Health & Wellbeing

Healthy Eating

Brazil Nut Ravioli:
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

For the pasta dough:
300g Plain flour
1 Egg
200ml Hot water

For the filling:
150g Mascarpone
100g Spinach - steamed
100g Wild Mushrooms - chopped
200g Brazil Nuts - chopped
For the pasta sauce:
1 Onion - finely chopped
1 Clove garlic - finely chopped
1 Tin chopped tomatoes
20g Parsley - chopped Optional – bay leaf & herbs
1 tsp Sugar
3 tbsp Olive oil

METHOD

First make the filling. In a sauté pan with a tbsp of olive oil, cook the mushrooms until lightly golden, season with salt & pepper. Adding a teaspoon of honey will add a really lovely flavour. Squeeze the spinach to remove as much excess liquid as possible and mix together with the mascarpone and half of the brazil nuts. Add the mushrooms and combine to a mash potato type consistency. Non vegetarians could use chopped bacon as an alternative addition to the filling if preferred.

For the pasta dough: Combine the flour with a pinch of salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil, 1 egg and slowly add the water and with a wooden spoon bring the mixture together. Then take the rough dough and on a clean work surface lightly dusted with flour, start to knead with your hands. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a thickness of about 2mm. Cut into half. Onto the bottom half using a teaspoon, place small balls of the filling at even spaces. With some water and your finger, dampen a circle around each ball. Cover with the top half of the dough and then with a narrow glass press the top dough to stick to the bottom. With a pastry cutter, cut out each ravioli and remove, lightly dust with some flour. At this stage you can leave them for an hour and a batch can be frozen. Otherwise, proceed to simmer in a pan of salted boiling water, and a drop of olive oil until they float to the surface, usually no more than 3 - 4 minutes. Then drain. At this stage I recommend to sauté the ravioli in a pan with a drizzle of oil to lightly toast as this adds some extra texture, crunchiness and flavour before adding to the sauce.

For the sauce, in a pan with a tablespoon of oil, add the onion, garlic, herbs and teaspoon of sugar, until golden brown and season to taste. Add the tomatoes and simmer gently for 15 minutes, occasionally stirring. I prefer to make a fresh sauce but of course for convenience any other sauce can be used. Add the ravioli and combine with the sauce, and you are ready to serve.