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Roasted blue cheese and beet ravioli with fresh grated beets and pine nut milk.Sean MacDonald

October is an exciting time of year: The weather calls for cooking warm, comforting food for family and friends. A rich pasta stuffed with a velvety, creamy filling, like the one I've created here, makes for the perfect fall meal.

In this pasta dish, which is on the fall menu at Market, my restaurant in Calgary, and is quickly becoming one of our guests' favourites, I have paired blue cheese with beets. The robust flavour of aged and roasted blue cheese complements the sweet, earthiness of a root vegetable. This seasonal flavour combination pairs nicely with other classic fall dishes.

Feel free to garnish the dish with whatever you would like. Here, I've suggested a pine nut milk, which you'll want to make the night before. At the restaurant we add pickled seared leeks, tarragon oil and fried beet tops as shown in the photo.

If you make this recipe at home, take a picture and post it on Instagram. Tag me (@seanymacd) in your posts so I can see your creations.

Servings: 4

Grated beets and beet puree

3 medium-sized red beets

½ cup water

1 orange

¹/³ cup red wine vinegar

¼ cup olive oil

½ teaspoon salt

Pine nut milk (Optional)

½ cup pine nuts

2 cups water

1 teaspoon salt

1½ teaspoons sugar

Pasta dough

2 cups flour (plus extra for dusting)

3 egg yolks

2 whole eggs

1 tablespoon oil

¼ cup beet puree

1 teaspoon salt

Ravioli filling

1 cup onion, julienned

½ cup blue cheese

1 teaspoon white wine vinegar

1 tablespoon orange juice

1 tablespoon chives, finely sliced

1 cup mascarpone

Salt

Ravioli egg wash

2 eggs, beaten

Method

Grated beets and beet puree

For the beet puree, place one of the beets in a medium-sized pot. Cover the beet with water and place on the stove. Bring the pot to a boil and simmer for about an hour. Keep topping up with water as needed. Check the beet to see if it is cooked by poking with a fork. Once cooked, strain the water off and let the beet cool slightly.

Using a paring knife, peel off the skin and trim the ends of the beet. Discard the peels, cut the beet into small pieces and place in a blender. Add the water and a splash of olive oil. Blend until smooth. Reserve the puree.

For the grated beets, using a peeler, peel the skin off of the two remaining beets. Trim off the tips and place on the cutting board. Grate the beets with a medium--sized cheese grater into a bowl. Season with salt and lay on a paper towel-lined baking tray to dry. Leave in a warm place for about two hours.

Squeeze the juice out of the orange into a small bowl. Add the red wine vinegar, olive oil and salt. Set aside until plating for use as dressing for the grated beets.

Pine nut milk (Optional)

Place the pine nuts in a sauté pan and toast over medium-high heat until aromatic and slightly light brown in colour.

Transfer the nuts to a bowl and pour water on top of the nuts. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight (about 12 hours).

After 12 hours, transfer to a blender and blend until smooth. Pour the mixture back into the bowl and let sit in the fridge for another two hours.

Pour the mixture through a chinois or cheese cloth. Discard the chuck and reserve the milk. Stir in the salt and sugar until dissolved. Reserve in the fridge until use.

Pasta dough

Place the flour in a pile on a clean cooking surface. With two fingers, use a circular motion to make a well in the centre of the pile.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a blender. Blend until fully incorporated.

Pour the mixture into the well in the flour. Slowly incorporate the flour into the liquid by moving your hand in a circular motion in the egg mixture, gradually pulling the flour in. With the other hand, slowly push some of the other flour into the mix. After the egg mixture begins to get thicker, mix all of the ingredients with both hands to form the dough.

Once the dough has formed, knead the dough using the heels of your hands. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, allowing the gluten to form. You can test this by pressing a finger into the dough. It should bounce back slightly and feel smooth. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Ravioli filling

For the filling, preheat oven to 350 F.

Place the onions in a medium-sized pot over medium heat. Once the onions start to sweat, turn the heat down to low. Cook the onions on low for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally. The onions should caramelize and smell very sweet. While stirring, scrape the bottom of the pot to stop the onions from sticking. Deglaze the pan with water if needed. Once the onions are brown in colour, transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment paper to cool.

Place the blue cheese on a baking sheet and put in the oven. Roast for about 15--20 minutes, or until the cheese has slightly melted and started to colour slightly on the surface.

In a food processor, combine the roasted blue cheese, caramelized onion, vinegar and orange juice. Pulse until combined and mixed well. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and allow to cool down to room temperature.

Cut the chives, and then add the mascarpone, chives and salt to the bowl.

Fold all of the ingredients together until fully incorporated. (The blue cheese mixture must be cool to stop the mascarpone from splitting when combined.) Reserve for filling the raviolis.

For the raviolis, pull the pasta dough out of the fridge to temper slightly. Cut the dough into quarters. Take one quarter and, using a pasta roller on a hard flat surface, roll out the dough starting at the thickest setting. Place the rolled out piece of dough on the table surface, and dust it with flour if the dough is too wet. Take one side and fold it back into the dough 1/3 of the way and take the other side and fold it on top. Folding the dough produces layers and folds air into the dough, which makes for a better pasta. Repeat this process about six times on the thickest setting.

Next, roll the dough on the next thinnest setting. Continue this process until you have reached the second-thinnest setting. If the dough feels too wet, dust it with flour. If it is too dry, spray a little bit of water on it to moisten it. The pasta should be thin enough to see your hand through it slightly, but not so thin that it stretches when you touch it. If you do not have a pasta roller, use a rolling pin or wine bottle for this process.

Lay your pasta sheet out. Fold the pasta sheet in half horizontally to crease it and pull back apart. Using a small spoon, scoop small balls of ravioli filling and place on the pasta sheet about 1 inch from the edge.

Leave room in between each ball of filing, about 3 to -5 inches. This space is needed to produce the folded edges.

Egg wash around the filling. Fold the top half of the pasta sheet over the bottom half, starting from the crease in the pasta sheet. Be sure to fold slowly and press outward to push out the air so no bubbles form. Pat the dough between each filling bump to create a seal.

Using a ring cutter or pasta cutter, cut the raviolis. Be sure to leave a gap between where the filling is and where you cut to produce a flap.

Place the finished raviolis on a baking tray dusted with flour or semolina flour. Cover with slightly damp towel to ensure the pasta doesn’t dry out. Discard the trimmed pasta dough and repeat this process until all the pasta dough is used.

To cook the pasta, place a large pot filled with water over high heat. Season the water heavily with salt. In a small sauce pot, heat up the pine nut milk slightly. Once the pasta water is almost boiling, add the raviolis. Keep water at a gentle simmer. Once the pasta begins to float, wait another 30 seconds and pull them from the water. Toss them with butter and season with salt.

Pour the pine nut milk on the plate in the centre. Place raviolis on the plate on top of the pine nut milk.

Dress the grated beets with the orange vinaigrette, season with salt, plate and serve.

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