Ray stumbled upon this recipe while perusing through Serious Eats. We have a newfound love for all things beets so this recipe sounded super yummy. We had only attempted ravioli on one other occasion using Mario Batali's Mint Love Letters recipe with Thomas Keller's pasta dough recipe. Since that pasta-making episode was a bust (I still don't understand how peas and mint make for a good combo), we decided to try this new pasta dough as well.
Casunsiei - Beet and Ricotta Ravioli
adapted from Kumiko Mitarai via Al Di La Trattoria
Beet and Ricotta Filling
2 large beets
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 container cup thick whole milk ricotta
1/4 stick melted butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
Roast beets at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until soft. Peel. Process beets until finely chopped but not pureed. Stir in eggs, ricotta, and 1/4 cup of the melted butter. Season with salt and pepper.
Pasta Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
5 egg yolks and 1 whole egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon olive oil
In a bowl, create a well in the middle of the flour. Add the other ingredients into the well. Using your fingers, blend the wet ingredients and incorporate the flour by gradually working in the sides of the well.
When the dough comes together to form a solid mass, knead it for a few minutes on a well-floured surface. When it is smooth and firm, wrap it in plastic and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Roll the dough out - if the dough starts to pull back and shrink, it's not ready. Let it rest a little while longer.
Begin rolling out the dough. Start at the widest setting and set the roller thinner and thinner until the dough gets very thin and uniform. On our KitchenAid pasta attachment, we got it down to a 7 or 8. Fill the pasta and cut the pasta.
Bring water and salt to a boil. Cook pasta for 2-3 minutes.
Drizzle melted butter on top. Sprinkle with grated Parmesean and poppy seeds.
We had WAY too much beet filling - ended up tossing 80% of it. The pasta dough was very good -this recipe is a keeper. The dough is a little more wet and difficult to work with. We had first attempted to use the ravioli maker attachment but the dough was so soft that the machine ended up mushing everything together. I had to switch to manual prep for the remainder of the dough. Next time, we will be getting some meat to accompany this - perhaps some fresh sausage from WholeFoods. It definitely needs some meat for a heartier finish.