Eating Out Loud: Vegan Raviolis!

I came across this delicious ravioli recipe when searching the Web for special meal ideas for my sweetie for Valentine's Day. These amazing "Hearty Raviolis" from Vegalicious delicious, healthy, and well worth the extra time. Plus, the heart shapes are adorable and really make an impact!

My comments are in parentheses. Enjoy!

Classic Spinach Ravioli Floating in an Italian Tomato Sauce (serves 4)

Ingredients

Filling:
•1 lb (450 grams) of spinach, large stems removed and chopped
•1 T grainy mustard
•1 t sesame oil (I went a bit light on the sesame oil as I had reservations about it's flavor, and though it works brilliantly here, I am glad I used less.)
•1/2 t nutmeg
•2 T bread crumbs
•pinch of salt

Raviolis:
•1 c semolina four
•2 t olive oil
•1/2 c water
•pinch salt

Sauce:
•1 can crushed tomatoes (I used a 28 oz or 828 ml can.)
•1 onion, minced
•1 T olive oil
•1 clove garlic, minced
•various Italian herbs (Fresh are always best, I used fresh parsley and basil, with dried oregano.)
•salt and pepper to taste
•dash of lemon
•pinch of cayenne pepper





Directions

Ravioli dough:
1.In a bowl, combine the pasta dough ingredients to make a dough.
2.Wrap in a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.


Filling:
1.Wash the spinach and remove the large tough stems.
2.Chop the spinach and steam or saute in water. (sweat)
3.Place in a large mixing bowl.
4.Add the mustard, salt and bread-crumbs and mix well.
5.Season further with salt, cayenne and pepper.

Sauce:
1.Saute the minced onion in the olive oil until the onion is glassy.
2.Add the minced garlic and saute.
3.Add the tomatoes and reduce heat to simmer.
4.Add the herbs, lemon juice, salt and pepper and continue to simmer on a low heat.
5.Season to taste with additional salt, pepper and cayenne.





Making the ravioli

1.Divide the dough in fourths and roll out each portion on a floured work space, allowing the first sheet of pasta to sit while rolling out the second. One of the tricks to the pasta is to make sure you’ve rolled the dough out very thin.

2.Cut out your ravioli shapes and fill with the filling. Place the top part of the ravioli over the filling and close with a fork.

3.If you have a form or press, then of course that saves time you merely place 1 sheet of dough on one side, put the filling on the dough and then lay the 2nd sheet of dough on top. Close the form to seal and cut off the extra using a knife.

4.Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salty water to boil.




5.Put your ravioli into the salty water and cook. They are ready when they come floating to the top. I would suggest cooking only a few raviolis at a time.

6.Place the first cooked raviolis in the oven to keep warm until they are all ready.

7.When ready to serve, put a layer of sauce on the plate and lay the raviolis on top.

8.You can garnish with some fresh cut herbs or if you have soy cheese, you can dust some on top.