Sarma's Chanterelle and Kalamata Olive Ravioli

Sometimes you can just look at a recipe, or read the name, and know you will love it:)

Chanterelle and Kalamata Olive Ravioli, Macadamia Cream, Herb Sauce, and Pistachio-Parsley Salad.
See what I mean!


Sarma Melngailis' latest book, Living Raw Food, features this lovely recipe. The ravioli was created by chef Amanda Cohen. The book jacket said it is the most beloved entrée at Pure Food and Wine, Sarma's famous restaurant. After making it, I know why:)

The pasta is made with young coconut meat, and a small amount of flaxseed, zucchini, shallot, and salt. It whips up quickly in the blender. My coconut had very thick, firm meat, so I needed a splash of water to blend. The creamy mixture was dehydrated for a few hours and created a surprisingly sturdy pasta. The directions say to dry for two hours before flipping, but mine needed about three. One hour after flipping, the pasta was done.

An hour or so after the dough had been drying, I chopped the mushrooms for the filling, and mixed them with a little oil and salt. These needed to dehydrate for about 2 hours. This was also the time I started to soak the macadamia and pistachio nuts needed later in the recipe.

The dried dough cut very nicely into squares. I used a serrated ravioli wheel to cut the dough, but it also worked well with a standard ravioli cutter if you happen to have one;) I find another great way to cut tender dough is with a pizza cutter. I wrapped my trusty metal ruler with cling film, and used it as a guide to cut along.



The next step was to make the Macadamia Cream, since you need the solids from making it in the filling. Soaked macadamia nuts are puréed with water, a little garlic, and nutritional yeast. The blended cream is then strained. I pushed it through a mesh strainer with the back of a large spoon, which worked well. The remaining solids are added to the filling.

The strained cream is placed back in the blender with a little soaked pistachio. I needed a bit more water to the final sauce to make it blend, and it was still a little thick, but I like it that way:)

The flavorful filling is made with the dehydrated mushrooms,the reserved solids from the cream, olives, shallot, nutritional yeast, oil, salt and lemon zest. I omitted the salt since the olives had enough salt for my taste:)

The last component needed for the ravioli is the Herb Sauce. This is an amazing blend of basil, parsley, tarragon, thyme, scallion, rosemary, lemon zest and juice, oil and salt. It is prepared quickly in the food processor.

I also whipped up a little Pistachio-Parsley Salad. This is a beautiful mix of parsley, lemon juice and zest, oils, nuts, salt and pepper. I chopped the pistachios in the food processor in the same bowl after the herb sauce was poured out, so they had an extra touch of flavor.

Time to assemble!
I used my tiny ice cream scoop to place a little of the filling onto half of the pasta squares. Top with another square and squish together a little. I laid them on the cutting board and brushed them with the herb sauce.

Place a little cream sauce on the plate, and arrange the ravioli around it.

I added a bit of the Pistachio-Parsley salad, and my signature "rosebud" garnish, made with lemon peel:)

Thank you to Amanda Cohen for this amazing recipe, and of course to Sarma for sharing it in her lovely book.