Heart Beet Ravioli Recipe
When people think of Valentine's Day recipes, they usually think of cakes, cookies or desserts. I wanted to make a change and share a main dish idea for this Valentine's Day. Heart-shaped ravioli colored with beetroot.
For the filling, I used cheese again, as in the cheese filled ravioli. The cheese selection is entirely yours. You can use the cheese you want alone or use different cheeses in different combinations. Cream cheese is not a preferred type of cheese as a pasta filling, but when mixed with Turkish white cheese, a magnificent consistency and flavor emerge. I say break your prejudices and give it a chance. I was actually planning to add basil to the cheese mix, but forgot to buy it. Fortunately, there was pesto sauce at home, and I was not deprived of the basil flavor. Because for me, basil is a must for pasta with cheese.
What Flour Is Used to Make Homemade Pasta?
Previously, I shared fresh pasta recipes made with only flour. This time, I wanted to share a recipe with semolina. Normally 00 flour or all purpose flour + semolina is used in pasta making. This makes the pasta firmer and let it be al dente when cooked. If you like Italian style pasta, you should pay attention to these flour options.
However, as far as I have observed, al dente consistency is not very suitable for Turkish taste. I also have this Turkish taste. If you haven't had pasta in Italy before, you might think you like your pasta al dente. But trust me, there is at least 10 minutes between al dente in Turkey and al dente in Italy. When I ate pasta for the first time in Italy, I thought that they probably didn't cook the pasta, they must have put it in water and taken it out. Of course, not only the cooking time, but also the pasta also affects this consistency. Store bought pastas in Turkey become much softer in a much shorter time when cooked. I like pasta soft enough to make Italians say "Ohh nooo". Pasta from Italy and Spain has to be cooked for quite some time to get it to the softness I like.
As a result, since I don't like pasta too hard, I didn't use too much semolina. Since I know myself very well, it was the perfect consistency for me. If you want it to be harder, you can reduce the amount of flour and use 1 cup of semolina instead of 1/2.
This dough is not just for ravioli. You can also cut it into plain pasta, which you can use for recipes like spaghetti bolognese or beef stroganoff, or even lasagna. Speaking of cutting... I used a heart shaped ravioli mold for Valentine's Day, but it's not essential, of course. You can use a mold as you want or you can cut it without a mold. You can use the cutting method in the cheese ravioli recipe for this.
Is Mold Required to Make Ravioli?
When you use a mold, a lot of dough remains. Of course, we do not throw away this dough. You can knead it again and use it to make ravioli again. But since it is mixed with egg white, it becomes a harder dough and it becomes difficult to roll. It can be rolled, filled and closed a second time, but it will become very, very difficult to process the dough left over for the second time. Since I did not want to go into this cycle, I cut the dough left over from the first ravioli making directly in the form of spaghetti and dried it. The amount of dough is already quite a lot. With this amount of ingredients, 37 pieces of ravioli with plenty of filling came out, which could easily be enough for 4 people. The spaghetti that I cut from the leftover dough will be a satisfying meal for two. These ingredients will feed 6 people nicely. Even though it is a statement that spoils the romance for Valentine's Day, I have to write it so you know what awaits you.
How to Store Homemade Fresh Pasta?
You can store the unfilled pasta you have prepared by freezing or drying it for up to 1 year. You can store filled pastas such as ravioli for up to three months by simply freezing them. You can freeze the filled pasta by placing them on a tray first, making sure that they do not stick together, and then put them in ziplocks.
Enjoy the recipe...
Heart Beet Ravioli Recipe with Video
Ingredients
- 3 eggs,
- 1 beet,
- 3.5 cups flour,
- 1/2 cup of semolina,
- 1 teaspoon of salt.
For the filling;
- 200 g of Turkish white cheese,
- 200 g of cream cheese.
To paste the edges;
- 1 egg white.
For serving;
- Melted butter,
- Pesto sauce,
- Parmesan cheese.
Preparation
- Peel the beet, cut it in half, put it in 1 liter of boiling water and simmer until it is half soft,
- Pulse the beet you get from the water with a food processor,
- Mix 2.5 cups of flour, salt and semolina on the counter,
- Make a hole in the middle, add the eggs and mix,
- When it starts to become dough, add the beet puree and start kneading,
- Add the remaining flour little by little and knead until you get a hard dough that does not stick to the hand,
- Make a ball, cover it and let it rest for 10 minutes,
- Meanwhile, for the filling, crush the white cheese and mix it with cream cheese,
- Divide the dough into three parts and roll out one of the pieces on the floured counter,
- Mark half of the dough with a mold,
- Put a teaspoon of mortar in the middle of each,
- Apply egg wash to the edges,
- Fold the non-mortared part of the dough over the part where you put the mortar,
- Press and cut with a mold so that the parts you put mortar are in the middle of the mold,
- Arrange the ravioli on the floured tray,
- Roll the remaining dough in the same way, fill it and cut it,
- Bring together the dough pieces left over from the molds you cut and knead them,
- Roll it on the floured counter and cut it into spaghetti,
- You can freeze or dry the cut spaghetti for up to one year,
- To cook the ravioli, add a little more water and salt to the water in which you boiled the beetroot and boil it,
- If too much flour has adhered to the ravioli, sweep it up with a brush,
- Drop the ravioli pieces slowly into the boiling water and boil them until they begin to float on the water and drain them from the water, place in serving plates,
- Drizzle melted butter over,
- You can serve with pesto sauce and parmesan cheese.
Enjoy your meal...