V.K.Rees Photography

I was perusing my copy of The BUST DIY Guide to Life (an awesome new book from BUST magazine) when I came across Easy-Breezy Ravioli under the section devoted to finger foods for parties. It’s pointed out that serving pasta at a party is close to impossible. It’s messy, gets stale fast, and certainly isin’t something you can eat with your fingers. The brilliant ladies at BUST came up with a way around this: ravioli served on a skewer with dipping sauces (sun-dried tomato tapenade, black-olive pesto, traditional basil pesto, etc.) on the side. I love this idea. After all, what isin’t better served on a stick? It was with this ravioli in mind that I came up with kabocha-sage tortellini.

I decided to go with tortellini instead of ravioli because I feel like mistakes are much more noticeable in homemade ravioli. There is a slim chance of me actually creating perfectly square-ish ravioli. Also the little piece of dough sticking up from the top of the tortellini acts as a perfect handle for dipping, thus making the skewers optional. Here is a good video on how to roll tortellini.

Ingredients

Fresh Pasta Dough

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina flour dash of salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• about 1/2 cup water)

Kabocha Stage Stuffing

• 1 cup soft, steamed kabocha (no need to peel it), mashed. Any pumpkin-like squash will work.
• 3 Sage leaves, diced
• 1/4 small onion, diced
• 2 tbs olive oil
• Salt & Pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/2 cup water (or veggie broth)
• 1 tbs agave nectar or maple syrup

Dipping sauce(s) of your choice (pestos, tomato sauce, tapenades, OSG’s cheezy sauce, etc.)

Directions

1. Make the pasta dough.
2. Split the dough into three parts. Roll the dough to look like a snake (think back to your playdough days as a kid) and then, using a rolling pin (I don’t actually own a rolling pin so I used a cup turned on its side) make the snake 2″ wide. Do this for all three sections of the dough. Let the dough sit for 10 minutes.
3. While the dough is sitting, make the kabocha-sage stuffing. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and oinon and cook until fragrant and translucent.
4. Add the squash, sage, water, and agave nectar to the pan and mix it  all up. Let it cook for 1 or 2. If the mixture seems too thick add water, 1 tablespoon at a time.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste. Be a little generous with the salt.
6. Cut the dough into roughly 2″ x 2″ squares. I had 42 squares in the end.
7. Using a teaspoon, put a dollop of the kabocha-sage stuffing in the center of the dough-square and fold up your tortellini. Do your best to imitate this amazing lady. Repeate until all of the tortellini are done. Store in the freezer until you are ready to eat.
8. Boil the tortellini until they float. Don’t over-boil them or they will fall apart.
9. Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan. Add the tortellini, 5 at a time, to the pan. Once the tortellini has turned golden, flip it over. This step is optional, but delicious.
10. Serve on a skewer stick (optional) next to a dipping sauce.

Of course you can skip the homemade part all together and use your favorite frozen tortellini instead.

Steaming is a super easy way to cook veggies. Roy and I find ourselves steaming some kind of vegetable almost every day. They can be seasoned with all sorts of deliciousness- salt, lemon juice, vinegar, olive oil, agave nectar, or a sauce. After photographing this I ate the entire thing within five minutes. If an emoticon for a pig existed (does one?) I would put it here right now. =)

Ingredients

• 1 medium cauliflower
• Salt and freshly-ground black pepper
• Red wine vinegar
• Olive Oil
• Garlic, one small clove, finely diced
• Parsley

Directions

1. Cut the core out of the cauliflower, separate the head into floretes, and cut the large florets into 2 pieces to make them the same size as the smaller ones.
2. Wash the cauliflower in cold water.
3. Steam the cauliflower until the stalks are tender to the touch with a fork (6-8 minutes once the water is boiling). You can use many different kinds of steaming contraptions- a basket, a rice cooker/steamer combo, or a bamboo steamer.
4. Remove the cauliflower from the steamer.
5. Sprinkle the cauliflower with salt, pepper, vinegar, and oil to taste. Stir in the parsley and garlic.
6. Serve warm or cold.

A vegan, s’mores kebab? Yes please. All you need are vegan marshmallows (I used Sweet & Sara but you could also use Dandies), tempered chocolate, and homemade graham crackers. Messy & tasty.

Ingredients

• Vegan Marshmallows
• 1/2 lb Semisweet Chocolate, tempered
• 2 1/2 Cups Graham Flour or Stoneground Flour or Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 Cup All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 Cup Earth Balance Margarine
• 1/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 Cup Agave Nectar (or a little more sugar mixed with water)
• 3/4 Cup Water

Directions

1. Follow Vegan Yum Yum’s steps to make graham crackers except you will want to cut them into 1.5″ x 1.5″ squares and put a fairly large hole in the center of them before baking. Remember the the hole will get smaller once the cracker is baked.
2. Put your marshmallows on a toothpick (make sure the toothpick goes all the way through) and stick them in the freezer.
3. Temper your chocolate.
4. Dip your marshmallows into the chocolate, shake off the excess, and stick it in the refrigerator to set.
5. Once your chocolate has set, alternate the marshmallows and graham crackers on a skewer stick. If your graham cracker hole is too small, use a sharp knife to make it a bit larger.
6. Keep in the fridge until you are ready to eat

Marshall liked these. =)