My pasta machine has been languishing at the back of a cupboard for far too long so I am very grateful to Alex Connell, chef and Principal Tutor at the Vegetarian Society’s Cookery School in Cheshire, for inspiring me to get it out again! Vegan Ravioli was just one of the many dishes I was challenged to make on the Vegan Toolkit Course I attended last week at the behest of Cranks. Along with fellow food bloggers Choclette from Tin and Thyme, Becca from Amuse Your Bouche and Shaheen from Allotment2Kitchen, I rolled my sleeves up and donned my apron.
Alex began with some knife skills before swiftly moving on to a whole batch of vegan standbys which are really useful to have in my armoury! Each took moments to make and one or two were total eye openers. Vegan Pesto is a regular feature at Thinly Spread but Alex jazzed it up with Chipotle paste and I know my vegan boy will love it! Next up was Vegan Mayonnaise, it took seconds and I can honestly say I wouldn’t be able to tell it apart from the egg version! Vegan Pancake batter was a cinch and I got my hands dirty with a quick pizza dough!
Each of us then chose a quick dish to prep and serve, I went for Solomon Grundy, a paté made with braised tofu, while Choclette had her first go at Tofu Scramble (a regular feature on our breakfast table), Shaheen whizzed up some vanilla cashew cream and an apple sundae, Becca made creamy mushroom paté and Grace from Cranks cooked up some really tasty Quesadillas.
I’d forgotten how simple and satisfying pasta making could be and I was genuinely impressed with the vegan ravioli filled with spicy pesto and topped with tomato sauce we all made. I actually think that the pasta was better with the egg left out; it was lighter and softer.
I was so taken with pasta making that as soon as I got home I blew the dust off my own machine and made another batch of vegan ravioli! This time I filled it with a mixture of mashed, roasted parsnip, dried porcini mushrooms, leek and sage before topping it with Portabello mushrooms in a savoury cashew cream – perfect for these wild and windy winter nights. Don’t be put off by the length of this recipe – it is all easy bite sized pieces!
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Vegan Ravioli Filled with Parsnips and Porcini Mushrooms
Ingredients
For the Pasta
- 130 g 00 pasta flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp olive oil
For the Filling
- 1 parsnip peeled and chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp dried sage
- small handful of dried porcini mushrooms soaked for 20 mins in boiling water and finely chopped (Keep the soaking liquid!)
- 1/3 of a leek finely diced
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- For the Cashew Cream
- 1 cup cashews
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- pinch of salt
For the Topping
- 1 tbsps olive oil
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 2 large portabello mushrooms thickly sliced
- The other 2/3 of the leek finely chopped
Instructions
Make the Cashew Cream
- Soak the cashews in cold water for at least an hour (not essential but it does make for a creamier cream), drain and blitz in a food processor or blender with the remaining cream ingredients until smooth.
Make the Filling
- Preheat the oven to 200C/350F, roast the parsnips in the olive oil and sprinkled with sage for 15 - 20 mins until browned and soft
- Lightly fry the leek in a little olive oil until soft, add the garlic and drained porcini and fry for a further minute
- Mash the parsnips, stir the leek and porcini into the parsnips, add pepper and a little more sage to taste
Make and fill the pasta
- Add the flour, salt, water and oil to your food processor, whizz briefly until combined, it should hold together when you press it together with your fingers
- Bring together into a ball and knead gently for a few minutes until pliable.
- Divide the pasta dough into 4 balls and roll out
- Pass each piece through your pasta machine on the widest setting, fold it in half and repeat until you have a neat rectangle
- Pass each piece though each setting until you get to the final setting - my machine makes very thin pasta on the final setting so I stopped at the penultimate setting instead!
- Cut the pasta into rectangles (size is up to you - delicate parcels or generous pillows!)
- Place a tsp (or more if you've got pillows) of filling into the centre and fold it in half
- Flatten around the filling carefully to remove any air and seal the edges by pressing together with a fork
- Lightly dust a plate/work surface with flour and leave your ravioli while you cook your mushrooms
Make your Topping
- Fry the portabello mushrooms and the rest of the chopped leek in a little olive oil until browned and juicy
- Add the garlic and fry for a further minute
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of your cashew cream and heat gently
- Add a little of the porcini soaking liquid to thin your sauce
- Season to taste
- To Assemble
- Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil
- Add the pasta and cook for 45 seconds
- Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in a colander
- Serve immediately topped with the creamy mushrooms on a bed of watercress and rocket salad, garnished with chopped parsley and sliced chilli.
I learned so much at the Vegetarian Cookery School and I’m chuffed to bits that Cranks are working so closely with them – two of my favourites joining forces to spread the veggie word! I’m looking forward to sharing some more of the vegan toolkit tricks I now have at my disposal so watch out for more recipes over the coming weeks, here’s a taste of what’s to come – didn’t we whip up a fine feast?!
NB: You will have far more cashew cream than you need for this recipe – I urge you to use it to a make a vegan lasagna, use it to top burritos and tortillas, spoon it into a bowl with chilli or anything else which would be pepped up with a bit of creamy goodness!
Looks like a great event and that ravioli sounds exceptional – love the idea parsnip it in!
The parsnip was wonderful, such a perfect combination with the porcini for a winter pasta. I would normally use pumpkin but I didn’t have any when the pasta mood took me!
damn – you make meat free food look good!
*bows*, you say the nicest things 🙂
Looks gorgeous…like amazingly delicious! I can do the dairy free thing…I can…though master gluten-free ravioli too maybe a challenge to far but then again!
Hmmmm – got to be worth a try surely?! It was incredibly delicious – cashew cream is just the bees knees in savoury and sweet dishes, I’m bowled over by it! x
Looks so delicious! I was given a pasta making machine but so far have been too scared to use it as really have no idea what I am doing but your instructions above may tempt me to dust it off!
Oh do, do, do! Once you’ve got the hang of it it really is very straightforward and your family will think you are brilliant! BB was so impressed with my lovely long sheets! 😀
Its good to hear that course was good. I have often looked at them in their magazines and wondered………..
I loved it – I’d go back like a shot! My only complaint was that the day was a bit soya heavy, I would’ve liked some pulse dishes too but it’s only a little complaint, I really enjoyed myself and learned some new techniques to boot!
Oh Chris, what a brilliant filling you’ve used. I was rather stupidly excited to make pasta for the first time and I now understand why a pasta machine is worth having. It was a great day and lovely to see you again. And your photographs are brilliant. I really need to learn how to use my camera!!!
It’s one of those things which is too easily shoved to the back of the cupboard and it really shouldn’t be! Mine is well and truly back out in the light again now 🙂 It was so lovely to see you again, I do hope we can meet up again soon and thank you for your kind comment re my photos 🙂 xxx
Looks totally scrumptious
Thank you! 🙂 xxx
what a fab event, the food looks utterly delicious, love cashew cream. My pasta maker has cobwebs on, must drag it out again, you have tempted my tastebuds!
It was! I’ve only ever made savoury cashew cream before, we made sweet cream for cheesecakes and it was DIVINE, it will be happening in my kitchen soon!
This looks delicious! And so healthy, too. I like the idea of lots of left-over cashew cream for concoting more goodies with, too.
It certainly didn’t go to waste Nell – such a useful thing to have in the fridge!
It was so lovely to meet you last week Chris, I couldn’t believe how great the vegan pasta was! Almost good enough for me to buy my own pasta machine…? 😉
And it was lovely meeting you too, I hope we can catch up again soon! I love being able to choose my own seasonal fillings and knowing that everything in it is 100% vegetarian, making food from scratch is such a satisfying thing!
My pasta machine has been languishing, too. Thank you for reminding me about it! Now I just need to dust it off… 😀
Yes, yes! Get it out of that cupboard right now! 🙂