Beet Ravioli With Pine Nut Goat Cheese Rosemary Cream Sauce Aged Balsamic Vinegar Food

BEET AND GOAT CHEESE RAVIOLI

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Individually wrap beets, onion, and head of garlic in aluminum foil. Place on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until beets are fork-tender, about 1 hour depending on size. Remove garlic once soft, after about 30 minutes. Allow beets, onion, and garlic to cool to room temperature.
• Meanwhile, prepare the dough. In a large bowl, mix together all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Make a well in the center and add in eggs. Gradually add in the water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until dough comes together (more water may be needed depending on how dry your dough is).
• Turn dough out onto a work surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Divide dough into 4 portions, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
• For the filling: Peel skin off beets, onion, and 3 cloves of the roasted garlic. Reserve the rest of the garlic for another use. Cut beets in half, and place them in a food processor. Add onion and garlic cloves; pulse until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Add in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, 1 teaspoon fresh dill, and 4 ounces goat cheese; pulse several times until thoroughly combined.
• Remove 1 piece of chilled dough from the fridge. Shape into a rough rectangle about 3x4 inches. Set pasta maker to the widest setting, and run dough through 3 times. Reduce pasta width setting to the next narrowest setting, and run pasta through twice. Continue to run pasta through pasta maker, dropping the width each time, until about 1/16-inch-thick. Cover pasta sheet with a kitchen towel to prevent it from drying out. Repeat with additional pieces of pasta dough, as needed.
• Lay one sheet of pasta on your work surface. Scoop teaspoon-sized portions of beet filling onto the dough about 3 inches apart. Lightly brush water around the edges of the filling. Gently place another sheet of pasta over the filling and press pieces together around the filling, removing as much air as possible. Seal firmly.
• Using a 2 1/2-inch cutter, cut raviolis from the dough, ensuring the filling is as centered as possible. Gently press edges again to seal. Place finished ravioli on a lightly floured baking sheet. Continue making pasta and filling raviolis until all the beet filling is used. Reserve any extra dough for another use.
• When ready to serve, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add a few ravioli at a time to the boiling water. Boil until they rise to the top, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from water with a slotted spoon and set aside.
• Melt 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a second saucepan over medium heat. Add a few ravioli at a time to the pan and cook for 2 minutes. Flip over and cook an additional 2 minutes.

HOMEMADE RAVIOLI WITH GOAT CHEESE AND SPINACH FILLING

Steps:

• Mix flour with salt.
• Stir water with egg until well mixed.
• In a bowl, combine flour and egg-water mixture together and mix until well incorporated. Sprinke some flour over working surface and over your hands as you knead the dough. Knead the dough until well-textured and firm. The dough should not be too wet or too sticky. It should only stick to itself, but not to your hands. It should not be too dry, either. Make the dough into a ball or disk, wrap with plastic wrap. Let the dough stand for 1 hour at room temperature before using. This allows gluten to work.
• This amount of dough enough to make dough for 12 raviolis, using the mold (ravioli mold makes 12 ravioli). If you need to make 24 ravioli, make a second batch of this dough.
• If you don't have cooked spinach on hand, cook spinach until wilted and all liquid is gone. All liquid should be evaporated - it's important. Chop spinach.
• Soften goat cheese by heating it up in microwave oven for about 5-10 seconds.
• Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl: chopped spinach, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese. Add a little bit of nutmeg to taste. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
• Your filling should not be runny, it should be pretty firm, which is why it's important to make sure spinach has no liquid from step 1. If your filling is a bit runny from softened cheese, put the bowl with ravioli filling in the refrigerator to firm up.
• Unwrap ravioli dough from plastic, divide in 2 equal parts. Flour working area. Roll out each part of pasta dough very thinly, on a floured surface, using a roller. Make sure to flour the upper portion of pasta dough and the roller to avoid sticking. Lift the rolled dough several times during rolling to make sure it doesn't stick to the counter, and flour working surface with more flour, if necessary.
• Flour the ravioli mold. After you have rolled the 2 portions of dough very thinly, place first layer of dough on the ravioli mold, so that it covers all 12 holes.
• Place a small portion of ravioli filling into each indentation, making sure not to overfill. The filling should be at the same level or lower as the flat part of the mold. Place second layer of pasta dough on top of filled ravioli.
• Using a roller pin, roll across the mold and along the edges to separate ravioli. As you roll the pin, it also removes all air from ravioli, which is very important for ravioli success. By now you should have extra dough hanging off the outside 4 edges of ravioli mold - carefully separate it. Continue rolling the pin along the inside edges of 12 raviolis to separate them from one another: you could also use your fingers to press across the edges to separate ravioli.
• Flip ravioli mold to release ravioli. Bring a large pot of water to boil Boil ravioli for 5 minutes, drain and set aside - to be used with sauce below.
• Or, alternatively, if you're not using ravioli right away, place them on a plate or baking sheet in the freezer to freeze. After they are frozen, place them in a plastic bag and keep frozen until needed.
• Heat oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, garlic, a bit of nutmeg and cook for about 7 minutes until mushrooms soften and garlic is fragrant.
• Add half-and-half, bring to boil. Remove from heat, add grated parmesan cheese, mix until cheese is melted and mixture thickens. Add salt and pepper to taste.
• After you have boiled ravioli for 5 minutes, drain them and add ravioli to the sauce to coat. To serve, place ravioli and sauce on plates. Garnish with with chopped chives or leeks.

BEET RAVIOLI WITH PINE NUT "GOAT CHEESE" ROSEMARY-CREAM SAUCE, AGED BALSAMIC VINEGAR

Steps:

• Pine Nut "Goat Cheese"
• Process all ingredients in a food processor until as smooth as possible.
• You should have about 4 cups. Reserve 2 cups for the sauce, and set aside the remainder.
• Rosemary-Cream Sauce
• Puree all the ingredients in a high-speed blender until smooth.
• To Finish
• Using a mandoline, slice the beets very thin (so they are pliable and not stiff, approximately 1/16 of an inch or less).
• Make small stacks of the larger pieces and use a sharp knife to cut into squares-the size doesn't matter much, as long as they are all roughly the same. Alternatively, use a round-, heart-or other- shaped cookie cutter to cut the slices. Cut at least 40 slices-10 per serving, with a few extra to spare.
• In a medium bowl, place the beet slices, oil, lemon juice, and salt and toss gently to coat evenly. Allowing the beets to sit for a half hour or more will soften them; this is optional but a good idea if your slices are on the thicker side and still a bit stiff.
• Lay half the beet slices on a clean work surface and top each with a rounded teaspoonful of the cheese. Top with the remaining beet slices and press down gently.
• Spoon the sauce onto serving plates, and arrange the ravioli on top. Garnish with a few drops of aged balsamic vinegar and a few sprigs of either microgreens or fresh herbs.

SIMPLE BEET SALAD WITH GOAT CHEESE

Steps:

• Add dressing ingredients to a medium size bowl. Whisk to combine.
• Add baby spinach and diced cooked beets to a large bowl.
• Add the salad dressing and toss to combine.
• Top with toasted pine nuts and crumbled goat cheese. Season with extra black pepper if desired.