Asparagus ravioli with creamy lemon sage sauce
What an elegant and tasty meal this was! It is a bit of trouble to make, but well worth it.
Yield: 12 raviolis
Ingredients:
for the raviolis:
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 2 tsp. olive oil
- 1/2 cup water
- salt
for the filling:
- 500 grams fresh asparagus, washed, cut in small pices
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 Tbs. olive oil
- 100 grams soy cheese, grated
- salt and pepper to taste
for the sauce:
- 1 & 1/2 cup soy milk (plain)
- 1 vegetable bouillon cube
- 2 tsp. corn starch
- 20 + fresh sage leaves, minced
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
Directions:
To make the ravioli:
- In a bowl, combine the pasta dough ingredients to make a dough.
- Wrap in a towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
To make the filling:
- Slice the end of the asparagus stalk off, as it is usually old, dried and hard.
- Slice the asparagus in very small circles.
- Reserve a few asparagus tips as garnish.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan.
- Add the minced garlic.
- Add the asparagus pieces and gently saute until al dente.
- When the asparagus is ready, grate the soy cheese over and mix well.
- Remove from the heat and reserve.
- Fry of boil the asparagus tips that you wish to use as garnish.
To make the sauce:
- Place the soy milk in a sauce pan.
- Add the bouillon cube and corn starch.
- Gently bring the mixture to a simmer to thicken.
- Add the minced sage and lemon zest and juice.
- Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Optionally, you may want to add bit of mustard, and or nutmeg as seasonings.
To make the ravioli:
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Divide the dough in fourths and roll out each portion on a floured work space, allowing the first sheet of pasta to sit while rolling out the second.
- One of the tricks to the pasta is to make sure you’ve rolled the dough out very thin.
- Cut out your ravioli shapes and fill with the filling.
- Place the top part of the ravioli over the filling and close with a fork.
- If you have a form or press, then of course that saves time you merely place 1 sheet of dough on one side, put the filling on the dough and then lay the 2nd sheet of dough on top.
- Close the form to seal and cut off the extra using a knife.
- When the ravioli have all been made.
- Put them in the boiling water and cook for a few minutes or until they are floating.
- Serve the ravioli with the sauce, garnished with a few whole fresh sage leaves and a few asparagus tips.
Notes:
Adapted from Vegatarisch Fit No. 11