Beetroot fresh pasta with ricotta, walnuts, and thyme
A show-stopping dish where the magic lies in the pairings: colourful, bright purple ravioli stuffed with ricotta, walnuts, and thyme and dressed with poppy seed butter and aged ricotta.
Servings 40 ravioli
Ingredients
Ingredients for the beetroot fresh pasta
- 150 grams (5.3 oz) beetroot purée, see notes on how to make it
- 350 grams (2¾ cups) all-purpose flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½ tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
- Semolina flour, for dusting
Ingredients for the filling
- 80 grams (¾ cups) walnuts
- 250 grams (1 cup) fresh sheep or cow ricotta, previously drained
- 50 grams (½ cups) grated Pecorino Romano, or Parmigiano Reggiano
- 2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
- Fine sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Ingredients for the dressing
- 100 grams (7 tbsp) butter
- 2 tablespoons poppy seeds
- Fresh thyme
- 50 grams (½ cups) grated ricotta salata, or pecorino romano
Instructions
Make the pasta
- Pour the flour on a work surface and shape it into a mound with a large well in the centre. Add the egg, the beet purée, the salt, and the olive oil. Using a fork, stir slowly, starting from the centre and gradually picking up more flour from the edges. When the dough turns crumbly, switch to kneading with your hands.
- Continue kneading the ball of dough until the gluten starts to develop, as this will render the sheets of pasta more elastic. Alternatively, consider kneading the dough in a mixer with the dough hook for about 10 minutes on low speed, then finish kneading by hand for 5 minutes.
- When the ball of dough is smooth, silky, and no longer sticky, cover with a bowl, and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
Make the filling
- Lightly toast the walnuts in a pan on medium heat for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cutting board and, when enough cool to handle, chop finely with a knife.
- Collect the well-drained ricotta in a bowl, add the walnuts, the grated pecorino, and the thyme leaves. Stir well, taste, then adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.
Make the ravioli
- Divide the pasta dough into 6 equal portions. Lightly flour a work surface with semolina flour and, with a rolling pin, roll out one piece of dough into a ½-inch/1 cm-thick rectangle. Keep the remaining pieces covered with a clean kitchen towel.
- Turn the dial on your pasta machine to the widest setting. Feed the dough through the rollers, then fold the sheet of pasta in three, as if you were folding a letter. Starting with one of the open sides, feed the pasta dough through the machine again. Repeat three times.
- Now roll the pasta sheet thinner by turning the dial to the next narrower setting. Roll the pasta through the machine, gently pulling it towards you: holding the pasta sheet with the palm of your hand, while you are cranking the machine with the other hand.
- Every time you reduce the settings, pass the lasagne sheets into semolina flour: it will prevent it from sticking and tearing. Keep reducing the settings until the dough is rolled as thinly as you'd like. My pasta machine goes from 1 to 10, I usually stop at 6.
- With a round cutter, cut the sheet of pasta into 3-inch/8 cm circles. Collect any scrap of pasta dough and add it back to the dough covered with the kitchen towel.
- Spoon 1 heaping teaspoon of filling into the centre of each disc, then fold it to form a crescent. Press the edges to seal the filling inside, trying to remove as much air as possible. Using the backside of a fork, press the edges of each raviolo to seal. Transfer the formed ravioli to a tray dusted with semolina flour; cover with a clean, dry kitchen towel.
- Repeat the rolling process with the remaining pieces of dough until you’ve used all of the filling.
Cook the ravioli
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. While the water heats, melt the butter in a medium frying pan over medium-low heat. When the butter stops foaming, add the thyme and poppy seeds and fry, stirring, for a couple of minutes. Set aside.
- When the water is boiling, add the ravioli in batches and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until they float. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer to a serving dish.
- When all of the ravioli have been cooked, drizzle them with the reserved melted poppy seed butter, sprinkle with the ricotta salata, and serve immediately.
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