' BEET RAVIOLI with POPPY SEED BUTTER .'

Egg pasta Ravioli of Beetroot & Fresh milk Ricotta with Poppy Seed Butter , pickled beets , baby beetroot leaves and shaved parmesan cheese . 

                         This is the last of my winter catch up posts with this one using that fantastic root vegetable full of sweet earthy flavours that pairs up with almost anything. This dish can be put together in around an hour and makes a great little Italian appetiser for a lunch or dinner menu. Although very quick and easy to put together, there are a few preps that require an hour or so.                                                      
                          So for this little appetiser I began by washing and wrapping some beets in foil and placing in a 200 deg.c oven for about one hour or until they were soft before un-wrapping and allowing to cool. The beets were then peeled and grated and set aside reserving some of the beet to pickle. While the beets were steaming I made the fresh milk ricotta by heating some milk until just before boiling point then adding lemon juice to form curds which were then drained and strained through cheese cloth and placed in the fridge to chill and firm. The pasta dough was next and I made this by bringing together '00' flour and eggs to form a dough, kneading until smooth and then I wrapped the dough in clear film and placed in a cool place to rest for an hour. The dough was then rolled out to 2 mm thick and the ravioli circles were cut out using  a dough cutter, a mixture of the beets and ricotta were placed in the middle of each round and the edge of the dough was brushed with a little water before placing another round on top to form the lid. The edges were pressed together and using a fork I sealed the edge making fork indentations around the trim. The pasta was then cooked in rolling salted boiling water for 3 minutes before straining and setting aside to plate. To make the sauce I melted some butter with poppy seeds in a saucepan.                              
                           To plate this I placed the ravioli in the centre of the plate cutting one in half for presentation, I then spooned over the poppy seed butter on top of the ravioli. I dressed the pasta with a few baby beetroot leaves and shaved some parmesan cheese, with some of the reserved grated beet I pickled them in white wine vinegar, salt, sugar and water and garnished the plate.