Ravioli Filling - Plain

(pictured: plain filling seasoned with thyme, garlic, oregano and black pepper in a plain red sauce)

Yesterday was hectic and I was hoping that today would be a little better, but life had other ideas. The battery in my car was dead when I tried to leave to run errands before cooking class. No big deal my husband was going to pick one up on his way home from work.

However, he somehow locked his keys in his car in the garage downtown at 7:30 pm when he was leaving work. We have been together for over 20 years and I don’t remember him ever locking his keys in the car before. This happened so late he missed the last express bus that would drop him off near our house. Since my car has a dead battery I couldn’t go pick him up downtown. The last option was to catch a bus in a part of town that concerns me after dark. Thankfully he made it home fine, very late (after 9pm) but fine.

Today doesn’t seem to be our day. I guess it is a good thing I had to miss cooking class tonight. There definitely seems to be bad karma at our house today that could have caused something worse. Here is hoping tomorrow is a little better. Enough whining, here is the ravioli filling I made today.

This was another experiment based on necessity and leftovers. I had ravioli dough from yesterday and was making almond milk again today. I wanted to make a plain filling that I could flavor with pine nuts, fresh minced herbs, hot peppers, mushrooms, or truffle oil and this is what I came up with. The flavor is bland, like ricotta is bland but doesn’t taste like a ricotta. It is however a nice vehicle to carry other flavors, like ricotta. This recipe is loosely based on the recipe I posted for Vegan Pate de Champagne.

Ravioli Filling - Plain
Makes enough for 60 ravioli assuming ½ tablespoon filling per ravioli and plain

Ingredients:

almond pulp from one batch of almond milk
4 ounces of potato, scrubbed and cut into chunks (with peel if organic)
4 tablespoons whole-wheat flour
4 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup of water

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Combine everything in your blender and process until completely smooth.

Pour the mixture into a pan (I used 4 small mini loaf pans) and place the smaller pan(s) in another pan and fill the larger pan with water half way up the sides of the smaller pan(s).

Bake for 60 minutes and then turn off the oven and allow the mixture to remain in the oven for 30 minutes. Then remove from the oven and water bath and allow the filling to cool on a rack.

The ravioli filling is now ready to be flavored any way you choose, or you can use it plain and flavor the sauce instead. Take the filling and mash it up with a fork and mix it with the flavors of your choice. Use this filling with the pasta dough I posted earlier today.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 546.83
Calories From Fat (50%) - 275.3

Total Fat - 33.67g
Saturated Fat - 0.08g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 1891.49mg
Potassium - 524.07mg
Total Carbohydrates - 44.65g
Fiber - 3.4g
Sugar - 1g
Protein - 5.71g

Comments:

If you are looking for a plain ravioli filling that doesn’t taste like tofu this is nice mild option. When I used ricotta I always flavored it and plan to do the same thing with this mixture.

The texture is very similar to well-drained fresh ricotta, but with a less fatty mouth-feel. Tonight’s ravioli will be this filling with finely minced garlic, oregano, thyme, extra salt, and black pepper.