Veggie chipolata tray ba...
2019-06-11
Not in the mood to cook, but still want to put something wholesome and delish on...
Courgette and Ricotta Ravioli Bake
Prep 20 mins
Cooking 30 mins
Serves 4
We could say this gluten-free, seriously low crab veggie ravioli bake is perfect for meatless Mondays, but we love it so much, we’ll tuck into it anytime! Instead of pasta we use courgette ribbons to create plump ravioli pockets filled with ricotta, flavoured with lemon zest and nutmeg. Then into the oven the ravioli goes, topped with a seriously easy no-chopping 10-minute tomato sauce and a handful of mozzarella. Warm, cheesy-gooey perfection, and it just so happens to be packed with loads of good-for-you veg.
What you will need
- FOR THE TOMATO SAUCE
- 2 cups passata
- 2 tsp Natural Basil
- 2 tsp Natural Oregano
- Generous pinch of Natural Cayenne Pepper
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ cup cream
- 1 fat clove garlic, finely minced
- 1 tsp brown sugar
- FOR THE COURGETTE RAVIOLI
- 400g ricotta cheese
- Zest of a large lemon, finely grated (a microplane does the job really well)
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ tsp Natural Ground Nutmeg
- 1 extra large free range egg
- ¼ cup parmesan or pecorino, finely grated
- 1kg courgettes (as long as possible)
- TOPPINGS
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
- Micro herbs or wild rocket
Method
Place all the tomato sauce ingredients in a saucepan and cook for 10 minutes. Make the courgette ravioli while the sauce cooks. Simply place all the ingredients (except the courgettes) in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Use a veggie peeler to peel long ribbons of courgette. Overlap 4-6 (depending on how wide they are) courgette ribbons lengthwise and repeat horizontally so you end up with a cross. Place a tablespoon of the ricotta mix in the middle of the cross. Fold over the four sides so you have perfectly square ravioli pockets.
Place ravioli in an ovenproof dish, pour over sauce and top with mozzarella. Bake in a pre-heated 180 °C oven for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and golden. Serve piping hot with some crunchy green leaves dressed with extra virgin olive oil, a squirt of lemon, some capers or caper berries and edible flowers for the pretty. This is high summer on a plate.
Cooks notes:
- A quarter cup of cream between four people is not a lot, but if you want to cut the fat content of this dish, reduce or eliminate the cream altogether. It does detract from the velvety mouth feel the cream lends the dish, but there will still be plenty of flavour that packs a punch. You could also cut out the parmesan to get that calorie count even lower.
- If you don’t want to go the oven-baked route, gently fry the ravioli on both sides in a non-stick pan with just a tablespoon of olive oil. Then top ravioli with the tomato sauce and grate over a little parmesan.
Recipe & photography by food stylist and blogger of everything yum, Lizet Hartley: http://www.melkkos-merlot.co.za
