Beetroot and Beet Green Ravioli

Although our farmshare deliveries have been finished for a month now, we just recently enjoyed the last of the beets. The greens on our beets were already wilting a bit and I wanted to preserve what was left of them before they went to waste... but having a new baby in the house made it difficult to embark on a huge ravioli making project. So the beets and greens were prepared first and they waited patiently in our fridge until I recently had time to roll out pasta sheets and form the raviolis.

If you've never eaten beet greens, definitely give them a try the next time you're fortunate enough to get beets with the leaves still attached. This is the beauty of participating in a CSA - when you receive produce you get the whole plant, so nothing needs to go to waste and you may get to try something new. Beet greens remind me of spinach but with a slight beet-y sweetness. I usually cut off the bulk of the stalks and use only the leaves. The stalks tend to be a little fibrous and also contain a lot of that beet-red dye, which kinda takes away from the loveliness of eating green-coloured veggies.

Ravioli filling is pretty forgiving. You can, more or less, make it any way you like since the pasta holds it altogether. My ravioli contained some beet greens sautéed with some garlic...

... And since I didn't have a whole lot of greens, I also roasted and grated the beetroot for the filling as well. This was nice since it made for a slightly sweet ravioli, similar to butternut squash ravioli.

Of course, the filling also needed ricotta and some eggs to bind it together before getting scooped onto some fresh pasta sheets.

I usually leave a little over a finger's width between the ravioli. Usually, with freshly rolled pasta sheets I just use some water to stick them together, but because I wanted to freeze most of this batch, I brushed my sheet with some beaten egg before placing the second sheet on top to make sure everything remained stuck together through the freezing and later cooking.

It's okay if you get some wrinkles and folds in your ravioli... they get wrinkly when you cook them anyway! The important thing is to seal each pocket of filling with as little extra air space as possible. The air pockets are what cause the most wrinkles and folds after you've boiled them.

I use a pizza wheel to cut my ravioli. We have a laminate countertop and I have yet to cause any damage doing this (for those of you who are wary of cutting directly on your counter, you can always form your ravioli on a cutting board).

After boiling, I fried the ravioli briefly in some brown butter for the kids.

And topped them with some shaved parmesan. Simple and tasty.

Hubby and I ate them with parmesan but sans beurre noisette. The kids were less than impressed, which I was prepared for since they are not the biggest beet fans. Hubby enjoyed them though, which was gratifying since I know that beets are not high on his list of favourite foods. My dad and I thought they were great.

I think these ravioli would also be yummy tossed with some parmesan and cream. Especially if you saved the beet stalks and boiled them in the cream a bit to infuse the cream with that super lovely beet-red colour!

~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~^*^~

Beetroot and Beet Green Ravioli Yield: about 4 dozen medium-sized ravioli

For the pasta:

2 cups flour

3 eggs

For the filling:

1-1/2 lbs beets and their greens

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 lb ricotta

2 eggs, beaten

salt and pepper, to taste

For the pasta:

1. Mound the flour on a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre.
2. Crack the eggs into the well and beat them well with a fork.
3. Gradually incorporate the flour into the beaten egg by stirring in the inner walls of your well. Try not to cause any breaks in your walls, since this will result in egg running all over the place. 
4. Once most of the flour is incorporated and the egg is no longer runny, use a bench scraper or your hands to work in the rest of the flour. Your dough may seem stiff or dry. Don't worry. Cover it with a damp cloth and let it rest at room temperature for a half hour to an hour. It'll be perfect.

For the filling:

1. While the pasta is resting, prepare the beets. 
2. Preheat the oven to 375F.
3. Cut off and reserve beet greens.
4. Drizzle the beet roots with oil and wrap in foil. Roast until tender, depending on the size and age of your beets this could be anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour. 
5. While beets are roasting, trim beet greens and coarsely chop.
6. Saute greens over medium heat with garlic, season with salt as desired.
7. Once greens are wilted, transfer to a cutting board and give them a final mince. Let cool.
8. Check on the beet roots and once they are done, let them cool slightly, then peel and grate into a bowl.

To assemble:

1. Place beet greens into bowl with the grated beet root. Crumble the ricotta cheese into the bowl. Season with salt and pepper if needed. Mix and bind together with beaten egg. Set aside.
2. Separate the pasta dough into egg-sized portions and roll out to your desired thinness. I like the second thinnest setting on my Kitchenaid attachment. Sprinkle the pasta sheets with some flour to keep them from getting too sticky. Cover them with a slightly damp towel if you get interrupted and they start drying out.
3. Lay one pasta sheet onto your work surface. Place scant tablespoons of filling onto the pasta sheet, leaving about a half inch between ravioli. (I had a quarter cup of leftover ravioli filling which I put into the middle of an omelet).
4. Brush the edges with water or beaten egg and place a second sheet of pasta on top. Press down all the edges to seal, making sure to squeeze out as many air bubbles as possible. Practice makes perfect :)
5. The fun part: cut the ravioli using a knife, pizza wheel, or fluted rotary cutter (fancy schmancy!).

Now you can freeze or cook them. To cook them, throw them into boiling salted water and cook until they float to the top.

To freeze them, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until firm, then transfer them to a zip top bag. To cook from frozen, put them into boiling salted water until they float to the top, pour in about a cupful of cold water and wait until the water comes to a boil again. (Just to ensure that they are fully defrosted and cooked through).