Beet Heart Ravioli with Ricotta and Thyme

Looking for a Valentine's Day dish that's NOT a dessert? Then these ombré heart ravioli are for you! The pasta dough is made with beets, which gives the ravioli such an amazing color, and they're filled with a creamy ricotta and thyme filling. Finished off in a brown butter sage sauce, these ravioli will be a hit at your Valentine's Day gathering! 

Ombré heart-shaped ravioli. Yes, I did it. For Valentine's Day. I made 5 batches of beet pasta dough, with the darkest batch being a deep, rich fuschia color, and the lightest shade a soft orangey/pink. There are 3 shades in between that are just as beautiful in their own way. The beauty of this recipe is that you can make just one batch (choose your favorite color!), or make them all to get the ombré effect. It's up to you!

What are Beet Ravioli?

Ravioli are quite simply, small envelopes of pasta stuffed with any sort of filling. Beet ravioli are made with a beet pasta dough (you can see my classic pasta dough recipe here) containing beet puree, flour, eggs and salt! The beautiful color is obtained by the beet puree. That's it. All natural, no artificial colors added.

How to make beet heart ravioli - step by step

Roast the beets:

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut the top and bottom tips off of the beets. Season the beets with a pinch of salt and olive oil.

Wrap beets tightly in in tin foil. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for one hour, until tender

Remove from the oven, and open the tin foil slightly to allow the beets to cool. Let cool until still warm, but cool enough to handle

Rub beet with a paper towel to remove skin (photo 1)

Make the beet pasta dough: 

Chop beet into small pieces, and add to a food processor. Process the beets in the food processor until a smooth puree forms (photo 2)

Add eggs and egg yolk to puree (photo 3) and process until combined. Add flour and salt (photo 4)

Process the dough until it starts to come together (photo 5)

Remove dough from the food processor and transfer it to a well-floured surface (photo 6)

Knead dough, and add more flour if necessary until the dough is smooth and not sticky (photo 7)

Wrap dough in saran wrap, and let it rest for 1 to 2 hours at room temperature (photo 8)

Make the Ravioli filling: 

If your ricotta is very moist and has water at the bottom of the container, drain it off excess moisture using a colander.

In a medium size bowl, combine ricotta, thyme and parmesan, salt and pepper (photo 9).  Mix together with a spoon (photo 10). Set aside in the fridge while pasta dough is resting

Make the pasta dough sheets and assemble the ravioli:

Attach the Kitchen Aid pasta attachment to your KitchenAid Mixer. Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces.

Working with 1 piece at a time, flatten dough into an oblong shape slightly thinner than the pasta machine's widest setting (number 1).

Dust dough with flour, and feed through machine. Fold lengthwise into thirds and rotate 90 degrees. Repeat twice on same setting to smooth dough and increase its elasticity, adding more flour if the dough is still sticky.

Set pasta machine to the next lowest setting and feed the dough through once. Repeat this step for all numbers until setting 6 is reached, and you have a thin, long sheet of pasta dough (photo 11)

Set the rolled out pasta dough strips on a well-floured surface. Repeat this process for all 4 pieces of dough.

Space half tablespoons of filling apart along center of 1 strip. The space between the filling should be about "2 fingers-width" apart. Brush around the filling with an egg white wash. Top with remaining strip, and gently press around filling to seal, working from center out (photos 12-14)

Using a heart cookie cutter, press it into the dough around the filling, trying to keep the filling in the center of the heart (photos 15 &16). Transfer ravioli to sheet pan, and cover with a kitchen towel.

Cook the ravioli: 

Bring a large pot of water to boil, and boil the ravioli. Once they float to the surface, let them cook a few seconds more (photo 17)

When water is close to boiling, make the sage brown butter sauce. melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add salt to taste. Cook until butter is dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, about 4 minutes. At this point, add the chopped sage (photo 19).

Using a slotted spoon, add the ravioli to the brown butter sauce. Gently toss the ravioli in the sauce (photo 20)

Plate the ravioli, and garnish with extra fresh thyme and sage if desired

Top tips for making beet heart ravioli:

• It's not necessary to make the ravioli into heart shapes. You could make a more classic ravioli shape like a circle or square, using a ravioli stamp.
• This pasta dough is quite moist in nature due to the high beet content, so don't be afraid to add more flour when kneading and rolling out the dough. I had to add 6 extra tablespoon when kneading, and a few extra tablespoons when rolling out the dough.
• The color of the ravioli will change quite significantly when boiled and cooked, becoming lighter in color; this is normal.
• The flavour of the beets is quite mild in the pasta dough, even in the darkest shade, so don't worry about the beet flavor overpowering the rest of the dish.
• Place MAX half a tablespoon on the pasta sheet for each ravioli. If you add more, there will be too much filling and the ravioli will not seal/close properly.
• Keep the egg white from when you separated the egg yolk and use it to brush around the ravioli filling.
• If you don't have a pasta machine, it is possible to roll out the dough by hand. It would be best to cut the dough into at least 2 pieces so you don't end up with one big, long sheet of pasta. Try to roll the dough out with a rolling pin quite thinly.

The recipe listed makes the darkest red ravioli shown out of the 5 shades.

If you would like to make a different shade, here are the measurements to follow when mixing the dough in the food processor:

2nd darkest shade:

2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2.5 cups flour
¼ cup beet puree
1 teaspoon salt

3rd darkest shade:

3 eggs
2 egg yolks
2.5 cups flour
2 tablespoon beet puree
1 teaspoon salt

2nd lightest shade:

3 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon beet puree
1 teaspoon salt

Lightest shade:

3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon beet puree
1 teaspoon salt

Tips on Storing Ravioli:

• If you'll be cooking the ravioli soon after you make them, you can leave them out at room temperature (less than 20 minutes)
• You can store the ravioli on parchment-lined baking sheets in a single layer in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours. Lightly dust the parchment and ravioli with flour so they don't stick
• If you'll be cooking your ravioli longer than 4 hours after making them (ie. next day) it would be best to freeze them. Freeze them on parchment-lined baking sheets in the freezer in a single layer for approximately 1 hour so they harden and become solid. Once they're solid, you can transfer them to an airtight container, or freezer bag and freeze them for up to 6 months.
  If you've frozen the ravioli and it's time to cook them, you can throw the frozen ravioli straight into the boiling water - no need to thaw them.

Other Valentine's Day recipes you might like:

• Heart linzer cookies with Italian strawberry jam
• Valentine's Day Cookie Box
• Heart churros with nutella and mascarpone dipping sauces

If you’ve tried making these Beet Heart Ravioli with Ricotta and Thyme, or any other recipe on the blog please let me know what you thought of it in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on INSTAGRAM, FACEBOOK, TWITTER, and PINTEREST to see more delicious food and what I’ve been up to.

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