Vegan Cheese Ravioli

Few pastas say home much like cheese ravioli. It's filling and packed with delicious, comforting flavor. As a home cook, I often considered making my own just for the experience. The only problem was cheese and my inability to have it. However, over the last 2 years, I have become well versed in making my own vegan cheeses and decided to finally give it a go. The result is so convincing that I managed to get my father (a man who is not known for eating veggies) to eat it AND he liked it. If you've ever wanted to trick someone into eating more veggies and less cheese, this is the perfect weapon. If you don't tell them there's no cheese, they'll never know. Plus there are added benefits of additional veggies even in the pasta since I made it with spinach instead of water or eggs! 

The wrapping process can be long and intimidating to some but it is simple enough that most people can do it meaning you can convince your friends or family to help and have ravioli wrapped in no time. Plus they freeze well so if you make a lot, you can freeze them and cook them later on. If you need additional help on the wrapping, check out the video for this recipe or leave a comment below! 

Click Here for the video

Vegan Cheese Ravioli 

Ingredients :

• Spinach Pasta
• 200 grams fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup water
• 400 grams all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Cheese Filling:
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 3 tbs yeast
• 1 cup cashew
• 1/3 cup coconut milk
• tofu
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tablespoons fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoons fresh parsley 

Directions:

1. First, place the cashews in a bowl and cover them with room temperature water. Set the bowl aside while you work on your pasta dough.
2. In a large skillet, heat one tablespoon of olive oil and add the spinach. Move the spinach around frequently until it has all wilted.
3. Transfer the spinach to a blender along with another tablespoon of olive oil and 1/3 cup of water. 
4. Puree the spinach.
5. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt and create a small well in the center of the flour.
6. Pour in the spinach puree and combine the two. Knead until it is smooth. The dough should be soft but not sticky. 
7. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap so no air touches it and place it in the refrigerator to rest for 2 hours. 
8. To make the cheese filling, place the lemon juice and garlic cloves in a blender and pulse the blender to open the cloves. Let the garlic sit in the lemon for about 10 minutes.
9. Drain the soaking cashews and add them as well as the rest of the ingredients, except for the fresh herbs, and blend until it is completely smooth. 
10. Pour the smooth cheese mixture onto the herbs and mix them in by hand. 
11. Cover the bowl and place it in the refrigerator until you need it.
12. Next you will form the ravioli. There are dozens options for ravioli shapes but I chose to make tortellini so I will leave a description of how I shaped them here:
1. Take the rested pasta dough out of the fridge and cut it into 4 equal pieces. Rewrap 3 of them so they don't dry out. 
2. If you have a pasta machine, this next part will be easier but I don't have one so I worked by hand. Form the first piece of dough into a ball and then roll it out using a rolling pin. Roll it out as thin as you possibly can. 
3. Once it is as thin as it will go, cut the sheet into medium sized squares. 
4. Place a small dollop of the cheese mixture into the center of a square.
5. Wet two neighboring edges of the pasta and fold the square in half to match the wet edges to the dry. You will have a triangle with cheese inside.
6. Press firmly on the edges to seal the ravioli. 
7. Finally, take the bottom two corners of the triangle and wrap one over the other and seal with water. 
8. Place on a floured plate and make sure it does not touch other raviolis (they like to stick together).
9. Repeat with the remaining dough until all of the dough or cheese has been used up.
13. Now that you have filled ravioli, place a large pot of water over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Then, salt your pasta water.
14. Working in two batches, quickly add the raviolis one at a time and give a quick stir to prevent them from sticking to the bottom of the pot. 
15. Once the raviolis all float to the top (about a minute or two), they are done cooking! 
16. Strain the raviolis from the water and top them with your sauce of choice. I recommend this red sauce ;)

If you make this recipe, make sure to tag me on instagram so I can see your hard work! @_sexyraddish_