the beet ravioli again

the day before i had my last paper due, i decided i needed a break, and sent myself off to miriam's and josh's pre-hannukah party with the bottle of champagne that lauren dropped off. said bottle of champagne, incidentally, went to toast the impending end of finals, and miriam's new job at nelson/nygaard (much thanks to lauren).

if these smallish informal dinner parties are what real life consists of, i'm more than ready for it. in honor of hannukah, we had latkes and doughnuts (sufgiyanot, i believe the proper spelling is...) at the kitchen table, which, on occasions like this, is pulled away from the wall, the leaf put in, and chairs of all kinds pulled around it - it's kind of like eating in the galley of the ship. close quarters - fridge, stove, and sink all within an arm's reach - and thoroughly enjoyable. we also had roasted broccoli and pot roast, the latter having been bought at star on a whim (supermarkets are so good for those).

as part of the guest party, carrien made beet ravioli with the golden beets from our boston organics shipment, and i, having nothing to show for the past week but copious drawings, a model, and a poorly written paper, brought along the bottle of champage, which i had stuck in the fridge the day before in anticipation of thursday. i had had my first favorable encounter with beets the year before, when somebody at lmf (i think it was mika since carrien has no recollection of it) made beet risotto. beets are actually good. not that i'd ever thought they were bad, per se, but i had had quite enough pickled beets in lisbon. fresh beets are another matter entirely. i encourage you to try beets the next time you are at the supermarket. the beet ravioli were particularly good, and i of course ate too many of them.

however, this is all a buildup to the point of this post, which is to say that i am making the beet ravioli for new year's eve tomorrow at nora's. this is partly a desire to make the beet ravioli myself, and partly a desire to make tiny, labor-intensive things for a manageable number of people (5). i'm going to do them in wonton wrappers like carrien did, and make them a bit smaller, because then they will go in soup. i really think they would go best in a plain chicken broth with some peas or scallions or something, but in that case, the only kind of acceptable chicken broth would be the from-scratch variety, which isn't going to happen. as an alternative, i'm planning to make a plain tomato soup with the vegetables sauteed in rendered bacon fat, in hopes that the acidity of the tomatoes will go with the beets, and the smokiness of the bacon will with both tomatoes and beets. the garnish will probably be sour cream, and of course, the poppy seeds still figure into the equation (the original ravioli were sauteed in butter and poppy seeds). perhaps also some peas for color and flavor? i don't know. anyway, more to come on this later - i have no idea how this will all turn out because i can't really imagine the flavors well enough to put them all together in a foolproof manner.

beet ravioli with poppy seed butter
2 large red or golden beets (about 14 ounces)
1/2 cup fresh whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons dried breadcrumbs

1 pkg wonton wrappers

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tablespoon poppy seeds
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. preheat oven to 400F. wrap beets individually in foil; place on baking sheet. roast until tender when pierced with knife, about 1 hour. open foil carefully (steam will escape). cool. peel beets; finely grate into medium bowl. add ricotta cheese and season to taste with salt and pepper. stir in breadcrumbs.

2. place small bowl of water next to work surface. spoon 1 tablespoon beet filling onto a wonton wrapper, dampen the edge of the wonton around the filling with water, and seal, pushing out as much air as possible. press the edges firmly to seal; the ravioili can be sealed in any shape you like. transfer to a nonstick surface, dusted with flour.

3. melt butter in large skillet over medium heat and stir in poppy seeds; keep warm. working in batches, cook ravioli in large pot of boiling salted water until cooked through, stirring often, about 2 minutes (alternatively, you could nuke these in a microwave, probably, if you put them on a plate with a bit of water). using slotted spoon, transfer to skillet with melted butter; toss to coat. divide ravioli among 8 plates; sprinkle with Parmesan.

[makes 8 first-course servings]