These carrot ravioli and filled with a tasty mix of roast broccoli and ricotta, all coming together to make a delicious, colorful pasta meal.
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It's that time of year when there are some great things available at farmers' markets. Lots of fantastically colorful fruit and vegetables and locally made goodies from bread and pastries to cheese. One thing with making your own pasta is you can play around with different flavors in the pasta, and the filling if you make ravioli, and so I decided to try something a little different.
These carrot ravioli with broccoli-ricotta filling might not be the most typical combination, but the result is both colorful and delicious.
Experimenting with homemade pasta
I'm getting a bit more in the swing of things with my pasta maker these days, though I am still far from fast at ravioli - I clearly need to practice a bit more and these ones certainly make me want to try again soon.
The pasta here is made with roast carrots in the dough which gives them both a nice flavor and a beautiful color. I probably didn't puree the carrots as well as I should have so the pasta is more flecked than smooth. This does mean you have to take care when rolling that you don't get holes in the pasta, but it still looks pretty and tastes great.
The filling is simply roast broccoli, ricotta and a little garlic pureed together and is wonderfully creamy and tasty. It's a subtle flavor, but works really well with the pasta and is also easy to make as well.
To make the overall dish easier, the vegetables can be roasted ahead of time and then you can make up the filling and the pasta dough shortly before you are going to have them. I would definitely recommend roasting the vegetables rather than cooking any other way, as you want to get the moisture out of the carrots to save making the dough too wet, and the flavor for the broccoli is much more distinct and works really well too.
The bit that takes the time is rolling the pasta and forming the ravioli, but I think some of it is just practice. The actual cooking after you have made the carrot ravioli is very quick, they just take a few minutes in boiling water. They are ready when they boil up to the top, in much the same way as gnocchi.
How to serve these carrot ravioli
How you serve these is a bit up to your own taste, but I would recommend you keep it something relatively simple and not too strong so that you can appreciate the delicate flavors in the pasta itself. A simple oil and parmesan, browned butter or roast tomato sauce would all be good.
These might take a little bit more work than your average dish, but they are incredibly tasty - homemade pasta is so much better than bought and the additional flavors in here work so well too. Not to mention the fact that you get in a good amount of vegetables without even noticing! We all gobbled them down and enjoyed every last bite and, despite the fact they took a bit of time, I will certainly be making them again.
Want to try some other ravioli? Try these!
- Pumpkin ravioli (tortelli di zucca)
- Crab ravioli
- Lobster ravioli
- Sweet potato ravioli
- Plus try my fresh spinach pasta or pumpkin pasta for other homemade pasta projects and get more main dishes in the archives.
Tools to make ravioli:
I used this Pasta Machine
and Ravioli Maker
See more of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline's Cooking Amazon store.
Carrot ravioli with broccoli-ricotta filling
Ingredients
- 9 oz carrots 250g, gives 4oz cooked weight
- 4 oz broccoli 115g, gives 3oz cooked weight
- 1 tablespoon olive oil for roasting, approx
- 2 eggs
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 cups all purpose flour 280g plain flour
- 1 cup ricotta 240g
- 1 clove garlic small
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F/220C.
- Peel and chop carrots into chunks, put in a roasting dish and toss in a little olive oil. Chop the broccoli into florets and any chunks of stem (some is fine) and put in another roasting dish, toss with a little oil (for both you want them gently coated, not swimming in oil).
- Roast broccoli until gently brown, around 10min, and carrots until tender, around 35min.
- Remove both from oven when done and allow to cool. Up to this stage can be done a day ahead.
- To make the pasta, puree the carrot in a food processor (or blend, if it won't make it particularly smooth and you prefer a smooth texture) then add the eggs, egg yolk and salt and pulse until well chopped and mixed, scraping down as needed.
- Add the flour about ½ cup at a time and pulse three or four times after each addition. Once all added, pulse until the dough comes together, away from the sides into a ball.
- Remove the dough to a floured surface and knead with floured hands for about 5 minutes. It should be soft but not sticky - if it is, add a little more all-purpose/plain flour as you knead.
- Wrap in plastic/cling film and allow to rest at room temperature for around 30min. At this stage, you can keep the dough in the fridge for a day or two until ready to use.
- While the pasty is chilling, make the filling - blend together the broccoli, ricotta and garlic until well mixed then set aside (or chill if more than a few mins) until ready to make up the ravioli.
- When ready, divide the dough into 4-6 sections and cover the pieces you aren't working with with a damp cloth to save them drying out. Prepare some trays by dusting them with flour.
- As you work with each piece, flatten it out slightly, dust with flour then put it through your pasta roller on the widest settings a few times (3-5 about right) until smooth, dusting with flour in between if at all sticky. Then move up the settings rolling once or twice at each settings until you get to the thickness you would like - I usually go to around 4 on my pasta roller.
- If using a ravioli mould, lay the sheet of pasta over a ravioli mould then press down the frame to make indents. Fill each to the top with a teaspoon of filling.
- Lightly dampen around the edges of each ravioli then roll another pasta layer to place on top, trying to avoid any air getting in each one. Press down with a rolling pin to seal then trim the excess pasta from around the side of the mould and add to a piece to use later. Carefully remove each ravioli from the mould and lay them on the floured trays.
- If not using a mould, you can make them by laying the first piece of pasta out, dotting teaspoons of filling out evenly in lines with gaps between, dampening between then laying another layer on top. Then gently press in the areas between the filling to seal and cut.
- Once all the pasta has been used and you are ready to cook, place a few ravioli at a time in a shallow pan of boiling water for around 2-3 minutes until they rise up to the top, then remove with a slotted spoon and cook the rest in batches.
Nutrition
More farmstand food ideas:
Appetizers, Sides and Salads
- 8 Grain Bread by What Smells So Good?
- Farm Fresh Gazpacho by An Appealing Plan
- Farmer's Market Potato Salad by Bobbi's Kozy Kitchen
- Gazpacho Shooters with Avocado and Corn Salsa by The Wimpy Vegetarian
- Grilled Peach Caprese by A Gouda Life
- Grilled Prosciutto Corn by Palatable Pastime
- Radish Top Pesto by Our Good Life
Entreés
- Farmstand Kebobs with Tahini Dipping Sauce by Jane's Adventures in Dinner
- Gemista (Greek Stuffed Tomatoes) by Curious Cuisiniere
- Spaghetti and Zoodles with Vegetable Bolognese by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
- Spaghetti Squash Shrimp Pesto by Tasting Page
- Sweet Corn Chowder with Crabmeat by The Redhead Baker
- Ziti with Bacon and Greens by Cooking Chat
Desserts
- Classic Peach Pie by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
- Dairy Free Peach Mango Lassis with Coconut Whipped Cream by Cupcakes & Kale Chips
- Peach Berry Cocktail by Cosmopolitan Cornbread
- Raspberry Rhubarb Sweet Rolls by Grumpy's Honeybunch
- Triple Cherry Crisp by Pies and Plots
Remember to pin for later!
Steve
Step 5 mentions adding the eggs and an egg yolk, but the egg yolk is not mentioned in the ingredients. Is there supposed to be two eggs and one yolk in the ingredients?
Caroline's Cooking
Yes, my apologies, that line seems to have been deleted accidentally - now updated. Hope you enjoy!
SaraLily
Yum!!! I love ravioli - never tried it home made but these look delicious!!
Caroline's Cooking
Homemade are definitely worth trying, SaraLily - I hope you give them a try and like them. Thanks for stopping by!
Stef
This sounds just delicious! I love the idea of having carrot in the pasta, plus the colour is awesome!
Yummy 🙂
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, Stef, the carrots do make it a great color and it's an added bonus being healthy, too.
Joanne/Wine Lady Cooks
Thank you so much for sharing your delicious Carrot Ravioli recipe with Foodie Friends Friday party this weekend. I make homemade raviolis and I would love to try your recipe. Pinning/sharing this weekend. We look forward to seeing you again with another delicious recipe.
A FFF Co-Host,
Joanne
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, Joanne, I hope you get a chance to try it and enjoy. I plan to be back at FFF again too!
Dini @ The Flavor Bender
WOW!! These looks AMAZING!! I love farmers markets too! they inspire me to try new things and create new delicious things to eat!
This is truly inspired! I love making m own flavored pasta too, but NEVER tried carrot! Next time I'm going to give carrot a go 🙂
Caroline's Cooking
Thank you. I hope you do give it a go, Dini - it's not a particularly strong flavor but it is tasty and such a lovely color.
susan // the wimpy vegetarian
I've GOT to make this! I've made a lot of pasta over the years, including ravioli, but never with carrots. Really gorgeous as well as healthy!
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, Susan, I hope you do manage and enjoy it. It's great being both pretty and healthy - a definite bonus!
Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere
I LOVE making homemade ravioli! We haven't tried a carrot version yet. Now it's on our list!
Caroline's Cooking
It's definitely worth a try, Sarah, both for the veggie goodness and the nice color!
Joy | The Joyful Foodie
I agree - homemade pasta really is so much better than store bought! I love that you put the roasted carrots in the actual pasta (plus, it's so pretty!). Definitely something I need to try!
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, Joy - I hope you manage to try it, it tastes good as well as being pretty!
Laura Dembowski
I so want to make my own pasta. You have taken it up so many levels! Seriously, I think you are giving Mario Batali a run for his money!!
Caroline's Cooking
Thanks, Laura - I'm not sure about that but very kind of you to say and they are certainly really tasty!