With Thanksgiving right around the corner here in Canada I’ve been thinking about warm comfort foods and additions to a Thanksgiving table. I love Thanksgiving – especially the meal. Even when there is the just the five of us, we have all the trimmings and, of course, a couple of desserts. We serve up turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, fresh buns, garden carrots and beans, salad, butternut squash soup and then pumpkin pie and, my boys’ favourite, pumpkin roll. Doesn’t that sound delicious? What are your favourite Thanksgiving dishes?
This year I need to add some vegan options to the meal and was wondering what to serve, other than more veggies. What about ravioli? … A gluten-free ravioli filled with butternut squash and caramelized onions, or even a lobster-stuffed ravioli?
Off to the kitchen I went to play with some gluten free dough and experiment with fillings. Now the fillings I made for these were not vegan – I added parmesan cheese – plus I made this dough using eggs; however it was a success taste-wise and I will continue working on a vegan version in time for Thanksgiving.
Homemade ravioli is not a quick process: it is very much like making perogies. Yes, they take time but the end result is well worth the effort. I hope you give this recipe a try. This is the same recipe as I previously posted for gluten-free pasta, but the forming of the dough is different.
Gluten Free Ravioli Dough
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups sweet rice flour
- 1/2 cup tapioca starch
- 1 tsp xanthan gum
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 5 eggs
Instructions
- Combine rice flour, tapioca starch, xanthan gum and salt in a stand mixer.
- Mix until flours are combined.
- Add eggs one at a time, until dough forms and pulls away from side of bowl.
- If dough is dry add 1 tsp of water; if it is too sticky add 1 tbsp of sweet rice flour.
- Divide dough in half and wrap unused half with a damp tea towel to prevent drying out.
- Drop dough onto a well dusted flour surface.
- Flour rolling pin and roll out dough.
- Lightly stamp or cut out dough with ravioli cutter.
- Place the filling in the center of the cutout.
- Brush edges of cutout with beaten egg yolk.
- Roll out other dough ball. Stamp or cut out dough.
- Remove each cutout and gently pat dough to stretch out shape.
- You want the cutout to be slightly bigger than the original shape.
- Place on top of the first cutout with filling.
- Lightly press edges down.
- Clean up edges with ravioli cutter.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.
- Add ravioli.
- These raviolis were quite large so I added only 3 at a time.
- I find when I make gluten-free ravioli that they sink and stick to the bottom.
- Use a spatula or paddle strainer to gently free ravioli from the bottom of the pot.
- You’ll know when they’re done when they float to the top.
- This recipe made 15 large raviolis, but the amount may vary depending on the size of your cutouts.
Ravioli Filling
Ingredients
- Ingredients leftover in the fridge
Instructions
- You can have a lot of fun playing with ravioli fillings, setting out to experiment with specific flavour combinations or using ingredients you have leftover in your fridge.
- You just have to make sure that your filling will hold it shape.
Butternut Squash Filling
Ingredients
- 1 cup canned or roasted butternut squash
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/3 – 1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup caramelized onion and garlic
Instructions
- Combine all together in a bowl.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
I served my gluten-free ravioli on a plate of slow roasted roma tomatoes.
Now is a great time to pick up fresh garden tomatoes at your local farmers market and my favorite thing to do with them is to slow roast them. It really brings out their flavor and makes them ever so sweet.
To slow roast tomatoes I pour some chili oil on a baking sheet. Mince up some garlic and spread onto oil. Slice the tomatoes into wedges and line the cookie sheet.
Top the tomatoes with fresh thyme, dried oregano and basil, and sea salt and pepper.
Roast in a 250 degree oven for 2- 2 ½ hours.
Pour mixture in a large jar and store in refrigerator. You can also pour tomatoes into a food processor and process until smooth.
When I have a lot of tomatoes and do not feel like canning them, I take these slow roasted tomatoes and put them in small freezer bags and freeze them. Then all I have to do is thaw the sauce and heat up to serve.
This makes the best tomato sauce!
Lobster Filling
Ingredients
- 1 cup cooked lobster
- 1/3 cup caramelized onion and garlic
- 3 tbsp plain goat cheese
- Zest of 1 lemon
Instructions
- Combine all together in a bowl.
- Add salt and pepper to taste.
