Friday, October 2, 2009

Curried Ravioli filled with Almond Feta served with an Almond and Pea White Sauce



Last week was a little bumpy at our house, but this week has been fantastic. To celebrate I decided to reward my husband with homemade ravioli since it is his favorite food.

Fresh pasta and curry may sound like an odd combination but it is not as unusual as you may think. I have had a few curry dishes in Venice and was told that the Venetians have been using curry for hundreds of years since they were part of the spice route.

The Professional Chef” had a curried fettuccini with shrimp that I decided to turn into ravioli. I kept the white sauce of the original recipe (without the heavy cream) and add vegetables for nutrition. This dish took me an hour from beginning to end moving at a leisurely pace. It may take you longer if you haven’t made ravioli before. However, ravioli are very easy to make and you become much faster at making ravioli after a few times.

I added peas to this dish because peas and curry always seem to go together in my mind. Arugula was included on the bottom of the dish for its sharpness. Tomatoes were added for color and flavor.

Curried Ravioli filled with Almond Feta served with an Almond and Pea White Sauce
Serves 2

Ravioli Ingredients:

¼ recipe semolina and sprouted whole-wheat pasta
½ teaspoon curry powder
9 2/3 tablespoons almond feta, or enough to fill the ravioli

Sauce Ingredients:

½ tablespoon canola oil
½ yellow onion, very finely minced
2 cups almond milk, unsweetened
1 tablespoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
1 cup frozen peas
1 pinch kosher salt
1 pinch freshly ground black pepper

Other Ingredients:

1 red tomato, finely diced for garnish
1 yellow tomato, finely dined for garnish
4 cups baby arugula for the bottom of the plate

Directions:

For the ravioli follow the instructions given here. The only change is to add the curry powder to the dry ingredients. Fill the ravioli as described in the prior recipe. This time I used 1 teaspoon of the almond feta to try to keep the fat down in the dish. Cook the ravioli according to the prior recipe.

For the sauce, sauté the onion in the oil until soft and then add the almond milk and cook for a few minutes. Add the cornstarch and cook until the sauce thickens. Cook the peas for the last few minutes to heat them through. You want them lightly cooked and still a vibrant green. Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

To serve, put the baby arugula on the bottom of the plate and top with a little of the pea white sauce. Place the ravioli on top, followed by additional white sauce and finish with the diced tomato. Serve immediately while piping hot.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 444.28
Calories From Fat (34%) - 151.37

Total Fat - 17.85g
Saturated Fat - 1.36g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 631.56mg
Potassium - 1095.84mg
Total Carbohydrates - 61.11g
Fiber - 11.35g
Sugar - 8.71g
Protein - 16.57g

Comments:

The curry flavor is very subtle in this dish, but you can taste it. Only a mild sauce like the one above would work with the curried pasta. Any sauce with more flavor would overtake the subtle pasta. I liked the sharpness of the arugula with the pasta and sauce. Both my husband and I enjoyed this pasta.

This recipe has over 3000 IU’s of vitamin A, 140 mg’s of calcium, 150 mcg’s of folate, 250 mg’s of phosphorus, and 110 mg’s magnesium. I love a ravioli dish that is also packed with nutrition and this one may be my best yet.

8 comments:

  1. These sound exquisite.

    That's interesting about the curry in Venice. I love the idea of mixing it into the pasta dough.

    I can almost taste the creamy sauce, the curry, and the arugula and tomato.

    You may be able to pull this off in hour...it would take me ages.

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  2. Rose,

    Thanks! The ravioli have a subtle flavor and are much lighter than dairy ravioli.

    I don't know why I hadn't tried curried pasta before. I add other things to pasta dough and now I may experiment more since this worked so well. BTW, I didn't know the curry Venice connection until I asked a waiter when we were there on our honeymoon.

    Dan bought me the pasta roller attachment for my KitchenAid (KA) mixer and that helps speed up the process quite a bit. If you have a KA mixer I highly recommend the pasta roller. I use it often. In fact I would say having the powered pasta roller actually makes it fun to make pasta and I never said that when I had a hand crank model (what a pain that was).

    talk to you soon,
    Alicia

    ReplyDelete
  3. It only took you an hour to make those?! You might be the next Rachael Ray!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shenandoah Vegan,

    I make a lot of ravioli (it is an Italian thing) so I have gotten much faster at making them compared to the first batch. If you haven't made ravioli before expect it to take a couple of hours. After one batch you will get much faster. There is a learning curve but the process is not as difficult as people imagine.

    When my husband is home to be my sous chef we can knock out a batch of dough (rolling and filling only) in well under 15 minutes. Sometimes we make a big batch and toss them in the freezer for later. Tonight I only made two servings.

    Alicia

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  5. They look very good. Thanks for sharing. . I got a pasta maker from my mom a couple of months ago and I have yet to use it..

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  6. Debra,

    In Italy ravioli is a "feast" dish they make for holidays because it is a bit of work. Filled pasta is much more doable for a small number of servings.

    You can get the same flavors by using regular whole wheat pasta and adding the curry to the white sauce and topping with dollops of almond feta. If I were cooking for a crowd that would be what I would do.

    Alicia

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  7. I am a sucker for curry! But, yes, I do want that! btw, another new guy in the kitchen, seemed to do well for his first night. Maybe Ian will get a second day off soon.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alexandra,

    I thought you would love these. I will make a double batch next time and freeze some for you. Besides, I still owe you a bottle of cello.

    That is good news about the new guy in the kitchen. Ian needs more time off.

    Alicia

    ReplyDelete

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