Multi-coloured ravioli with tomato sauce
This dish uses yellow, green and pink pasta to create a visually appealing ravioli.
Ingredients
For the yellow pasta
For the green pasta
For the pink pasta
For the tomato sauce
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 25g/1oz fresh basil, finely chopped
- 2 black olives, roughly chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- ½ chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
- 600g/1lb 5oz pomodoro passata
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
For the ravioli
- 250g/9oz ricotta
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 250g/9oz three-colour pasta dough (see above)
- 150²µ/5½´Ç³ú tomato sauce (see above)
- 40²µ/1½´Ç³ú pecorino cheese (or a alternative vegetarian hard cheese), grated
- 25g/1oz fresh marjoram, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
For the yellow pasta, place the flour in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the centre. Crack the eggs into the well and incorporate the eggs into the flour with a fork and your hands, gradually drawing the flour into the egg mixture until it forms a coarse paste. Lightly dust the work surface with durum flour and start to knead the dough with the heel of one hand. Work the dough for 10–15 minutes until the consistency is smooth and elastic. If the dough sticks to your fingers, rub your hands with some flour. Wrap the dough in cling film and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.
For the green pasta, blanch the parsley for 1 minute in a saucepan of salted boiling water. Plunge the parsley immediately into iced water to retain the colour. Blitz the parsley with the eggs in a food processor or blender. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the centre. Add the parsley and eggs to the well and make and rest the pasta as in step 1.
For the pink pasta, blitz the eggs, beetroot and beetroot juice in a food processor or blender. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl and create a well in the centre. Add the beetroot and eggs to the well and make and rest the pasta as in step 1.
Roll out the three different pasta doughs through a pasta machine to create three sheets of the same thickness. If at any point the pasta sticks to a surface, dust with durum flour. Stack the coloured sheets on top of each other. Make sure that there is no flour caught between the layers. Cut the layered block in half. Stack the second block on top of the first block. Repeat this process. Wrap the block in cling film and chill in the fridge for approximately 4–5 hours.
For the tomato sauce, heat the oil in a large casserole and add the onion. Cook for 10 minutes, or until the onion start to caramelise. Add a pinch of salt, basil, olives and garlic. Cook for a few more minutes. Add the chilli and pour in the passata. Add an extra pinch of salt and some pepper. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced by a third and is thicker.
To make the ravioli, mix the fresh ricotta with a little salt, black pepper and cinnamon. Put in a piping bag and keep in the fridge.
To create ravioli with stripes, cut a thin slice of pasta from the block. Roll it out lengthways once or twice through the pasta machine so the stripes are perpendicular to the pasta machine. Cut some circles with a 4-cm/1½-in round cutter. Fill each circle with around 5g of ricotta and close and seal the pasta with a fork. If the pasta is too dry to close the ravioli, gently brush the edges of the circles with water. Cook the ravioli into salted boiling water for about 1 minute and 30 seconds. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain in a colander.
Spread a spoonful of tomato sauce on the bottom of four warmed plates, top with ravioli and finish with the pecorino cheese. Garnish with the marjoram and a drizzle of olive oil and serve.
