Ravioli with Ricotta and Herb Filling

Filled with a super simple but delicious mixture of ricotta, Parmesan, fresh oregano, and lemon zest, and colored naturally with beet puree, these ravioli are a wonderful meal for Valentine’s Day! They’re very easy to make and pair perfectly with your favorite sauce, whether it is homemade or store bought.

Using beets for natural coloring

I love making colored pasta. Pink pasta in particular is one of my favorites because it’s so vibrant and beautiful! To achieve such a rich color, I use roasted beet puree. I know it sounds a little funny, as beets have a very earthy flavor that doesn’t lend itself well to something like pasta, but the flavor COMPLETELY cooks out. You won’t taste even a hint of beet, but will still get the gorgeous color payoff!

To make the beet puree, all you need to do is roast the beets for about an hour. Next, we will blend them with just a little water until silky and smooth before adding to our pasta dough.

The best flour for ravioli

When making pasta, it’s best to use finer flours, as this lends the best texture to the dough. In the US, it’s easiest to find All Purpose flour, which works just fine for pasta making. Semola flour is traditionally used in Italy in pasta making, and is great to add to your flour mix, if you can get your hands on it. My favorite brand is Caputo.

If you want to use Semola flour, make sure you get Antimo Di Grano Duro Rimacinata Semolina Flour. This is a finely milled durum wheat flour, that has the perfect texture for making pasta. Make sure that you have flour labelled “semola” or “semolina rimacinata” and not just “semolina”. While they are the same type of flour, semolina is much coarser and has a texture similar to cornmeal. This recipe calls for mostly All-Purpose Flour, with a little bit of Semola flour for added texture. I also find that Semola works best for dusting, due to its slightly coarser texture than AP flour.

You can also use 00 flour, which is an even softer type of flour used in traditional pasta making. This will yield an even silkier texture in the final product.

Choosing your eggs

I’m a firm believer that pasta is one time you should never skimp on quality eggs. I’m someone that prefers to buy farmer’s market eggs from happy, healthy hens in general, but if you ever needed some encouragement to start sourcing better eggs, this is your sign. Not only do good eggs just taste better, but the yolks are much more vibrantly colored than grocery store eggs due to the diversified diet and better general health of the hens. In turn, these vibrant yolks give your pasta a beautiful color and enriched flavor. In this case, we will be using beets to color the dough, but the eggs will give a richness to the pasta.

Many pasta recipes call for separating yolks and whites, but I prefer to use whole eggs to reduce food waste (or having to brainstorm a new use for the whites). This recipe calls for 3 whole, large eggs: no separating required.

Mixing your pasta dough

The first step of making homemade pasta is to measure out the flour onto a flat work surface. Make a well in the center, sort of like a wide and shallow volcano, and crack your eggs into the well. Add the beet puree too. Using a fork begin to quickly whisk your eggs and beet puree, pulling in a little bit of flour at a time from the sides so the flour and egg starts to combine.

Continue to slowly incorporate the flour until the egg is mostly mixed in and not extremely runny. Using a bench scraper, begin to fully mix the dough until it starts to come together in a shaggy mass. Knead by hand, until the dough is smooth and bouncy, about 5-7 minutes. It should be slightly tacky, but not wet.

If your dough feels too dry, spritz it with some water while kneading until you achieve the correct texture. If it is too wet, dust your work surface with flour as needed until the dough reaches the right texture. Make all changes incrementally and slowly. Once the dough is fully kneaded, wrap in saran wrap and allow to rest at room temperature for 1 hour.

Once the dough has rested, divide it into 4 portions using your bench scraper. Take one of the quarters and roll it into a rough oval with your rolling pin, before passing it through the pasta machine. Start on the thickest setting, and go until the dough is thin but not flimsy. For filled pasta, like this ravioli, I like to go to setting 5 on my Mercato pasta machine.

It’s all in the filling

A simple ricotta filling is one of life’s greatest pleasures, I feel. This ravioli filling is a mixture of ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest, fresh oregano, salt, and pepper. It’s light, creamy, and has a beautiful brightness from the lemon, and herbaceousness from the fresh oregano. If you can’t get your hands on fresh oregano, you can use dried instead.

Shaping your ravioli

There are several ways to make beautiful ravioli. You can use pasta stamp cutters, a ravioli maker, which is a tray that you lay the pasta on top of, a ravioli mold, or even just a sharp knife. Regardless of your method, the basics remain the same. Once you have rolled out one of the four portions of pasta dough, divide the long pasta sheet into two smaller halves. Using a piping bag or a spoon, place your filling along one of the halves, about 1″-1 1/2″ apart.

Carefully place the second sheet over the first, and press around the filling to seal thoroughly. If your pasta is dry, dampen your fingertips with a little bit of water. Run your damp fingers around the bottom sheet (with the filling) before pressing the top sheet to seal.

Once you have sealed the pasta, use your method of choice to cut out the ravioli.

Tools you need

This recipe calls for a few specialized tools, most important being a pasta machine. This can be a hand crank machine, or a mixer attachment. I have a Marcato pasta machine that love! If you don’t have a pasta machine, you can still make this recipe. It will just take more time and elbow grease to roll the dough thin enough.

As mentioned in the previous section, you will also need a way to cut and shape your ravioli. I used round ravioli stamps for these, but I also like to use my ravioli tray since it is a little quicker. You can also use cookie cutters if you would like to make fun shapes like hearts.

Other tools I recommend having on hand are: a sharp knife or pastry wheel, a bench scraper, and a rolling pin. If you prefer not to mix the dough using the well-method on a table, you can also use a bowl.

Cooking fresh pasta

It’s best to cook fresh pasta immediately after making it. It only takes a minute or two for it to be fully cooked. If you aren’t going to immediately cook your pasta, you can allow it to dry out a little bit on a baking sheet, before wrapping well and freezing.

This recipe is a small batch dough, and is meant to serve two people, or one with some leftovers. If you’re cooking for a crowd, feel free to double, or even triple the recipe.

Sauces to pair with this pasta

These ravioli will go with so many different types of pasta sauce. I recommend choosing something with lighter flavors, so you can really enjoy the delicateness of the ricotta filling. Feel free to use your favorite store bought or home made sauce. Something like the simple tomato sauce featured in my herb laminated pasta recipe would work beautifully, or a lemon and herb butter sauce.

I hope you enjoy this Pink Ravioli with Ricotta and Herb Filling! Be sure to tag me on instagram so I can see your creations, and leave me a comment below! Your feedback helps other home cooks and bakers who are giving this recipe a try, and I love hearing about what you made!