Gluten-Free Ravioli!

Gluten-Free Ravioli

Yesterday, I woke up and went out for my run. While I was running around the Swiss countryside . . . well ok I ran along the roads, but there are so many random farm land plots spaced between apartment buildings it is hard to tell the difference sometimes. On my run I decided I wanted to try a pasta recipe I had found online, because it used amaranth flour.

I set off to make the pasta dough . . . I was so excited!

The last time I made ravioli was when I was 10?? . . . I hadn’t had time to attempt it since, and after going gluten free the promise of creating elastic dough just seemed like a far-fetched dream.

I gathered my ingredients and was ready to go.

I know you’re supposed to follow the recipe, but I didn’t have tapioca starch, so I used guar gum instead. So, the whole task became a bit of a scientific invention. Being a “chemist” in the kitchen always gets me going! I love experimenting with these recipes. Everything is a new challenge! Ahh!

So here it is:

Ravioli Dough:

1 cup – Amaranth Flour

½ cup – Potato/Corn Flour mix

3 tbsp. – Guar Gum

1 – Egg

1 tbsp. – Olive Oil (honestly any oil)

3 tbsp. – Warm Water

The water amount will vary; it just depends on the flours you’re using and the size of the egg.

1. Mix together the dry ingredients first, and then add the egg, and olive oil. Begin mixing the batter with your fingers, slowly adding water as needed.

2. Once the dough is done, wrap it in clear foil and place it in the fridge for about an hour to proof.

3. It will become a bit darker, and at this point remove it from the fridge and begin rolling it out. Place some more amaranth flour on the surface, so that the dough doesn’t stick.

4. To make the ravioli cut equal piece squares. Placing the filling in the center of one square, cover this square with another and seal the edges using the end of a fork. (Fillings may vary to liking)

I decided to make a zucchini/potato goat cheese filling. I also added a little bit of cooked nectarines to the filling to give it some sweetness and acid. Honestly, it sounds strange, but it worked really well.

Then I made an olive oil, lemon/lime emulsion as a sauce for the ravioli.

Ravioli Filling:

1 Zucchini

2 boiled potatoes (small, think swiss tiny sizes…)

100g of soft goat cheese

½ a nectarine

Filling: When making this filling I first boiled the potatoes. Then I cooked the zucchini and nectarines together. Finally, I added everything to a bowl and mixed it together.

Season as needed . . . Personally, I like to salt the water and pepper the filling. That way it doesn’t get too salty.

Lemon/Lime emulsion:

½ a lemon

1 ½ lime

a bit of lemon zest

1 tbsp olive oil

For the sauce: I just placed the cooked ravioli into a pan with this mixture as soon as they rose to the surface of the pot.

(Ravioli are done when they float to the surface of the boiling water)

The excess salt water from the ravioli as you take them from the pot is what helps everything emulsify.

I then grated some asiago cheese to top everything off . . . and voila! . . . Dinner was served.

I must say it was delicious, but I think that the dough needed a real pasta maker to roll it out thin enough. I couldn’t get it as thin as I liked, because it kept sticking to the counter when I tried to roll it out further than 2-3mm.

I hope to try this one again soon. Hopefully I’ll figure out how to roll it out thinner next time.

Also, a big thank you to my cousin Derek who has informed me, that the correct way to add ellipses is by writing ‘space’ ‘dot’ ‘space’ ‘dot’ ‘space’ ‘dot’, instead of the autocorrected version used in word! Who knew!! I didn’t . . .