Slow roasting beets in a salt crust brings out the sweetest flavors balanced with creamy mascarpone cheese. Rest the tortellini and let the gorgeous magenta stain paint the tortellini with an organic brushstroke.
Ingredients
- Pasta Dough
- 200g (1 ½ cup) Durum Flour
- 200g (1 ½ cup) AP Flour
- 3g (1 tsp) Vital Wheat Gluten
- 165g (11 tbsp) Water
- 28g (1 tbsp) Olive Oil
- Tortellini Filling
- 500g (1 lb) Beets, 2 Medium Sized
- 240g (1 cup) Water
- 350g (2 ¾ cup) AP Flour
- 100g (6 Tbsp & 2 tsp) Salt
- 4g (1 tsp) White Pepper
- 226g (8 oz) Mascarpone
- 4.8g (1 Tbsp) Ultrasperse 3
- Semolina for Dusting
Equipment
- Bowl
- Bench Scraper
- Blender
- Small Rubber Spatula
- 2 ½ inch Ring Cutter
- Pastry Bag
- Brush
- Chopstick
- Pasta Roller
- Ring Cutters, or Mason Jar Lids
Timing
Active Time: 40 Minutes
Total Time: 2 -24 Hours
Yield
50 Tortellini
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Mix Flour
Sift together the durum flour, ap flour, and vital wheat gluten. Place them on a clean work surface and create a well in the center.
Pour in the water and olive oil.
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Whisk Oil and Water
Begin whisking the water and oil with a fork slowly incorporating flour. I like to incorporate a small amount of flour and mix it until it is smooth then slowly add more.
Once your dough starts to break into small pieces put the fork to the side and begin kneading the dough.
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Knead Dough
Knead the dough for 5 minutes or until it forms a semi-smooth skin.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Knead the dough for 1 more minute and it should have a smooth skin.
The dough can be refrigerated for 2 days or frozen for up to a month. The dough will begin to oxidize after the second day.
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Salt Dough Beet
Preheat the oven to 350°F
In a bowl, mix together the AP flour, salt, white pepper and water until it forms a loose dough.
Peel the beets and reserve the peels for beet ash (separate recipe).
Press the salt dough into 2 equal disks. Wrap each beet in the salt dough and cover them completely, there should be no beet showing and no cracks in the dough. Make it as smooth as possible to create a seal. This will act like a pressure cooker for the beet.
Bake the beets at 350F for 1 hour.
Remove from the oven and allow them to cool for 20 minutes.
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Purée Beet
Crack open the salt dough and remove the beets.
Cut the beets into quarters and place them in a blender and puree the beets until roughly chopped. Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl if needed.
Add the Mascarpone and Ultrasperse 3 to the blender and blend until it forms a smooth puree, about 2 minutes.
Cool this completely before use. Once cooled move the pastry bag.
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Roll Pasta Dough
Press the pasta dough into a disk.
Use a pasta roller to roll the pasta into sheets. We like the final sheets to be about as thin as a penny. This will differ depending on the pasta roller you are using. So if its a little thicker or thinner that is fine. But you do not want to go too thin as the pasta could rupture when wrapping the tortellini.
Use a 2 ½ inch ring cutter (or a small mouth mason jar lid) to cut circles into the dough. Cut all the circles before lifting the rest of the pasta from the table. If you don’t have ring cutters and you used a small mason jar lid you may have to use a knife to be sure the circles are separate from the rest of the dough.
Lift the dough from the table and form into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. This can be used to make more pasta later.
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Make Tortellini
To make a tortellini brush some water on ½ of the edge each circle of pasta. This will help seal the tortellini.
Place a small marble sized dollop of beet puree in the center of each circle of pasta.
Fold the pasta over and seal the beet puree in the center. Be sure to press the pasta firm enough that it seals. Do this with every circle.
Cover all the filled pasta semi circles with damp paper towels to keep them from drying out.
Fill a small cup with sugar or salt and stick a chopstick in it thick side down. The chopstick should be angled and pointing directly at you. It should also be sturdy to the touch, if it is too loose add more salt or sugar.
This will help you make that signature hole in the tortellini.
Use two hands to hold each end of the semi circle. Place the semi circle on the chopstick. Remember the chop stick should be pointing right at you. And if you are doing this properly the semi circle should look like the sun coming up over the horizon.
Bring the two ends of the pasta around the chopstick until the meet. It should look like the pasta is giving the chopstick a hug.
Pull the tortellini off of the chopstick and place it on a sheet pan that has been dusted with semolina.
Continue until all the tortellinis have been made.
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Store, Cook, Serve
The tortellini can be cooked immediately or they can be held for 24 hours and the beets will color the pasta beautifully. We suggest the latter, as the appearance is stunning.
To cook the Tortellini boil them in water for 2-3 minutes and serve.
This pasta freezes well, we suggest allowing the pasta to rest for 24 hours to attain that burgundy color and then freezing for up to a month.
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