This is the first fancy or truly involved raw meal I’ve ever made, and I was both excited to try it and nervous about how it would be received by my open to experimentation yet rather skeptical husband. The recipe is a little bit modified from its parent at Addicted to Veggies, which happens to be a blog I really enjoy reading and can highly recommend.
Zucchini Rollatini
Ingredients:
For Seed “Parmigiana”:
2 cup pumpkin seeds
2 Tbsp dried onion flakes
4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tsp basil
2 tsp parsley
For Sauce #1: Mustard Baster:
2 Tbsp mustard
2 Tbsp chipotle sauce [can substitute ground or chopped chipotle, to taste but if so add a 1.5 Tbsp water or oil]
1 Tbsp pureed dates
2 Tbsp water
For Sauce #2: Sweet Marinara:
1 apple
4 sun dried tomatoes
1 small bell pepper, red
1 Tbsp vinegar [preferably apple cider]
to taste: onion, Italian seasonings
2 large zucchini
Bunch greens: [spinach, kale, chard, etc.]
1/3 cup Walnuts, chopped [roughly 1/2 inch pieces]
First, I made the mixture and sauces, as they will be needed soon and thus will also have time for all the flavours to intensify.
As I was making them all in my Vita-mix high powered blender, I began with the nut mix. Added all of the ingredients to the blender and pulse for 1 second about 5 or 7 times, until the result is chunky, with the seeds chopped roughly, and well mixed. Set it aside spread out on a large platter.
Then I made the mustard basting sauce–same thing, add all ingredients to blender, and blend, this time until smooth. Pour into shallow bowl or platter, wide enough to fit zucchini.
Finally I blended the sweet marinara sauce. Same deal, but this time put it in a container with a pour spout, if you have one. If not, anything will do.
Now take your greens and roughly rip them into a bit larger than bite sized pieces. Give them a real hard time, massage them, and use a lot of force as you handle them to break down some of the cell walls. Then add the walnuts, 4 Tbsp of the pumpkin seed mixture, 3 Tbsp of the sweet marinara sauce, and 2 Tbsp of the mustard basting sauce. Use your hands to really massage it all in, again using what seems like excessive force. Then set the bowl aside to let the greens marinate and rest.
Take your zucchini and slice them very thinly longways. If you have a mandoline, it can be quite helpful here. Unless you, like me, slip up and cut your thumb’s pad quite deeply. Then you swear a lot, go wash it, bandage it tightly, and ask your husband to please stop working and help you finish dinner, as you have clumsily injured yourself [sigh, I swear that never used to happen until this last year or two!].
So, Mark took over from this point, as blood soaked zucchini does not sound appealing. Happily, all the parts he might have had trouble with are done, and, being an Italian who likes to cook, he is very well acquainted with the actions of ‘breading’ thin slices of vegetables.
In case you are not, it’s really quite simple: You dredge the zucchini slice by slice through the mustard basting sauce and then through the seed mixture. My technique usually involves flipping the zucchini over with a fork, but Mark generally uses the fork to scoop and spread the mixture over the wet vegetable. Whatever works for you is fine, the point is to get a good rhythm going, cause it takes a while finish each piece individually.
Once they are all “breaded” you may begin to assemble the rollatini. Place a few of them on the serving plate, edges overlapping so they stick together. Press down on these edges, to try to aid them in their sticking task.
Then place some of the greens on the bottom, and carefully roll it up, starting from the bottom, as you would if you were making sushi maki [rolls]. This takes a gentle hand, as some of the zucchini may not wish to stay stuck together.
After, if the recipient of the plate wishes, top it off with the sweet marinara sauce.
Our verdict: The dish was overall quite tasty–if messy for us to eat. This may just be inexperience [and thumblessness on my part].
The spicy mustard was delicious, and melded well with the zucchini and pumpkin seed mixture. I found the red sauce too sweet and really bland–I thought it smothered and diluted the flavours I enjoyed in the rest of it. On my second roll I did not add any of it, and enjoyed that one quite a bit more. I think in the future I am going to try that marinara sauce with either no apple or half an apple, and no bell pepper or half a small bell pepper–and a lot more herbs and pepper. I wonder how it would react to some citrus zest…
Mark spent some time making fun [he seems, for some reason, to really be concerned with the names of dishes, and took umbrage at the "parmigiana" appellation. He suggests rollatini, which is what I am using], but he liked the flavour and texture. He said that based upon my earlier brief description, he had expected something fairly awful, and thus was pleasantly surprised.
He liked the components, but agreed with me that the red sauce was a bit lackluster, and asked for less of it on his second roll.
He was concerned there were not enough calories present, but I was able to set his mind at ease–I do note, however, that most of the calories seem to come from the seeds and nuts. It does make me a bit confused on some of my raw meals in the past, that did not contain much beyond vegetables.
As Mark was a mostly good sport regarding this night’s raw feast, and as he has asked very nicely, tomorrow’s dinner will be one of his winter favorites: baked potato soup.