Last year I planted a three different varieties of beetroot. This year I chose just ‘Beetroot Boltardy’ but with lessons learned, I thinned and replanted my little beets so I’d get nice, fat ones for roasting. There’s no space in my fridge for pickles this year with all the lemon and elderflower marmalade!
I must admit it has been much easier to harvest them too and the greens have been healthier. I’ve been adding them to my dhal to give a little extra nutritional boost and a bonus pinky colour.
I discovered a whole host of recipes with beetroot and all year have been pinning to my dedicated board on Pinterest and one recipe I was keen to try is beetroot pasta. I’ve seen what beetroot does to mashed potato and it’s how I got my girls eating it. Pink mash they call it and even now they’ve gone through their girlie pink phase and pink food is a welcome addition to our dinner table. With the cloudy skies of late it’s a great way to add a little brightness to the end of the day.
Discovering beetroot pasta
Discovering beetroot pasta has been much the same. The colour of the dough is spectacular and you cannot help but smile while kneading. It does take a little trial and error with the flour depending on how wet your beetroots are. For a better flavour and a less watery colour I would suggest roasting them but if you don’t have time, boiling is fine though allow some time to leave them to stand and drain off excess water.
Make sure that you purée the beetroot really well so there are absolutely no lumps that could get stick in the machine. This will ruin all your hard work because it only takes one to stick and the whole batch need to be done again.
We have an Italian pasta machine and it’s been a worthwhile investment. We have used it almost every week for the last 15 years. The important thing is to brush and wipe it clean. Washing it will lead to rust.
If you don’t have a pasta machine, take small balls of the dough and roll it out as thin as you can on a very floury surface. Then cut strips using a pizza cutter.
I made a double batch of the pasta and left half over the prepared tagliatelle overnight in the fridge. If you want to do this, put it on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper and a little dusting of fine semolina. Helps it not stick a little better than flour.
Beetroot Tagliatelle
Notes
You'll need
To make 4 portions
The pasta works well with a light creamy sauce - sauté some garlic and onions, add double cream and seasoning, then toss the cooked tagliatelle through. Our favourite though is carrot top and sunflower seed pesto but a standard basil pesto would also be lovely.
My next step is to make Beetroot Ravioli stuffed with some goat's cheese I bought in France last week. Can't wait.
Have you ever made beetroot pasta? What did you pair it with?
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Puzzled as to why on earth you would keep unopened pickles in the fridge – pickling is a preservation method so they store well in cool dark places for years even!! 🙂
Hi I meant the opened jars. We have one beer pickle jar left in the cupboard as you say but I have so many open jars of other things – jams, compotes, relishes, chutneys etc and my fridge is only a little one. 🙁
How stunning is that beetroot pasta?!!! That’s totally cheered up my rainy Monday morning 🙂
Awww thank you. It was rather dreary yesterday. I wonder if your boys would love the colour or hate it?
That pasta looks stunning. I gave my pasta machine away as I wasn’t using it. Now I regret that!
Stunning! And I can vouch for beetroot ravioli: Goat’s cheese and toasted walnut filling with a rocket and reduced balsamic pesto is a fab dish
Ooh I had not thought of walnut but that would totally work. Thank you! I like the idea of a reduced balsamic too
Yes, cuts through the gorgeous richness of the cheese and the marvellous bitterness of the walnuts. Crikey, I am getting hungry as I type!!!
🙂
This looks so beautiful and I am in awe you make pasta yourself once a week. Loving the carrot top pesto too!
Thank you Sarah. The carrot top pesto is a revelation!
Absolutely beautiful Urvashi. Plus you’ve reminded me to get out my pasta maker. Saying you’ve used it every week for 15 years makes me very ashamed at how little mine comes out of the cupboard.
I think it’s getting out of the mind set that it’s a faff because it’s really not when you come down to it. Make dough in the morning, rest while I’m at work and then it only takes as long as the sauce to go with it. Adding beetroot was a little more faff but totally worth it for the taste.
Superb idea, and wonderful photos.
Thank you 🙂 how’s your beet harvest?
It’s also bountiful – we have plenty of both conventional and golden beetroot, but fortunately we love it!
I’ve never planted the golden beets. Next year or perhaps over the winter.
We have been growing big fat beetroots too! Need to get a little more creative with them – we seldom get further than roasting them and gobbling them up 🙂 Adore the colour of the pasta, and I love that you served it with carrot top pesto!
Thank you. I know what you mean about just roasting. They are so good that way and easy. That carrot top pesto is brilliant. Miss from one of our purple carrots that got pulled up by something and nibbled on so we checked the carrot but gobbled up the greens as they were too lovely to throw away
These are gorgeous! I’ve been getting more beets than I know what to do with, what a great idea.
Thank you. Our beets have now taken over a third of our allotment space. I’ve replanted some of the small ones again this weekend and will leave them for Xmas dinner now. Love how they last forever almost
Perfect color for a festive meal! Genius.
Thank you. I like your idea of festive meal. This would be a good one also for children’s pink or purple themed birthday parties. My girls want to make pink raviloi fortheir next birthday party!
Love it, such a great idea. I’m all about theme parties.
Your pasta is stunning looking–as it should be. Beet pasta is so much fun, especially as sheets for raviolil. Just curious–what did you sauce it with? Thanks. Ken
Thank you :-). I made a very simple pesto using carrot greens, sunflower seeds and olive oil. It was very lightly just tossed through the pasta and then dollops on top
I have only ever made regular pasta with my machine and like the others find it hard enough persuading myself to do that, but this looks amazing. Such colour. We grew carrots this year but I’d never had thought to do a carrot top pesto. Must get more adventurous with the pesto sauces!
Thank you.
The carrot greens smell so amazing I hate wasting them. Pesto its good but they are also great blitzed into soup and curries. Almost a lemony flavour.
What a beautifully vibrant pasta colour! I tried making beetroot tagliatelle once but when it came to boiling the pasta all the colour leached out and I ended up with a barely perceptible pink pasta. Saying that, it was pre-packaged cooked beetroot I used so maybe that was it. I must try it again with fresh!
Oh no! Maybe it dies work better with super fresh ones. I’d never have thought it though. Beets should be beets!
Wow, I bet it tasted amazing. Beautiful photos too!
Thanks Michelle x
Looks delicious! Can the pasta be stored once dry?
Hi I think you can toss it in semolina and then put in the fridge but honestly I’ve never tried it so not sure