo) or just some salt to the water. It will take about 3 minutes to cook. When you drop the pasta into the water it should drop to the bottom of the water and rise to the surface when cooked (if it's taking longer than 3 minutes or so check it's not stuck to the bottom of the pan)
Garnish and serve with whatever vegetables, sauces or anything else that takes your fancy.
Enjoy!
Hope you all enjoy!
Hop on over to my instagram if you'd like to see more vegan food photography
See you all soon!
MH
@mealhound