Three-Cheese Zucchini Ravioli with Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

-
I had in my hand one zucchini, and one want. After gobbling up an entire pizza yesterday, that want was a strong desire to go (practically) carb-free today. Carb-free, but not cheese-free - I don’t think I’ve wanted to go cheese-free a day in my life thus far. I don’t see them coming either. So what I came up with after some googling is zucchini ravioli. I found a lovely recipe at Half Baked Harvest, played around with it to adjust it to what I had at home, and voila. I think I gobbled it all up in under five minutes.

Three-Cheese Zucchini Ravioli in Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Ingredients (makes 4 zucchini ravioli and serves 2 as a starter or 1 as a main):
1/2 large zucchini
1 cup cherry tomatoes
1 large clove garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 handful fresh oregano, plus some to garnish
a few sprigs fresh thyme, plus some to garnish
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon goat cheese
1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
7-8 basil leaves, chopped

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

1. Using a vegetable slicer, slice the zucchini into long vertical strips. Place them on top of paper towel and sprinkle with salt (this removes the water). You will need 16 good strips to make the packets.

2 Place the tomatoes in the oven dish. Pour over the olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add in the oregano and thyme and toss. Place in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes.

3. While the tomatoes are roasting, stir together the ricotta cheese, goat cheese, parmesan and fresh basil. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.

4. Now start making the ricotta packets. For each packet, you will need four zucchini slices placed on top of each other like a star. To make them, first place two slices on top of each other to form a cross, and then layer an additional two to make another cross on top, diagonally - until you get a simple asterisk-style star. In the heart of the star, place a tablespoon of the cheese mixture. Then fold the innermost zucchini strip over, then the next, then the next, until you get square-ish packets that don’t have any ricotta peeping out the sides or corners.

5. Place the zucchini packets in the dish with the tomatoes. Sprinkle lightly with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Return to the oven for another 5 or so minutes, until the zucchini and ricotta are warmed.

6. Garnish with fresh herbs (I used oregano and thyme) and a bit of freshly grated parmesan, and serve hot.


Three-Cheese Zucchini Ravioli in Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce




Three-Cheese Zucchini Ravioli in Roasted Cherry Tomato Sauce

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Salmon, Avocado and Arugula (Rocket) Salad

-
Image
I’ve been doing a lot of smoked salmon dishes lately. They’re all slightly different, but one thing many of them have in common is the avocado-salmon pairing, which is just lovely. Here’s yet another take on it, in a simple fuss-free salad with this lovely recipe by Melanie of the Fuss Free Cooking blog. Ingredients (serves 2): 60g arugula (rocket) lettuce 100g smoked salmon, torn into pieces 1 avocado, sliced 1/2 large cucumber, sliced into half moons 2 tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted 1 lime, juiced 4 tablespoons olive oil optional: drop of sesame seed oil Instructions: 1. In a small bowl, mix the lime juice, olive oil, sesame oil and 1/2 of the sesame seeds. 2. Toss the arugula, avocado and cucumber in a bowl and top with the smoked salmon. Drizzle over the dressing. 3. Top with the remaining half of the sesame seeds and serve.
Click to read the rest of this post »

Bok Choy Noodle Soup with Quail Eggs

-
Image
The day I made this soup is the day I learned to recognise the flavour of star anise in food. I’d known it in licorice, but had never realised what it did to hearty dishes. Star anise, I learned, is one of the five ingredients in Chinese five spice powder - (along with cloves, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns and fennel) - the Chinese have been using it for ages. And I never would have guessed it, but it does something quite amazing.  Ingredients (serves 2): 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 large shallots, minced 1 bunch scallions, chopped. Set the green aside for the topping.  4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced 2 whole star anise 1300 ml chicken broth 2 tablespoon soy sauce 240g mushrooms, sliced 1/2 head of large bok choy, roughly chopped 120g rice noodles 4-6 quail eggs (or 2 regular eggs), medium-soft boiled garnish: red pepper flakes or sesame seeds Instructions: 1. Take the olive oil and heat in a medium sized soup pan, then add the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes
Click to read the rest of this post »

Minneola Marmalade

-
Image
Minneola tangelos are the sweeter, juicier cousins of the grapefruit and the tangerine. I can't remember having ever bought them before, and yet all of a sudden, one September they were everywhere in their deep orange splendour. What it was about the bag of minneolas I came home with that made me think 'marmalade' I still can’t say, but something did, and here it is. Sweeter than traditional orange marmalade, with none of its bitterness. An easy sell, if you ask me. Homemade minneola marmalade Ingredients (enough for 3 US cups, or two 340mL jam jars and a little extra): 2 cups minneola juice (4 or 5 minneolas should be enough) rind of 4 mineolas 2 cups sugar 1.5 cups water * Equipment: a candy thermometer Instructions: 1. Juice the minneolas and pour the juice into a saucepan. 2. Using a sharp knife, cut the orange outside rind off of the remaining minneola peels, discarding the white pith. This is important - the more of the white pith you put into your ma
Click to read the rest of this post »