What To Cook Tonight: Beetroot Ravioli

By Meg Walker
12th Apr 2016

Eccie and Gini Newton’s Beetroot Ravioli

Ingredients
3-4 beetroot
150g soft raw goat’s cheese
25g raw almonds, blitzed so they form almond meal
zest of 1 unwaxed lemon
cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil
65g frozen petits pois, defrosted in lukewarm water
a handful of rocket leaves
5g aged parmesan (parmigiano reggiano), finely grated
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
This ravioli is so delicious and it is made without flour or eggs and doesn’t need cooking. You will need a mandoline to get the slices as fine as possible, otherwise they won’t shape around the filling. You’re looking for the beetroot to be so thin you can almost see through it. One problem we had at first became the dish’s saving grace: when we set the mandoline to its thinnest setting, it was very hard to get a whole slice; instead, we kept getting half slices where one side was incredibly thin and the other side was a little thicker. We laid the thin sides of two beetroot slices slightly over one another and created a much larger, slightly oblong round with a very thin middle. If you try to create the two ravioli ‘skins? in this way, you’ll have a lot more success at creating nice supple round ravioli.

Set the mandoline on its finest setting. Slice the beetroot as thinly as you can. The slices may be incomplete rounds, with one end thinner than the other, but that’s ok, as two thin ends can be joined to create a larger, more flexible circle of beetroot. In a bowl, combine the goat’s cheese, almond meal, lemon zest and a few drops of olive oil. Place one round of beetroot on a board, drop 2 tsp of the goat’s cheese mixture into the centre, lay a second round of beetroot over the goat’s cheese ball and press together. Repeat until you have 6-10 ravioli, then top with the peas, rocket, parmesan and drizzle with olive oil.