Vegan walnut and feta tortellini
Homemade filled pasta is such a treat. Here we’ve used wonton wrappers as the pasta dough, and stuffed them with a delicious combination of walnuts, feta and roast capsicum.
Ingredients:
2 red, yellow or orange capsicums
½ cup walnut halves (50g) (keep a little aside to sprinkle on top)
100g Angel Food feta
Salt and pepper
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
Approx. 20 wonton wrappers (see notes below)
Olive oil and fresh green herbs to garnish, e.g. chives, spring onion, basil or parsley
Instructions:
1. Cut the capsicums in half lengthwise and remove the stalk, seeds and white membrane. Put them in a microwave safe dish with a lid (or cover with clingfilm, pierced with a knife to let some of the steam out). Cook in the microwave on high power for about 10 minutes until the flesh is quite soft and the skin has started to loosen. (You could also roast the capsicum in the oven if you prefer: in this case, put them in the oven whole, and remove stalk, seeds and membrane after cooking.)
2. Drain off the liquid from the capsicum: save it to add to a soup, stew or salad dressing. Slip off the capsicum peel (a little bit remaining is fine) and cut the capsicum flesh into small dice.
3. Toast the walnuts in a dry pan on the stove or in the microwave, then chop them to coarse crumb size.
4. Chop the feta into coarse crumb size. Combine feta, walnuts, capsicum and balsamic vinegar. Season generously with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary. The filling flavour should be quite intense when you taste it by itself, because it will be ‘diluted’ by the pasta wrapper.
5. Put half a dozen wonton wrappers on a board, and have a small dish of water handy. Put a heaped teaspoon (approx. 15g) of filling in the centre of each wrapper. Use a (clean!) finger to spread water all around the outside edge of one wonton wrapper, then carefully fold it in half to make a half circle and seal the edges together by pressing very firmly. Start in the centre of the semicircular edge and work your way outwards, trying to avoid folds in the pasty (which will make it more difficult to seal). Moisten the two points at either end of the semicircle and fold them over each other (with a finger between the points and the main body of the tortellini, so you have something to press firmly against). Repeat with all the wonton wrappers until you’ve used up all your filling. Sealing the parcels well is crucial, otherwise they will burst when you boil them!
6. To cook the tortellini, bring a large pot of salted water to a rolling boil. Cook them for about three minutes. Don’t try to cook too many at once: you don’t want them sticking together.
7. Serve hot, tossed in olive oil and lavishly sprinkled with fresh herbs, or on a bed of smooth marinara sauce (we blended some of the extra marinara sauce from our lasagna) or in a vegetable stock.
Notes:
Some brands of wonton wrappers contain egg, so check the label carefully.
You can make extra tortellini and freeze them: they’ll take about 10 minutes to cook straight from frozen. To stop them sticking together in the freezer, freeze them individually on a baking sheet or similar lined with baking paper or clingfilm, and transfer them to a sealed bag or container once frozen.
