Tratoria Dinner

It was a busy day in the kitchen today here at Intrepidly Raw headquarters. I prepared a batch of raw onion bread, which I'll write more about tomorrow or the next day. I put a fresh batch of kale chips into the dehydrator (those should be ready momentarily). And, I made a fantastic raw manicotti for dinner that is inspired from my new favorite (favourite) blogger from across the pond, Anthony Heaven. It was an Italian tratoria dinner of a fresh salad and warm manicotti. Too bad I didn't have a laminated red checkered tablecloth.

This meal was actually quite simple - I only had to make 2 things: a nut based ricotta, and a raw marinara sauce.
Ricotta:
1 garlic clove
1 cup pine nuts (soaked)
1 cup walnuts (soaked)
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/3 cup sweet white miso
1 lemon (juiced)
1/4 cup chopped parsley
Give garlic a few pulses in the food processor. Next add all remaining ingredients and blend until smooth. Thin out with water, if desired.

Marinara:
3 large tomatoes diced (roughly 2 cups)
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup basil leaves
2 pitted dates
1.5 tsp dried oregano
1/2 lemon (juiced)
1.25 tsp sea salt
4 sundried tomatoes (dry)
Blend all ingredients in a blender until smooth.

Next, I sliced 2 zucchini lengthwise on a mandoline (try not to use the seedy and very wet core). I then scooped a little dollop of ricotta onto each strip and rolled it up.

I then spooned some marinara sauce into the bottoms of 2 individual gratin dishes and placed each mini-manicotti seam-side down into the sauce. When the bottom of the dish was filled with little manicotti, I spooned some sauce over the top and stuck them into the dehydrator to warm for an hour.

As a side, I prepared what we fondly refer to in this house as a "Refrigerator Salad." Essentially, this means that the contents of our fridge get chopped up and put into a salad bowl with a simple dressing. Today I had delicious watermellon radishes that I got at the farmer's market last week and still haven't used. If you live in NYC I implore you to seek out these beautiful specimens. White on the outside, a deep watermellon pink on the inside with a green ring around the outer layer, almost like a watermellon skin.

I diced this up and tossed it with some mesclun mix, a red pepper, some sprouts, chopped pistachios, and hemp seeds. I made a simple dressing out of balsamic, honey, and macadamia nut oil.
The best part about the entire dining experience was that I didn't feel groggy or need a nap afterword.