Alison whipped these out of nowhere the other evening when I thought she had just gone inside to make another margarita…. They are the kind of appy that you feel like you should eat slowly and be polite about not taking the last one since they look so delicate… but then you are so relieved to find out she has two more plates full inside! They are REALLY good.
*** Red Beet Ravioli with Cashew Cheese Filling from “Raw Food, Real World” ***
For the filling:
– 3 cups raw cashews, soaked in water for 2 hours or more;
– 1/4 cup lemon juice;
– 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest;
– 1/4 cup nutritional yeast; (they carry this in bulk at Nesters)
– 1 1/4 to 2 teaspoons of salt;
– 2 green onion, white and 1 inch green, minced;
– 3 tablespoons of minced tarragon (we skipped this);
– 2 tablespoons of minced parsley.
In a food processor, blend the nuts, lemon juice and zest, yeast, and salt until smooth. Transfer the filling to a medium bowl and fold in the onions, tarragon, and parsley. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or lemon juice, if needed. The filling should have the consistency of ricotta cheese. Store in fridge if not using right away; it tastes best if brought to room temperature before assembling and serving.
For the assembly:
– 1 large bunch of red beets (2 inches in diameter or more);
– 2 to 3 tablespoons of macadamia oil, other nut oil or olive oil;
– 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice;
– coarse sea salt;
– 1 handful of chopped pistachios, preferably Sicilian (we used President’s Choice – I’m sure they were Sicilian 🙂 ;
– 1 teaspoon of pistachio or other nut oil (or olive oil);
– 1 small handful of tarragon leaves torn or left whole;
– freshly ground black pepper;
– microgreens for garnish.
1. Using mandolin, slice the beats very thin – about 1/18 inch or less. Make stacks and cut into 2 inch squares (we did not make squares – what a waste of beets! Unless you put them in salad or something…Ours were round and still delicious). Try to get the slices roughly the same size. You should have about 50 slices. In a medium bowl, add the beet slices, nut oil and lemon juice, and a generous pinch of sea salt. Toss to coat: there should be enough oil and lemon juice to coat all the slices but not enough that they are dripping in liquid. (We didn’t toss the slices in anything as we ate these as finger food and thought they’d be too messy coated in oil.)
2. Arrange half the beet slices flat on serving plates. Place a generous dollop of the filling on each slice. (The recipe then calls for you to sauce the plates with the pepper puree but we didn’t make it and I haven’t included the recipe – I can bring the book to the gym if anyone wants that part of the recipe). Top each ravioli with a beet slice, pressing down gently.
3. In a small bowl, toss the chopped pistachios with the oil and a once of sea salt. Sprinkle each ravioli with the pistachios and top with the tarragon. Grind a bit of black pepper over the plates and garnish with micro greens.(We didn’t do this, again, because we were making them as finger food. We put the pistachios inside the raviolis and it was great. Next time I would put each ravioli on a leaf of some sort eg. chard or spinach, to make it easier to pick up. Or maybe I’d try eating it with a knife and fork…)”
