Beet Ravioli Filled with Goat Cheese and Chives

The star of this dish by far is the beet pasta, and after seeing how bright it turned out, I want to try it with carrots and spinach! This recipe was adapted from Katie at the Kitchen Door.

Beet Ravioli Filled with Goat Cheese and Chives

Pasta Dough

2 beets

5 cups all-purpose flour

3 large eggs

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

Filling

1/3 cup goat cheese

1/3 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan

2 tsp olive oil

1/4 cup cream

1 tbsp fresh chives, finely chopped

1 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper to taste

Caramelized Onion Sauce with Walnut & Thyme

2 medium yellow onions, thinly sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves minced garlic

1/4 cup chardonnay

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

For the Pasta:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast beets for 1 hr. Blend with 1/2 cup of water in a food processor until smooth and set aside. Beet puree can be made a day ahead and brought to room temperature before combining with pasta.

In a large bowl make a well with 3 cups of flour and add egg, olive oil, beet pure and salt. Combine all ingredients until it pulls away from the bowl. Knead the dough and add the remaining 2 cups of flour, one cup at a time until the dough does not stick to your finger and is elastic. (About 10 minutes)

It's not quite ready!

Let dough rest for 30 minutes before rolling.

For the filling:

Combine all ingredients for the filling and set aside.

After dough has rested cut into quarters and dust with flour. Using a pasta roller or a rolling pin, roll pasta into thin sheets.

If using a ravioli press, lay one sheet of pasta onto the press and fill each crevice with filling. Lay another sheet of pasta over the filling and roll over press to crimp the ravioli.

While I thought the Ravioli press was a great idea, it was very easy to overfill and difficult to to crimp at times. Maybe because it was a small press. I found that making ravioli the old fashioned way was easiest.

If you are not using a ravioli press:

Lay one sheet of pasta on the table and scoop 1 tsp of filling onto pasta 1/2 inch apart from each other. Lay another sheet of pasta over the filling and press pasta together pushing out any air pockets. Cut into square raviolis and crimp edges.

For the Sauce:

Caramelize onions in olive oil over medium heat in a skillet for 45 minutes or until brown. Add garlic, walnuts and thyme and cook for 1 minute. De-glaze pan with 1/4 cup of wine and cook for another 3 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, boil pasta for 5 minutes or until pasta floats. We steamed the first batch because they were the "uglies" and very delicate. Surprisingly, I liked steaming the pasta because it was quicker and retained less water.

After pasta is cooked, toss in sauce and serve immediately. I served it with an arugula salad dressed with a tangy red wine vinaigrette. Enjoy!