I love pasta. It’s a good thing I love vegetables too, or I would be destined to look a little more round than I do. I didn’t plan to make this. I was sitting on the couch drowsy from cold meds, fighting to focus on homework. Everything went to shit when I smelled sauteed beet greens, and saw their gorgeous fuchsia coloring. I found Bob in the kitchen, where he suggested making beet ravioli, and all thoughts of homework left me. Actually, all thought left me. Despite being inhibited by meds, I managed to pound out more than twice as many ravioli as Bob did. (Sorry babe, I’m telling on you.) Bob boasts precision, but I boast productivity. He teased me that all of mine would fall apart, but you know what? They all turned out beautifully.
First things first, start by making this recipe for Homemade Pasta Dough,Ā then proceed to the recipe below.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 6 cups chopped beet greens (stems included)
- 2 yellow onions (diced)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 cup beef stock (any stock will work)
- ½ cup of crumbled feta cheese (feel free to switch up the cheese, ricotta would be great!)
- Salt & pepper to taste
- In a large pan, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and heat to just over medium.
- Once heated, add onions, sauteeing for about 5 minutes, then add beet greens.
- Saute beet greens for about 8 minutes, then add minced garlic, sauteeing for another 2 minutes before adding beef stock.
- Once beef stock is added, continue cooking until liquid has been absorbed/reduced.
- Add feta cheese, and season to taste with salt & pepper.
- If you find the mixture slightly bitter, a few pinches of sugar, or some honey can help!
- Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 10 minutes.
- While cooling, you can get started on pasta dough (find the recipe linked above).
- Once cooled, place beet green mixture into a food processor, and process until combined and there are no large chunks.
- Remove to a large bowl, and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Once you have finished making your pasta dough, roll sheets to the thinnest setting, and cut circles from the sheets of pasta. using a circle cookie cutter (or the mouth of a glass).
- Place cooled beet green filling into a large ziploc bag, cut a small piece off the corner, and squeeze filling into the middle of your pasta circles.
- Have a bowl of water nearby, dip wet your finger, and run it around the edge on one half of the pasta dough.
- Pick up the circle of pasta with your hands, fold it in half, pinch around the edges to seal, and press the sealed edges with a fork,
- Place ravioli on a cookie sheet lined with flour dusted parchment paper.
- If you're not cooking the ravioli immediately, place the cookie sheet in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. Once frozen, place them in a large ziploc bag/container and store in the freezer.
- If using immediately, cook them in a pot of boiling water, about 2 minutes, until they begin rising to the top.
- While they are boiling, get a pan on medium-high heat.
- Add a generous knob of butter, and a 4-5 leaves of sage.
- Once ravioli are boiled, and your pan of butter is heated, strain the ravioli, then saute them in the butter 2-3 minutes.
- Serve grated with parmesan cheese and freshly ground pepper.
It proved to be a great distraction, working with my hands instead of sniffling over my laptop. Being in the kitchen always makes me feel better. Watching the pasta seal and pull itself snugly around our filling made me much happier! They’re beautiful, and cooking with color is part of what makes it such an art. I would gladly make these again. I hadn’t even tasted them yet, and I could tell they would be an easy favorite.
Beets are the star here, and to complicate the sauce might do well another time, but tonight we settled on butter and sage. Beautiful! (I love butter.)
Make these with someone you love, it’s half the fun!
Shan
Awesome idea! These looks super tasty š
-Molly
apolloandluna.com
Thanks Molly! They were wonderful :).
This sounds like a delicious combo and something I need to try next time I get a bunch of beets in my vegetable delivery! And the photos are stunning! I am blown away. Whenever I go near beets I create a total mess with the red beet juice streaked all over every possible surface! š
We always pair our beets with a side of apron ?.
I absolutely love this! the colors, the photography, the simplicity, great job!! can’t wait to try this!
Thanks Nadia! We hope you’ll let us know what you think, if you try the recipe :).