Paleo Ravioli
Ravioli are a delicious dinner and a household favorite for many people. Unfortunately, once diagnosed with multiple food allergies eating ravioli can be a rare ordeal due to the cost of buying some that you are able to eat or to the impossibility of finding some that you can have. Well, here you are!
This paleo recipe uses a cabbage roll instead of some sort of dough, which makes it much more cost effective and quite frankly easier to make.
I grew up in a pasta family where we ate pasta on a weekly basis in some form or another. It has been several years since I have eaten ravioli due to being unable to find some I can have. What I love about this recipe is you can alter the inside depending on what you can have and what you want.
A little bit about the recipe:
I sort of stumbled upon this recipe because my sweet husband decided to go on a diet to be healthier. In his diet he is cutting out most carbohydrates and, we usually eat a lot of rice as it is one of the few grains I can have. So, having cut out rice, I had to make something with some substance. Something hearty but also not extremely heavy. I spent a good long time searching Pinterest for a recipe and, this one ended up being a mix up of multiple recipes and a bit of invention.
My husband in particular will eat just about anything but, he always has an opinion on how recipes can be made better. He is an excellent cook so it is appreciated because it always helps me get better. Sometimes though, I just want to cook something that he will eat and like and make me feel like I just rocked it. His reaction to this recipe was “you did everything right”. SCORE one for me! I was pleased as punch and, he even told me if I wanted to add this to the regular repertoire that he would be rather happy with that. SCORE two for me! So, suffice it to say, this recipe is a winner in my book and, we will be enjoying it with many variations for a long time to come. I hope you will too!
RECIPE:
Boiling the cabbage options:
First decide if you wish to boil a whole cabbage and leave the rest for later or if you just want to peel off as many leaves as you want to use and put the rest away. The second option is what I did but it takes a bit more delicacy because you don’t want to break the leaves. The way I did this was to cut the very bottom stem off from the head then get a spoon and wedge it under the leaf and slowly pull the leaf off.
Boil a few leaves at a time in boiling water and they will be done when they have darkened a bit and are flimsy. This is about three to four minutes on a rolling boil. Or boil the whole head of cabbage by cutting out the middle and putting the head of cabbage into the boiling water. Turn the heat down to a simmer and pull the leaves off as they are cooked through.
Then blend the cauliflower and zucchini in a blender until they are in small chunks or finely ground.
Chop up the onion and add it to the cauliflower and zucchini. Sauté the onion and cauliflower/zucchini mixture on the stovetop on medium heat with the oil. This usually about 4 minutes. When the onion has turned translucent and the mixture has been somewhat cooked, add in to the meat.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Mix the meat and onion mixture together until it is all mixed. (Note: You may want to let this cool before mixing with your hands as it will be a bit hot.)
Put half the sauce on the bottom of the pan and spread around to cover the bottom of the pan.
Next, hold a cabbage leaf in your hand with the facing you. Spoon a little more than a tablespoon onto the stem. Roll the stem to where the meat is completely covered then fold in the sides. Continue rolling until you have no loose ends and what will look like a little cabbage pod. Repeat this until you have made as many as you want. The good thing is that this recipe is easy to make bigger or smaller according to the number of people you want to feed.
Once they are all placed next to each other pore the rest of the sauce on top and spread it around to cover the cabbage rolls as best as you can.
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes. These may not be done but you will be able to tell because the outside on top will get slightly crispy or dark. You can also cut one open to see if the meat is cooked all the way through.
Once these are done, take them out individually and serve right away. These reheat really well also. Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS:
-1 cabbage (or the # of leaves you want to use)
-1 lb. of beef or venison
-2-4 tbsp. of oil (olive, peanut, or coconut)
-1 small onion (I used yellow but yellow or white works)
-1/2 cup of cauliflower
-1 cup of zucchini
(You can use more zucchini and cauliflower to stretch the wraps further or you can change the amounts of the two as long as you use a decent amount or the meat won’t go as far.)
-1 tsp of salt
-1 tsp of pepper
-2 cups of tomato sauce
INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F
Boil the cabbage (see above to decide which way you want to do this)
Blend cauliflower and zucchini together in a blender
Chop up the onion and add it to the above mixture
Sauté the mixture until the onion turn translucent (about 4 minutes)
Add the sautéed mixture to the meat and mix it by hand after it cools for a few minutes
Add in the spices to the meat mixture
Put half of the sauce on the bottom of the pan and spread around to cover the bottom
Take a cabbage leaf and place the stem towards you, take just over a tbsp. of the meat mixture and spoon it on to the stem
Roll the stem up with the meat in it until the meat is covered then fold in the sides, once the sides are folded continue rolling until it is all the way wrapped up
Repeat steps 8 and 9 until all the leaves are used
Place the pan in the oven and bake for 35- 45 minutes (the tops will start to darken when it is done and you can cut one open to double check the meat)
Enjoy!