September 7, 2020

Zucchini Ravioli

Name: Zucchini Ravioli
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 2 medium zucchini; 1 c. reduced fat ricotta cheese; 1/2 c. reduced fat shredded mozzarella cheese, plus more to sprinkle on top; 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese; 1 large egg; 1 t. chopped garlic; 1/2 t. salt; 1/4 t. black pepper; 1 T. chopped fresh basil; I jar of your favorite pasta sauce

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Mmmmmm…..can we talk about my love of all things Italian food? I am pretty sure I have never met an Italian food that I didn’t love. I could live on pasta alone, in fact when I was pregnant with my daughter, I pretty much did live on pasta.

But I have found that gluten is a major source of migraines for me. So I have been experimenting with different gluten free substitutes. One of my favorites is zucchini. So I am excited to be able to share with you a healthy and clean version of Zucchini Ravioli. It is not as easy as a bag of ravioli from the frozen section of your grocery store but it is worth the extra effort. And I don’t even think you will notice that we have substituted the zucchini for the pasta!

First let’s gather all our ingredients: 2 medium zucchini, 1 c. low fat ricotta cheese, 1/2 c. low fat shredded mozzarella cheese (plus more to sprinkle on top), 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, 1 large egg, 1 tsp. chopped garlic, 1/2 t. salt, 1/4 t. black pepper, 1 T. chopped fresh basil leaves, 1 jar of your favorite clean pasta sauce. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.

On to prep the zucchini. I always make sure to give my zucchini a nice cleanse with a vegetable brush. Cut off the top and bottom of the zucchini. Next slice the zucchini into thin strips. The trick here is to get the right thickness, and it is kind of trial and error. The slices need to be on the thinner side, thin enough to be bendy but not so thin that they fall apart. This can be done with a mandoline or a vegetable peeler with a long blade.

My mandoline slicer is a bit old and there are some features I wish it had. (As an amazon associate, I earn from purchases made.) This mandoline slicer is on my wish-list as a replacement. When you are looking for a mandolin I think the most important thing to look for is one that slices straight down without a lip at the bottom. If there is a lip it is going to be harder to slice long vegetables like zucchini and eggplant.

Now we are now ready to make the mixture. Combine the ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, egg, garlic, salt, pepper and basil in a bowl. Mix all the ingredients well. Spray a 9″x 13″ casserole dish with cooking spray and place a thin layer of sauce on the bottom.

Making the ravioli can be a little tricky. Lay 2 slices of zucchini vertically slightly overlapping. Then lay 2 additional slices of zucchini horizontally crossing over the middle of the vertical zucchini. You should have what looks like a plus sign. Place 2 T. of the filling in the middle of the zucchini, where the 4 pieces meet. Then fold the horizontal pieces toward the middle followed by the vertical pieces.

You now have a perfect little zucchini ravioli. Place in a casserole dish then repeat for remaining zucchini slices. I got about 12 ravioli out of my slices and mixture. Sprinkle a little of the extra shredded mozzarella on top. Cover the casserole dish and place in oven to bake for about 30 minutes.

When they are done baking you will have a dish that looks a little something like this! I promise these zucchini ravioli won’t last for long. And if they do, they freeze well to be heated up another time.

If you are like my family and need to have meat with every dinner, my Sunday Sauce Meatballs make a great accompaniment. I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do.

XO,