Alice stumbled upon a field of blue poppies whose opulent perfume enveloped her in a slow daze.
“This is nice,” she said, setting her picnic basket down and sitting on a soft bed of flowers. “Perhaps I’ll take a nap.”
The Cheshire Cat appeared before her, its tail slinking around her neck before the rest of it materialized, grin last. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” said the Cat. “First of all, if you fall asleep in a dream, you may never wake up. Secondly, you’re conflating stories. You’re not Dorothy, you know.”
Alice frowned. “Who are you to tell me whether or not I can nap? You’re just a silly disappearing cat.”
“Am I silly? I would dearly love to be considered so, it’s been my highest aspiration for many a year. Come now,” said the Cat, seeing Alice’s eyes droop. “Why don’t I show you to a more comfortable place? A secret spot only I know.”
Alice perked up. “Okay! I love secret spots. Is it a garden?”
“Sort of,” replied the Cat, shooting her his trademark grin. “Follow me.” He led Alice out of the field towards a black forest dotted with sun-speckled carpets of moss.
“Ooh you’re right,” said Alice. “This is much better for sleeping.”
She started to put her stuff down on one of the moss beds, but the Cheshire Cat raised a paw. “A-hem. Did I say we were there yet?”
Alice hopped up and followed the Cat deeper into the forest, until the sun had all but disappeared. It was dead quiet but not dark, their way lit by tiny phosphorescent rose buds which glowed like floating fireflies. The Cat reached up and held open a canopy of tree boughs with his tail. “In here,” he said, disappearing into the darkness.
Alice ducked into the hole and blinked a few times, her eyes adjusting to the soft glows emanating from undulating wide objects on the ground. “What are these?”
“Just wait.”
The air around them thickened with a soft red and white ambiance lit by a sea of crimson caps.
“Ooh! Toadstools!”
“None other.” The Cat plopped onto the center of a large one and curled up into a ball. “Soft. Doughy. Psychedelic. Can’t be beat.”
Alice stepped onto the nearest toadstool, which arched its back to accommodate her so she wouldn’t fall off. “You’re right, Mr. Cat. I can feel the goodness seeping into my skin.”
“Just don’t gnaw on them. Poisonous if consumed. Gotta stick to regular mushrooms for your ravioli and the like.”
“Right, I’ll remember that,” said Alice, a wide yawn distorting her words. In another few seconds she was fast asleep, dreaming of a white rabbit who chased her through a land of dancing red and blue toadstools into the arms of a voracious Beast (speaking of conflated fairy tales).
Update: Added my alternative dough recipe below which may work better for folks since it's less dependent on multiple alternative flour brands - recommend starting with that one.
- Ravioli Dough (original)
- 1 c tigernut flour
- 1 c cassava flour
- ½ c tapioca flour or arrowroot starch
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- 2 tb extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tb nutritional yeast (optional)
- ¼ - ½ tsp ground turmeric (optional, for color)
- ½ - ¾ c hot water (start with ½ and add more if needed to form dough ball)
- Tapioca flour/arrowroot starch for dusting
- Alternative dough recipe:
- 3 whole pieces boiled cassava (~2+ cup when blended + packed after cooking)
- 1 c Otto's cassava flour
- 2 tsp sea salt
- 2-3 tb olive oil
- 2 tb nutritional yeast (optional)
- ¼ - ½ tsp ground turmeric (optional, for color)
- Mushroom Filling
- 2 tb extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cups mushrooms (I used shittake, white button, and portobella)
- 1 onion
- 4-6 cloves garlic
- 1.5 tb apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice
- 2-3 tb coconut cream
- 2 tb nutritional yeast (optional)
- 1.5 tsp sea salt
- handful fresh parsley
- Sauce/Gravy
- 2 tb cassava flour
- 1 tb extra virgin olive oil
- ¾ c chicken or vegetable (V) stock
- 2 tb coconut cream
- ½ tsp sea salt
- Food process mushrooms with onion and garlic (or chop finely). Add to oil in medium hot pan and cook until mushrooms have browned.
- Add ACV/lemon juice, salt, nutritional yeast, and cook another 5 minutes.
- Add coconut cream and parsley and turn off heat.
- Make ravioli dough filling, combining all the dry ingredients and then mixing well with hot water until dough ball forms (dough should be knead-able, not sticky, with a good springy quality).
- [For alternative dough: blend/food process cooked cassava until smooth, then add in cassava flour and other ingredients. Workable dough ball should form. Continue as follows.]
- Roll out dough to 1mm thickness sheets on dusted surface. Spoon 1.5 tsp of filling onto evenly spaced out sections of dough. Cover with another sheet of pasta and carefully press together, squeezing out the air around the filling. Cut out raviolis using a ravioli cutter or a knife.
- Cook in boiling, salted water for ~3-5 minutes, or until raviolis float to the top.
- To make sauce, heat oil with flour in a saute pan to make a roux. When roux has browned slightly, add stock and whisk out lumps, continuing to whisk (~5 minutes) over medium heat until mixture has thickened. Add salt and finish with cream.
- Garnish ravioli with gravy and fresh parsley and revel in earthy flavors.
This recipe was featured in Phoenix Helix’s Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable. Check it out there!
These look so perfect! I love the color! Adding these to my list of things I have to cook. 🙂
Thanks Nicole! Gotta love turmeric for natural food coloring (also for staining all of my kitchenware 😉
Nutrition values?
Hi Kim – according to this site (https://www.verywell.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4129594), here’s the nutrition info. I’d take it with a grain of salt since it’s only a rough estimate.
Hi Julie,
When I saw your recipe I was very impressed. I tried yesterday but the dough was very thick and not so easy to handle. Impossible to make ravioli dough. I respect your recipe and proportions, so what could that be ?
Thanks,
angela
Hi Angela – thanks for your comment and for trying the recipe! What brands of flours are you using? If the dough is being finicky it may come down to that and possibly the water content (did you try adding more water?). It should be relatively easy to roll out/handle this dough compared to AIP tortilla dough etc.
Is an European brand. I live in Luxembourg.
But, I will try next time with your brand. I added indeed more water… but…
Probably flour brand is the problem..
I will let you know,
Thanks
Could I use this dough recipe to make regular pasta?
For sure! I’ll use it the next time I do another pasta dish, it’s pretty versatile.
These are AMAZING! I made them for my mom and I and I was amazed at how good they were. It takes a long time to prepare but it’s quite easy and I love baking and putting ingredients together so the time doesn’t bother me. Thank you so much!!! Also I added some spinach to the filling and mmmmm so good.
So glad it worked out for you! Spinach in the filling is a great idea 🙂
Which dough recipe did you try?
Hi Julie: You are my fav. Thank you so much for all you do.
?? – can these be frozen before cooking? Wonder how they would turn out?
Thanks again, you are the best!
Hi Louise! Yes they can, similar to regular ravioli…they’ll just take a bit longer to boil in that case. 🙂
Hi Julie,
I used the alternative dough recipe and my dough came out great. Unfortunately when I boiled them the dough turned back to a mashed potato texture. Wondering what I did wrong. Please help. The mushroom mixture was fantastic!
Thanks,
Erica
Hi, thanks for this recipe! Do you think the dough could be made a day ahead, cut into pasta, dried and refrigerated for next day’s use?
You can definitely make ahead and refrigerate, but I don’t know if I’d want to dry out the dough at all as it tends to dry out (and crack) if exposed to air too long. Might be better to keep it covered/wrap, or freeze for use.