I recently showed you how to harvest Mesquite pods and grind them into flour. What I didn’t tell you is what to do with it once you’ve done all that work. There are all kinds of ways to incorporate Mesquite flour into the things you already make. Consider it a flavor and nutrition enhancer. One thing you can’t do is use it to completely replace flour in a recipe. Mesquite flour doesn’t perform like wheat flour at all. Depending on what you are making, you can replace 1/4-1/2 of the wheat flour with Mesquite. I bet, however, that in the near future more and more people are going to create more and more recipes tailored just for Mesquite flour. That is exciting, because it is a plentiful and delicious food that grows right in our own desert backyards!
Here is a recipe that is a complete experiment with using mesquite flour in an unusual way. I hope you try it.
Mesquite and sweet potato ravioli with brown-buttered kale
There are 3 parts to this recipe. The best order for making this is to make the filling first, then the pasta, and finally, to cook the brown buttered kale while the pasta is cooking. That’s how I did it and it worked out great. You can make the filling and the dough ahead of time too, and leave it in the refrigerator till ready to use.
Sweet Potato Filling
Ingredients
- 1 medium sweet potato (baked or boiled)
- 1 Tbls butter
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt or 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1 Tbls mesquite flour
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/4 cup whipping cream
Instructions
- Place still warm sweet potato in the food processor along with all the other ingredients.
- Process until a smooth purée forms.
Mesquite Pasta Dough
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 cup mesquite flour
- 2 large eggs
- 1/8 c olive oil
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Place the dry ingredients in the food processor and give it a whirl.
- Add the eggs and oil and process. If it is too dry, add water a little at a time and pulse until it comes together. (I think I should have added a bit more water, but I was worried it would be too wet. My chickens are still laying small eggs, so I they had been large it would have come together better.)
- Form the dough into a ball, cover and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- After the dough has rested, cut it in half or thirds and form it into a thin oval or rectangle.
- Run that through the pasta roller beginning at 1 and rolling it at ever-decreasing thickness until you reach 5 or 6.
- Place a teaspoon-sized dollop of filling (or more if you like) evenly spaced on half of the sheet of pasta dough.
- Cover with the other half of dough and press with your fingers around the filling so that it is sealed between the two sheets.
- Cut the Ravioli out using a knife or pizza cutter, or use a circle cutter to make round Raviolis.
At this point you can either cook the ravioli or freeze them. Don’t refrigerate because the filling causes the dough to become soggy.
To Cook Ravioli
- Boil gently for 3-5 minutes, remove with slotted spoon.
Brown-buttered Kale
Ingredients
- 1 bunch kale, ribs removed, chopped
- 2 Tbls butter
- 1-2 Tbls pine nuts (optional)
Instructions
- Heat butter in pan on medium until it begins to turn brown.
- Add kale and pine nuts, if using, stir, and remove from heat.
- Divide Kale among plates.
* Pour any remaining butter on Ravioli (or make more)
Enjoy!
By the way, I got that awesome pasta maker at Savers for $6.99 with my 30% off coupon!
