Here I go again with the ravioli! Well, these could be like more like perogies, actually. Plus, I also added spinach to the dough which is definitely new for me. I’d been wanting to try that for a while now and I’m so glad I did. I’m already trying to figure out what other vegetables I can use to make pasta with. I made everything up earlier in the afternoon when I had some extra time, so when it came dinnertime, it was easy to throw it all together. The mushroom sauce with truffle oil is the perfect, light sauce for these raviolis; nothing too heavy and thick since the raviolis themselves have got some girth. Between the sauce and the fresh chives in the filling, this meal is packed with flavor and taste.
INGREDIENTS:
Dough:
1-1/2 C semolina flour
1 C whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C warm unsweetened almond milk
1 Tbs olive oil
1 C minced spinach (about 4 C of fresh spinach leaves)
Filling:
2 medium potatoes
1 Tbs vegan margarine
1/8 to 1/4 C almond milk
1-2 Tbs fresh chives, chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
Mushroom-Truffle Sauce:
4 Tbs vegan margarine
2-3 C mushrooms, sliced
5 Tbs flour
1-1/2 to 2 C vegetable broth
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 Tbs truffle oil
DIRECTIONS:
To prepare the dough, whisk together the two flours and salt. Add the olive oil and warm almond milk and blend a little to create large clumps of dough. Add the spinach.
Blend well using either a wooden spoon, or your hands.
Knead on a floured surface for 3-5 minutes. You may need to add more flour; the spinach adds a bit of moisture to the dough. Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
You can go about making the filling two ways: nuke the potatoes in the microwave until they are done, let them cool slightly, then peel them. The other way, is to peel them first, dice them up and boil them in either water or broth until they are tender. I went ahead and microwaved them, but you choose. I then transferred the cooked potato to a medium bowl, mashed them up, then added the margarine, almond milk, chives, salt and pepper. You can also use the food processor to make the potatoes super creamy and whipped, but I’m a lumpy mashed potato kind of girl, so I just used a potato masher for mine.
To make the raviolis, I love using my pasta maker and ravioli plate. If anything, I highly recommend the ravioli plate, but you can easily roll the dough out thin enough without using a pasta maker. I usually tell readers to THIS POST for a more detailed description of how to use the ravioli plate, as well as some helpful links. Fill each ravioli with about a teaspoon or so of the potato filling.
If you find that the dough is sticking to the ravioli plate (which I did), I recommend lightly spraying the plate with cooking spray and they’ll pop right off next time. I then transferred them to a baking sheet sprinkled with some semolina flour (which keeps the raviolis from sticking to the pan). I ended up with 54 raviolis. These can sit out and dry a little while you prepare the sauce.
To make the sauce, saute the mushrooms in the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and coat the mushrooms well. Little by little, add the vegetable broth and stir. Once it starts to thicken, add a little more broth and keep doing that until you’re out of broth. Let it thicken up, but if it seems to be taking a while, turn the heat off, and let the sauce sit. It will get thick.
Next, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the raviolis in 2-3 batches. I often hear that you shouldn’t cook more than 6 or 7 at a time, but I did them in two batches. First of all, they should be served immediately after being removed from the water (3-5 minutes) and second, they tend to stick together if you transfer them to a colander and wait until they’re all cooked before you serve them. I didn’t find any problems with cooking 25 at a time. Do what feels right to you though. If you’re going to cook them in several batches, I recommend oiling a large bowl and use a slotted spoon to transfer the raviolis to the bowl. The oil will help keep them all from sticking to one another.
Ladle some sauce over the raviolis and enjoy!
- Dough:
- .
- 1-1/2 C semolina flour
- 1 C whole wheat pastry flour
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ C warm unsweetened almond milk
- 1 Tbs olive oil
- 1 C minced spinach (about 4 C of fresh spinach leaves)
- .
- Filling:
- .
- 2 medium potatoes
- 1 Tbs vegan margarine
- ⅛ to ¼ C almond milk
- 1-2 Tbs fresh chives, chopped
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- .
- Mushroom-Truffle Sauce:4 Tbs vegan margarine
- .
- 2-3 C mushrooms, sliced
- 5 Tbs flour
- 1-1/2 to 2 C vegetable broth
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 Tbs truffle oil
- To prepare the dough, whisk together the two flours and salt. Add the olive oil and warm almond milk and blend a little to create large clumps of dough. Add the spinach.
- Blend well using either a wooden spoon, or your hands.
- Knead on a floured surface for 3-5 minutes. You may need to add more flour; the spinach adds a bit of moisture to the dough. Shape into a ball, wrap with plastic and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.
- You can go about making the filling two ways: nuke the potatoes in the microwave until they are done, let them cool slightly, then peel them. The other way, is to peel them first, dice them up and boil them in either water or broth until they are tender. I went ahead and microwaved them, but you choose. I then transferred the cooked potato to a medium bowl, mashed them up, then added the margarine, almond milk, chives, salt and pepper. You can also use the food processor to make the potatoes super creamy and whipped, but I'm a lumpy mashed potato kind of girl, so I just used a potato masher for mine.
- To make the raviolis, I love using my pasta maker and ravioli plate. If anything, I highly recommend the ravioli plate, but you can easily roll the dough out thin enough without using a pasta maker. I usually tell readers to THIS POST for a more detailed description of how to use the ravioli plate, as well as some helpful links. Fill each ravioli with about a teaspoon or so of the potato filling.
- If you find that the dough is sticking to the ravioli plate (which I did), I recommend lightly spraying the plate with cooking spray and they'll pop right off next time. I then transferred them to a baking sheet that is sprinkled with some semolina flour (which keeps the raviolis from sticking to the pan). I ended up with 54 raviolis. These can sit out and dry a little while you prepare the sauce.
- To make the sauce, saute the mushrooms in the margarine in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour and coat the mushrooms well. Little by little, add the vegetable broth and stir. Once it starts to thicken, add a little more broth and keep doing that until you're out of broth. Let it thicken up, but if it seems to be taking a while, turn the heat off, and let the sauce sit. It will get thick.
- Next, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the raviolis in 2-3 batches. I often hear that you shouldn't cook more than 6 or 7 at a time, but I did them in two batches. First of all, they should be served immediately after being removed from the water (3-5 minutes) and second, they tend to stick together if you transfer them to a colander and wait until they're all cooked before you serve them. Do what feels right to you. If you're going to cook them in several batches, I recommend oiling a large bowl and use a slotted spoon to transfer the raviolis to the bowl. The oil will help keep them all from sticking to one another.
- Ladle some sauce over the raviolis and enjoy!
As you probably recall, I like to use my pasta maker and a ravioli plate to make raviolis, and I have to say, the process gets easier and quicker each time. I recommend at least getting a ravioli plate—you can find one for under $20 on 
