Beet Ravioli

Beets are SO deliscious! Especially as a ravioli :-)

Epicurious.com has the best revioli recipe.

Although I am not a huge fan of the pasta dough they use, if you make these with spinach pasta dough they are amazing and look beautiful. OF COURSE when I made them sunday night I forgot to take a photo... Oh well... Here is the recipe and I highly reccomend trying them. SO easy and worth it.

Here is the recipe:

2 large red or golden beets (about 14 ounces)

1/2 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese

2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

1 1/4 pounds Fresh Egg Pasta

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 tablespoon poppy seedsFreshly grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Wrap beets individually in foil; place on baking sheet. Roast until tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour. Open foil carefully (steam will escape). Cool. Peel beets; finely grate into medium bowl. Add ricotta cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in breadcrumbs.

Roll Fresh Egg Pasta dough into sheets according to recipe.

Place 1 dough sheet on work surface. Using 3-inch round biscuit cutter, cut sheet into 7 rounds. Transfer rounds to lightly floured baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining dough for total of 56 rounds

Sprinkle 2 smooth kitchen towels with flour. Place 8 pasta rounds on work surface, keeping remaining dough covered with plastic. Place small bowl of water next to work surface. Spoon 1 teaspoon beet filling onto half of each round. Dip fingertip into water and dampen edge of 1 round. Fold dough over filling, pushing out as much air as possible and pressing edges firmly to seal. Transfer to prepared towels. Repeat with remaining rounds. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet and place in freezer until frozen solid, about 6 hours. Transfer ravioli to resealable plastic bags.)

Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat and stir in poppy seeds; keep warm. Working in batches, cook ravioli in large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through, stirring often, about 2 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer to skillet with melted butter; toss to coat. Divide ravioli among 8 plates; sprinkle with Parmesan.

sweet potato falafel

Ok! One last post tonight! -The recipe was SO worth it!

So I spent the other night down in Santa clara with my friend Jeana, who happens to be a vegetarian...

So of course we were doing some cooking and decided to make her new favorite recipe!

It came from the blog FatFreeVegan:

http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2009/01/sweet-potato-falafel-with-yogurt-tahini.html

And her site is totally deliscious!

Recipe:

1/2 tablespoon ground flax seeds + 2 tbsp hot water

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 18 ounces, total)

2-3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons ground coriander

2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed

1/8 - 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup minced parsleyjuice of

1 lemon

1 cup chickpea flour or besan

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

sesame seeds (optional)

Mix the flax seeds with two tablespoons hot water and set aside to thicken.

Pierce sweet potatoes several times with a fork and place on paper towels in microwave.

Microwave on high for 2 minutes, turn over, and then cook for another 2 minutes.

Check for tenderness, and if not cooked all the way through, cook in increments of 30 seconds until tender. Set aside to cool until easy to handle; peel and place in a large bowl.

Preheat oven to 400F. Mash sweet potatoes well with a masher or a fork. Add the flax mixture, seasonings (including parsley), and lemon juice and stir well. Mix the chickpea flour with the baking powder and add it a little at a time to the sweet potato mixture. Stir until well-combined. Batter should be stiff; if not, add chickpea flour a tablespoon at a time until batter is thick. (If the batter is too stiff to blend in all the flour, add water a tablespoon at a time.)

Oil a baking sheet or line it with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Use a cookie scoop or rounded tablespoon to make about 20-22 little mounds of dough on the baking sheet (dipping the scoop in water every now and then will help prevent the dough from sticking to it). Flatten the balls to about 1/2-inch thick and 1 1/2-inches wide. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if desired.Bake for 20-25 minutes, until bottoms are medium brown.

Serve hot with yogurt-tahini sauce. These keep well and can be reheated briefly in the microwave.

(NOTES: You can skip the flax and just add a tablespoon or two of water, nothing goes horribly wrong.

-Don't skip on spices, they are totally worth it!

-Also, I did NOT like her sauce, and therefore did not post it. Although Jeana did so I'm sure it is just my tastes

-Lastly, I would make sure the sweet potatoes are very well mashed, we did not have a masher at the apartment and therefore had clumpy falafel -not so great since nothing mixed very well)

We Served our Falafel with pita and a simple green salad. TOTALLY DELISH!