Turnip Ravioli

The fun part here is that the ravioli doesn’t have turnip in the filling – the turnip is the shell! This is a very fast, easy way to make homemade vegan, gluten-free ravioli – even if you’re not gluten free it’s so much quicker than making your own noodles and it gets you another bit of fresh vegetables to boot. And if you’re not vegan it’s still a darn good filling. I should mention that I do not particularly care for the taste of turnips but you really don’t taste them here as long as you slice them thin enough.

First make your filling – just toss some cashews, lemon juice, soy sauce (or Bragg Liquid Aminos), spinach, and garlic into the food processor. Unless you know you just love raw garlic I’d warn you to start with maybe just half a clove – it’s much stronger raw than it is cooked.  You can taste test this mix as soon as it’s blended and always add more of anything you’d like.

Then just peel and slice a turnip into the thinnest slices you can (a mandoline or spiral slicer would come in handy here but are not strictly necessary) until you are left with nice little circles.  Add a teaspoon or so of filling right in the middle:

The fold the turnip in half – the filling is sticky enough to hold it shut.

I actually used just a touch too much filling on that one, but you’ll get the hang of it right quick, and a little extra filling isn’t much of a hardship, in the scheme of things. Keep going until you run out of filling and have a lovely plate full of raviolis.

They kind of look like clams in this picture, but thankfully they taste absolutely nothing like clams. That would be unexpected. Top the assembled ravioli with some marinara sauce (if you use a raw marinara sauce recipe then this is an excellent raw meal) and let sit for a couple minutes so the warm sauce can soften the turnips, then enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. raw cashews
• 3 tsp lemon juice
• 1 t. soy sauce or Bragg Aminos
• 1 clove garlic (start with half and add more if you want more garlic flavor)
• 1/2 c. wilted spinach or 2 c. fresh
• 1 Turnip, peeled and sliced into thin circles

Directions:

Blend cashews, lemon juice, soy sauce, garlic, and spinach in a food processor until smooth. Take one slice of turnip and place approx. 1 tsp of the filling in the center, fold it in half, and set aside.  Repeat until filling is gone.  Cover with marinara sauce, letting plates sit for a couple minutes to allow the heat of the sauce to soften the turnips.