Happy Valentine’s Day! Chocolate, roses, and heart-shaped ravioli! If you make these for your Valentine, these are definitely a labor of love. The red pasta is made from beets, and you get a lovely pink dough if you mix regular and beet-colored pasta. (Mom pro-tip: I used three beets in this recipe. My kids ate every last morsel and didn’t even notice!)
Pasta is an especially appropriate meal for Valentine’s Day, since there are multiple St. Valentines recognized by the Catholic Church – but they were all Roman. Two were martyred: a priest in 3rd century Rome who continued marrying couples in defiance of Emperor Claudius II’s order forbidding marriage. Another was Valentine of Terni, a bishop who was also beheaded by Claudius. According to another legend, Valentine was killed for helping Christians escape Roman prisons. According to this story, he went the first “valentine” greeting himself to his jailor’s daughter.
What is significant about February 14th? While some believe that the date marks the date of Valentine’s death or burial, others claim that the Church set the date in February in order to make the pagan celebration of Lupercalia (a fertility festival) more Christian. Lupercalia was formally outlawed at the end of the 5th century.
It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that St. Valentine’s Day became formally associated with love. Apparently, many in France and England believed that it was the beginning of birds’ mating season, as noted by poet Geoffrey Chaucer in his poem “Parliament of Foules,“ written in the late 1300s. This poem, believed to be the first St. Valentine’s Day poem written, describes a narrator who falls asleep and dreams of a group of birds that gather together on ‘seynt valentynes day’ to choose their mates.
While these birds of a feather may have flocked together, the holiday grew with technology. In the middle 1700s, it was common for friends and lovers to exchange small gifts or notes. By the turn of the 20th century, pre-printed cards made it even easier, and lower postage costs encouraged even far-flung friends and couples to get into the spirit. Today, the holiday is the second largest card-sending holiday of the year.
Valentine Ravioli with Lemon, Thyme, and Oregano
Ingredients
Plain pasta
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
Beet pasta
- 3 medium beets roasted, peeled and pureed (100-120 g)
- 300 g all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
Filling
- 1 c whole milk ricotta cheese
- ½ c grated parmigano-reggiano cheese
- 3 t chopped freshly parsley
- ½ t kosher salt
- 2 grinds black pepper
- dash ground nutmeg
Lemon-thyme sauce
- 2 T butter
- 3 T cream
- 1 t chopped fresh oregano
- 1 t chopped fresh thyme
- 1 T chopped fresh parsley
- ½ t lemon zest
- ½ t kosher salt
- ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 c grated parmigiano-reggiano, for serving
Instructions
Regular pasta
- Combine flour, eggs, and yolks in bowl of food processor. Pulse until mixture just comes together (it will resemble course meal). Turn out onto lightly floured surface and knead by hand until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover with plastic and let rest at least 30 minutes. Note: the ambient humidity makes a big difference in how much flour you need. If the mixture isn't coming together or seems dry, add another egg yolk in the food processor. If it seems too wet, add flour in as you knead. It should be smooth but not sticky, as it will hydrate more while resting. I don't put salt in my dough – but I do salt the water I cook the pasta in.
Beet pasta
- Wash and trim the beets, then wrap in foil and roast in the oven at 350° until soft. Let cool, then peel and puree in food processor. For this recipe, you only need about 100-120g of pureed beets. But, if you only have a big food processor, it might be hard to get the beets pureed as finely as you want. In this case, roast more beets to fill the bowl, and freeze the extra for later use. Once beets are pureed, combine them with flour and eggs in bowl of food processor. Pulse until mixture just comes together. If it seems too wet, add flour until it resembles course meal. Turn onto floured surface and knead, adding more flour as necessary. I found beet pasta to be much more tender and stickier than plain. Don't be shy about adding flour until it is no longer sticky.
Ravioli filling
- Combine ingredients in a bowl and whisk until combined.
Ravioli
- Using a rolling pin or pasta machine, roll strips of pasta dough to 1-2 mm thick. To make the stripes, I followed the instructions from MangiaBenePasta (see notes). I did roll both separate sheets to the desired setting I wanted (5 on my Atlas 150), and then started at a wider setting when I re-rolled the striped pieces (3). Using a Valentine cookie cutter, cut heart shapes. Moisten a finger on the outside edge of each bottom piece to help the ravioli seal. Drop the filling mixture in the middle, and cover with a top sheet. Press the outside edges together with the tines of a fork. I made striped and beet-colored hearts. The pink hearts were the result of using the leftover scraps of pasta after cutting. Serendipity!Place ravioli on lightly floured surface, and cover with plastic wrap.
Sauce
- Heat water to boil pasta.In separate saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, and add thyme and oregano. Turn heat to low and stir in cream. Stir in lemon zest, salt, and a few grinds of black pepper. Stir in parsley.Boil ravioli for 2 minutes, and drain, reserving 1/2 c. pasta water. Add the pasta water 1 T at a time to sauce over low heat, until sauce has desired consistency. Add ravioli to coat.Sprinkle additional grated parmigiano-reggiano on ravioli for serving.