This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)
This past weekend was all about beetroot homage. You can checkout the Russian Borscht here and the caramelized beetroot bulgur here, and now, a truly genius recipe. Not mine, I hardly see myself as a gifted recipe genius, more like a diligent student and a good practitioner, rather this is Gal’s recipe. For those of you who can’t read Hebrew, I suggest you learn some :), or at least use Google translate and spend some time on his blog, as he shares some beautiful recipes there, alongside fabulous pictures and interesting writing.
Gal was nice enough to allow me to veganize his amazing beetroot ravioli recipe and share it with you, so here it goes:
This recipe is pretty simple to make, however, it does take longer than most recipes I would make on a daily basis (kids, work, run, you know the drill), but, it is perfect for a dinner with guests where you want a light dish that will impress everyone, or for a romantic dinner with your spouse (if you are lucky enough to have the time to do that). I highly recommend you make plenty of it (if you are already taking the time to prepare it), as these raviolis, which are basically made of simply sliced beetroot circles, are very light and incredibly tasty. Gal recommends 3 per person, however we ate 6 each and the last ones we fought over :). But hey, maybe that’s because it’s true what they say that vegans are always hungry, yeah right…
For this recipe, we will peel and slice the beetroots using a mandoline slicer as thinly as possible, and try to create perfect circles. Don’t throw the ones that don’t turn out perfect! We will use a few of them for the optional pink cream topping, or if you are like me and you already had many beetroots waiting for something interesting to do with them and you cut so many of them, just put them on a tray, spray some olive oil and spread some salt and send to the oven on 160 degrees for about 20 minutes or until they are crunchy, and you’ll get yummy beetroot chips!
I had 2 versions of the sliced beetroots, as I wanted to see if there’s a difference in taste if you peel and slice the circles the night before, and while they may look a bit more pale on the plate before the cooking, after it they taste just the same.
Boil some water in a big pot and cook the beetroot slices for 5 minutes, drain and dry. In parallel, you can start preparing the filling. I made a few options so I can report what works better, but I did not get to a conclusion, as all raviolis disappeared from the table so quickly and all the taste testers couldn’t decide between the 2 versions. So just prepare the version that you have it’s ingredients at home, or be creative, its a forgiving recipe.
The first option I used for the filling is almond feta cheese, which I make according to the recipe on Maple Spice, minus the garlic (so I can take it to work..). She also uses blanched almonds whereas I use natural almonds with their peel on and grind it using my coffee grinder and it turns out great. One more comment is that her recipe calls for 145g of almonds but I can report that I use anything between 130 to 160 grams each time (as my kitchen scale is not that accurate) and the result is always tasty.
This fabulous feta cheese is even more fabulous once I mix it with some herbs (this time it was dill and parsley) and pecans (optional).
The second option I used for the filling is cashew cheese. There are hundrends of versions for it online, for the sake of this filling, all you need to do is soak a cup of cashews in boiled water for a few minutes, then drain and blend it with half a cup of water, juice from half a lemon and some salt.
Now let’s go to the assembly line:
This stage can be a tad exhausting (unless you are into occupational therapy), but as I promised in the begining of the post, it’s well worth it, and hey, its not a daily dish. Pile a teaspoon of filling on the center of each beetroot circle, brush another circle with olive oil, place it on top of the filling, and push it down with your fingers around the filling dome towards the lower circle. To attach the 2 circles, use a fork and press with it on the edges of the circles to create small cuts in the 2 circles, such that will help them attach to each other. Continue pressing to create the cuts around the dome, if you see any rumples straighten them and press again.
Another method that helps attaching the circles together (my father in law’s great idea!) is to cut a small cut from the center of the circle to its edge, which helps it fold a bit on top of the dome and attach better. It does change a bit the end result as they look a bit more cone shaped, but that didn’t stop any of the taste testers as I mentioned before.
Almost done, what’s left now is to gently move the raviolis to your oven pan using a fork to lift them up from the bottom of each, or just do the assembly on the pan itself. Brush them with olive oil, spread some bread crumbs (GF if needed) and pour a bit more olive oil on top, then send to the oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes (until the bread crumbs turn golden).
Then you can make the pink cream, which is optional, as the raviolis are tasty as it is also.
Ready!
The Dishometer Rating:
- 3 medium beetroots
- breadcrumbs
- Filling: Almond feta cheese with herbs (see recipe up in the post) and/or cashew cheese with herbs (soak a cup of cashew nuts in boiled water for a few minutes, drain and blend with half a cup of water, juice from half a lemon and some salt, and mix in your herbs)
- Upgrade option - pink cashew cream: one cup of cashews, water (between ¾ cup to a cup), salt, and some "imperfect" beetroot circles from before
- Peel the beetroots and slice them to as perfect and thin circles as possible, using a mandoline slicer (save the imperfect ones for the pink cream and the chips).
- Bring water to a boil in a pot, add the beetroot circles and cook for 5 minutes.
- Drain and dry in a sieve.
- Place one teaspoon of filling in the center of a beetroot circle, take another circle, brush it with olive oil and place it on top of the first circle. Press around the filling dome to try and attach them to one another as possible, then use a fork to cut small cuts on the edges of the circles to help them attach (see detailed steps and pictures in the post above). You can also cut through the upper circle from it's center to it's edge to help it attach (see detailed steps and pictures in the post above).
- Use a fork to gently lift each ravioli and move it to the pan, or do the assembly in the pan in the first place, brush the raviolis with olive oil, spread some breadcrumbs on top of them and finish with some more olive oil drizzle.
- Place them in the oven on 200 degrees for about 15 minutes, until the breadcrumbs turn golden.
- Upgrade option - pink cashew cream: soak a cup of cashew nuts in boiled water for a few minutes, drain and blend with between ¾ cup to a cup of water and some salt), pour to a pan along with a few of the imperfect beetroot circles you saved from before and cook for a few minutes until the cream turns pink and becomes a bit more thick.
- Pour some cream on the raviolis or next to them and serve.
- If not serving immediately, watch it carefully, as they tend to get stolen 🙂