This has got to be one of the most attractive looking dishes I’ve ever made.
The fresh pasta here is coloured with beetroot and it very subtly flavours the dish as well. When you colour your dough with vegetables you won’t have a final product that tastes strongly like the said vegetable. What you can do is to incorporate the vegetable in the filling if you want it to have a stronger presence.
I’ve been thinking about colouring my pasta with beets for a while now, there are many examples on the internet. One day I came accross a photo on social media posted by a Canadian chef and I could wait no longer. The colour of the pasta was so beautiful I had to find the recipe but he hadn’t shared one. Most recipes out there would result in a pasta with a very pale almost orangey colour and I wasn’t confident enough to try it myself. Finally this recipe by Martha Stewart convinced me both with it’s measurements and the colour of the final product. Needless to say that it was very successful, I ended up with a beautiful dough which was very easy to work with. I felt that it needed some more flour but other than that it’s a keeper:):)
The method of cooking your beets will effect the colour of the pasta. The less colour it looses while cooking means a darker, deeper colour your pasta will have. So the best way is to roast them wrapped in foil. This is the way I always cook them no matter how I consume my beets.
I didn’t follow the rest of the recipe for the filling and made a simple mix of cheeses that I had on hand which were ricotta, goats cheese, parmesan and a little cream cheese to mellow it all. I added some very finely chopped parsley as well. I couldn’t give a recipe for the filling as I mixed a little bit of this and a little bit of that until I was happy with how it tasted but the bigger percentage was the ricotta which was more than half of the whole mixture. I’m planning on remaking this dish soon and I will work on a recipe for the filling. Have a look at Spinach & Ricotta Ravioli recipe for a delicious filling idea.
I served it with just a simple beurre noisette, flavoured with fresh sage and some crushed walnuts.
- ½ cup beet puree (about 2 medium)
- 2 large eggs + 1 large egg yolk
- 3 cups all purpose flour + more for dusting
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Salt
- Preheat oven to 190 C (375 F) Wash beets well with a vegetable brush,season with a pinch of salt and a drizzle of olive oil. Wrap tightly with foil or parchment and roast for about 45 mins. to 1 hour, until tender. When cool enough to handle rub the skin off and puree in a food processor.
- Mix eggs and the yolk with ½ cup beet puree and until well combined. Add the flour and a tea spoon of salt and mix.
- Transfer dough to a floured surface and knead for about 10 mins. until smooth and elastic. Wrap tightly in cling film and rest for an hour.
- Cut the dough into 6 or 8 equal pieces. As we work with one piece of dough at a time, you need to keep the rest of the pieces well covered. Flatten your piece of dough in your hand and dust lightly with flour. Start feeding it through the widest setting of your pasta machine (I use Kitchenaid pasta attachment) Folding and rotating, repeat for a few times on the same setting to smooth your dough.
- Change your setting to the narrower one and continue passing through twice on each setting, dust lightly if it's sticking to the pasta roller. When you reach the desired thickness (5 on Kitchenaid) place it on a lightly floured surface.
- If you are making ravioli as I did here you can cut the rolled pasta into desired shapes and sizes (don't hesitate to use a cookie cutter here) If you prefer to make tagliatelle place rolled pasta on a drying rack for 10 to 15 mins before cutting them with your pasta machine or by hand. You will need to dry tagliatelle for a further 20 mins. so that they don't stick together.
Slightly adapted from Martha Stewart