Spinach-Spelt pasta Ravioli with Vegan Filling

Happy St. Patrick's Day!  This verdant pasta is coloured with fresh-from-the-garden spinach.

I started out by chopping the spinach and olive oil in the food processor.  Not really sure how the recipe would turn out, I added egg-white to the mixture and kneaded the dough with the food processor.  It turned out better than expected.  An eggless, vegan pasta dough should hold up perfectly. Cover and let it rest for 15 minutes. Divide in to two equal portions and roll it out.

The filling's made from: pine nuts, tofu, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, garlic, onion, basil, olive oil, salt, tamari and a squeeze of lemon. Simply add the ingredients to the food processor and blitz. Spoon it or pipe it on to the rolled pasta dough - rice flour keeps the dough from sticking to the counter. Brush water around the dollops of filling to make sealing the pasta easier.  Place the top pasta layer over the bottom.  Press out the air and cut into individual pieces.  I used a handy pasta cutter, but a knife works, too.

Drop into boiling water for ~3 minutes.  Serve hot with olive oil, pine nuts and fresh basil.

Baked Acorn Squash with Quinoa

First, wash, cut-in-half, place on oiled baking sheet.

Bake about 45 minutes or until the squash becomes softened.

While it's baking, prepare a filling mix of cooked quinoa, pine nuts, sauteed: parsnips, cranberries, peppers and onions.

Season the squash with salt and fill with the quinoa mix.

Pasta Fresca

I just got to try my new pasta attachments.

Make the dough and let it rest:

This is a buckwheat and semolina dough.

Then roll it to the desired thickness:

Then cut as desired - this is a fettuccine:

Start the water boiling and lay the pasta aside - boil when ready.  Then drain, rinse and keep warm (for no more than 10 minutes):

Prepare the fresh veg:

• basil
• parsley
• onions
• cayenne
• oregano
• tomatoes

Mince the herbs and pepper:

Marinate with Italian salad dressing:

Sweat the herbs and onion in olive oil with a dash of salt.  Add toasted pine nuts to the mix:

Turn off the heat and add the tomatoes.  You don't want to cook them, just allow them to soften slightly:

Add ripe green olives (not the pickled variety) and julienned green peppers:

Pasta Fresca, served with sauteed green beans and (veggie) sausage.