I’ve put together this homemade ravioli that I like to make in batches so I can thaw what I need for dinner the night before a long run.

Instead of cheese, the filling is made with sweet potatoes and walnuts for carbs and omega-3’s.

The sauce is made from cauliflower puree, sage and caramelized onion. You can also sprinkle the finished product with parmesan if you’d like.

If this will be a meal before a run, you want to limit the amount of fat to avoid stomach upset. Some fat is good though and should be included in your meals. I know…vague…but for some things you do have to experiment and see what works for you.

For a general guideline on how much of each macro-nutrient you should be eating in a day see my post on Cronometer (also the YouTube video) and my review of the book Finish Line Fueling by Jackie Dikos.

The dough is homemade but really easy to put together. If you don’t have a pasta machine or ravioli press, you can still make your own ravioli!

Ingredients to make 36 Ravioli:

Filling:

2 lbs. sweet potatoes (peeled and chopped)

1/4 c. chopped walnuts (plus more for garnish)

1 t. cinnamon

Pasta (recipe doubled from How to Cook Everythingby Mark Bittman):

4 c. flour (I used semolina)- use 4 c. if mixing by food processor or 3 c. if making dough by hand (you can add more if need be during mixing)

2 tsp. salt

4 eggs

6 egg yolks

Sauce:

2 lbs. cauliflower (diced)

2 tsp. salt

5 leaves fresh sage

3 large onions (peeled/halved and sliced)

ground pepper

Directions:

Caramelize the onions by putting them in a hot pan and sprinkling them with salt. These are going to take a long time. Never believe a recipe that tells you caramelizing onions takes 10 minutes…or even half an hour!

Keep the heat low, and sweat the onions so they release liquid. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of sugar or monk fruit sweetener (which has zero calories). I will also add some water occasionally if the onions get very dry but aren’t dark yet. You do not want them to fry, but you can add olive oil as well.

These will take AT LEAST an hour. You want them dark (but not burned) and sweet like jam.

Boil sweet potatoes until fork tender and drain. Mash the potatoes and add walnuts and cinnamon. Put the mixture in an airtight container (I like to put it in a ziplock bag, push the air out and store in the fridge).

Use 2 qts. of water to boil the cauliflower for about 15 minutes or until very soft. NOTE: You are going to save the water to use as part of the sauce so don’t pour it down the drain!! I use one of these contraptions I had in China to wash my rice when I need to save the “drainings” (not a word) of something. I have poured juices, pasta water, etc. down the drain SO MANY TIMES when I didn’t use one of these!

Save any veggie water for later, in case you need to thin the sauce during the final heating.

Let the cauliflower cool while you make the pasta dough.

To make the dough in a food processor: Pulse the salt and flour and add eggs and yolks. Process until a ball forms. You can add water if the dough is dry, or a tablespoon of flour if it is sticky.

To make by hand: Combine the salt and flour and dump it onto the counter. Make a well in the center and put the eggs and yolks in the middle. I didn’t make the well deep enough, so some of the egg white spilled over the side. Make sure the well is deep.

I used my hands, but you can use a fork to start mixing up the flour around the edges with the eggs. Incorporate all the flour and eggs together and knead the dough.

I did not need to have any flour dusting the counter, the dough was very stiff and lifted easily.

The dough should rest for at least 30 minutes.

To make the sauce: throw the cauliflower, half the caramelized onions, sage, salt and 2 Tablespoons of the leftover cooking liquid into a blender. Blend until smooth and add ground pepper to your taste. Save the rest of the onions for plating.

When the dough is rested, divide it into smaller chunks. I made half the recipe the other day, and divided the dough into 8 chunks…so they are small.

I can’t find my pasta roller, so I just rolled the chunks out with a rolling pin and the dough is so easy to work with they rolled right out.

When you have flattened the chunk out as much as possible, take a spoonful of filling and lay it on the dough. Make sure you leave room for crimping the filling between 2 sheets of dough.

I have a ravioli stamp, so I made impressions on the dough with the stamp and used these circles as the guide for where the filling should go.

Roll out another piece of dough, and fit it onto the dough with the filling. If you don’t have a ravioli stamp or press, you can do the same thing, just use a pizza cutter to divide the ravioli’s. Be sure to give them an extra push with your fingers along the edges so they don’t open up in the boiling water.

You can either cook them up now, or leave them to dry a bit.

If you leave them to dry, lay them out individually (I use wax paper), otherwise they can stick to each other which causes them to tear and the filling to come out.

When you are ready to cook:

Bring a deep pot of water to a boil and drop the ravioli in. I do 6 at a time for more control and to allow them to move around freely.

I cook them for about 6 minutes and lift them out with a straining spoon.

While the ravioli is boiling, heat up the sauce. You can add more of the cooking water if you would like it thinner.

To plate: put cooked ravioli on a plate and spoon the sauce over it. Add some onion and a sprinkle of walnuts.

Additions: parmesan cheese, burrata cheese, bacon