Happy weekend, guys! I’m suffering from a little post-holiday blues – apparently that’s a thing. We came back from our mini break in Wales yesterday and I have found it hard to find the motivation to do things. I unpacked, put a wash on and then sank into my couch unable to get back up. Finally, after hours of procrastination, I forced myself to do some exercise and felt better. Of course I did. I knew I would but the gap between knowing and doing appears to be insurmountable sometimes, doesn’t it?
We stayed in a charming little cottage in the middle of nowhere for 3 nights. We were worried about the weather as the forecast was really miserable for the entire time but we lucked out and only got drenched on our first hike, which we downgraded to a long (4 hour long) walk along the canal due to rain. Luckily the next day things improved hugely and we even got some sunshine. We climbed out of the valley our rented cottage sits in onto beautiful moors and then back down through mossy forest. It was a stunning walk, lots of varied landscapes, herds of sheep staring at us intently at many turns and we even managed to get a few glimpses of wild ponies when up on the moor. We had our lunch and coffee from a thermos in the sun, surrounded by swathes of heather! We had a great time and we are already planning our next trip, thinking of the Lake District next. We self-catered almost entirely apart from one dinner, which was very disappointing and ridiculously expensive too. We’ve learned our lesson and plan to self-cater completely next time unless we find a good pizzeria nearby, as getting a no cheese pizza is the surest way not to be disappointed – as long as the dough is well made, you’ll end up enjoying your meal. Relying on a popular gastro pub that claims to have a vegan menu was naive – the chef clearly didn’t think that us vegans deserve even some salt and pepper. Insert weeping emoji here. Today’s recipe is perfectly timed as we are bang in the middle of beetroot season. My last year’s beetroot dish of beetroot risotto was inspired by Italy and it’s a very popular recipe of mine, so this year I also went for an Italian classic, beetroot ravioli or casunziei to be exact. Casunziei comes from a gorgeously picturesque area of Cortina d’Ampezzo in the Dolomites. They have a range of fillings, but the beetroot one is rather popular. Cooked beetroot is traditionally married up with ricotta, but I went a slightly different route and paired it up with roasted walnuts for an ultimate autumn treat. They are really quite easy to shape as you simply cut out circles of dough, fill them and fold them in half. A pasta machine is useful if you have one, but I don’t (thinking of getting one actually) so went with a classic rolling pin. Whichever you use remember that dough that you can see your hand through is something to aim for and don’t worry if you are not there yet – practice truly makes perfect, especially when it comes to making dumplings 🙂 Enjoy.
150 g / 1½ cups walnut pieces 450 g / 1 lb / 16 oz fresh beetroots, peeled 10 ml / 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil 30 ml / 2 tbsp quality balsamic vinegar** 3 garlic cloves 2 tbsp nutritional yeast salt and pepper ground nutmeg (I used about 1/8 tsp), adjust to taste 1-2 tbsp fine breadcrumbs (optional)
FOR SERVING
quality olive oil flavoured with garlic or fresh sage walnut crumb
If you want to make these without gluten, you can either use a good gluten-free flour mix that conatins starches and some xanthan gum as a binder or use this gluten-free pasta dough recipe.
