Beet Ravioli

Beet ravioli is one of the quickest raw meals to make. Beets are said to be good for controlling blood pressure, cholesterol, and are generally beneficial to the cardiovascular system. This is especially true of the greens. Serve these ravioli with a green salad made from the beet greens, and you will be doing your heart good.

I confess that I was in a bit of a hurry making these because I was making them to bring to work. Their quickness was the draw for me. I didn't bother shaping them for myself. When I serve them to guests, I generally either make them evenly round, or I square them off so they don't look so irregular. I use my food scissors to do this. You can make them like I did here and just put the filling between two beets, or you can fold one beet over and make half moon ravioli. When I cut them into more even shapes, I save the trimmings and use them in salads. Nothing goes to waste in my kitchen.

Beet Ravioli:

2 large beets shaved into thin slices on a mandoline
1/4 c. balsamic vinegar (not raw but goes great with beets)
1/4 c. olive oil
1 t. rosemary
1 t. salt

Marinate the beet slices in the other ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside while making cheese filling.

Ravioli Filling:

1 c. cashews soaked for 2 hours and drained
1/4 c. lemon juice (this makes a tart cheese, use less for a milder cheese)
2 T. nutritional yeast
Sea salt to taste

Blend all ingredients in a high-speed blender. Add herbs of your choice to the cheese for variation.

Remove the beets from the marinade. Reserve marinade for salad dressing. Fill the ravioli with the cheese by placing 1 T. cheese between two beet slices, or alternatively, place cheese on one side of one beet slice and fold the beet slice in half over the cheese. This works better with large beet slices.

Serve these raviolis with a green salad using the beet greens as part of the salad greens. I use a mixed green combination so that the beet greens don't overwhelm the salad. Using only beet greens can make the salad bitter, but they blend really nicely with other lettuce greens.

 A note about soaking nuts:  I generally soak the nuts I use in order to release the enzyme inhibitors that make nuts hard to digest. There is conflicting information out there on whether cashews need soaking. Some sources say they don't need soaking because they don't contain enzyme inhibitors, . Some sources say the soaking is only to make them easier to blend.  I don't know the definitive answer to this because I find more sources say to soak them than to not soak them. I generally soak them for cheeses and pie fillings because I find they do blend more smoothly. If I use them in a crust I don't worry about the soaking. I say trust yourself and the difference you feel in eating them after they've been soaked or not. If you feel no difference, don't worry about it. If you feel a difference, then you'll know. Experiment for yourself and literally trust your gut.