Golden Beet Ravioli with Squash Sauce

This one has multiple sets of possible ingredients. I have made it a number of different ways and have always been happy. Soaking the nuts helps for creamery sauce but I often forget to do this ahead of time so I just throw them in as is. I like Golden Beets. This recipe is often online with Purple beets as the base. They work great, so does Kohlrabi, Zucchini, Squash, Turnip, Diakon and Rutabaga. Use what you have. The key is to slice as thin as possible. If you can see through a slice then it will be perfect. However my Mandolin slicer does not let me slice very thin so I end up with what you see in the photo below. It works fine for me but the ravioli is then hard to cut into bite size.

  

Ingredients:

Golden Beet (amount depends on how many ravioli you want to make)

Filling:

• Walnuts (1 cup)
• Cilantro (1/4 cup) most recipes call for parsley, I have also used carrot tops or green onions
• Lemon Juice (1/2 lemon)
• Braggs (3 tbs or Tamari sauce)
• Garlic (2 Large cloves or more)

Squash Sauce:

• Squash (1 cup any kind) Net recipes call for red and yellow peppers as they make a smoother sauce
• Cashews (1/2 cup soaked 2-12 hours) Net recipes call for Pine Nuts
• Lemon Juice (1 lemon)
• Green onion or Leek (1/4 cup the white part)
• Turmeric (3 heaping tbs)
• Chile Powder or Red pepper flakes (2 tbs add only if you want heat)
• Olive oil (4 tbs)
• Water for thickness or thinness

Peel the beet or whatever vegetable you are using. Slice as thin as possible with a mandolin slicer. I find a knife is too dangerous for this. Some online recipes say cover the sliced vegetable with salt for 2 hours then rinse to get a soft base. I have not tried this. I like a crunchy base but then it does not really resemble ravioli.

For the filling, mix all the ingredients together in a food processor. I find I get the most garlic flavor if I shred the garlic first with a shredder but it is ok to just throw the whole cloves in as is. This makes enough filling for around 10 large raviolis. I have used other things for the filling including the above but instead of walnuts I use sprouted sunflower seeds or 5 heaping tbs of almond butter. Any nut or nut butter would work. It’s a wide open thing so experiment. There are no rules except strive for excellence in taste (and of course local, organic and raw).

For the sauce, cut the squash into thumb sized chucks to make the processing go faster. Put everything but the oil into a food processor and blend. Use water to reach desired thickness. Add oil only for the last 5 seconds of blending. Some days I like a thick paste other days I add extra pepper flakes and water and get a liquidy sauce. Turmeric is always hard to work with. Too little and it does not add flavor and color and too much and it overpowers. On the net recipes like this call for red and yellow bell peppers instead of squash. Bell peppers make the sauce much milder and therefore better if you want to emphasize the filling in this dish.

To assemble, place one beet slice on a plate, add a spoon full of filling, cover with a beet slice of equal size and put sauce on top. As you can see from the photo, mine resembles more a sandwich. Most net photos show a veg slice so thin that the top veg slice covers the filling and it looks like colored ravioli. This dish is faster to make then it looks. I have made this dish also with a tomato based sauce. For that meal I made the squash sauce very thick and used it as the filling and covered with the tomato sauce. I find this dish to be very filling. Five of these babies and I am very full. This recipe is an outline; do not be restrained by it. Explore new possibilities. Salud!