Roasted Beet Pasta with Beet Gnocchi, Cream Cheese, Poppy Seeds
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This dish is a little over the top. Beet pasta with beet gnocchi, in cream cheese sauce topped off with toasted poppy seeds is not likely to be found on too many menus or in anybody’s kitchen. I wanted it to be prettier, but waiting until the last minute to take the Five Star Foodie Challenge left me with little time. This morning I had three red beets and I had to do something.
I had already done two beet recipes in recent months. I made a wonderful carpaccio with golden beets back in the fall, and a jewel toned crostini with beets, honey and goat cheese for New Year’s.
Not to be beat by a beat challenge, I wanted to stretch my own abilities and do something new. I substituted 1/2 cup of beet puree for an egg in my pasta recipe and that worked well. I used purple sweet potatoes for the gnocchi and the combination of flavors seems perfectly balanced. Both beets and sweet potatoes are sweet but in different ways, and I liked how they complimented each other.
I wanted to use toasted poppy seeds and that is what led to a cream cheese sauce. I thought about my favorite bagel and didn’t want to rush in too many flavors so the beets could be tasted.
This dish was a bit rushed, and with more time I may have added in chives or some shallots or sauteed purple onion. But the poppy seeds, when toasted, deliver a great flavor and I’m happy with how this turned out.
Flour, Eggs, Beet Puree for Beet Pasta
Pasta Dough
Once rolled out (or taken through a pasta machine) the pasta sits for 20 minutes covered. Then it is rolled up and cut into pasta noodles.
Pasta is dry enough to be placed into nests until cooking.
Beet and Purple Sweet Potato Gnocchi
Roasted Beet Pasta with Beet Gnocchi, Cream Cheese, Poppy Seeds
Ingredients
- Beet Pasta
- 1 medium size beet
- 2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 tablespoons cream cheese
- 2 tablespoons cream or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds toasted
Instructions
- Wrap unpeeled beet in foil. Bake for one hour at 300 degrees.
- Cool and rub off skin. It should peel easily.
- Puree beet in food processor.
- Put one cup of flour onto mat. Break in egg. Mix together with a fork. Add in puree, and knead several times to get the beat fully incorporated. Add second cup of flour in, a few tablespoons at a time. You may not need it all. Pasta dough should not be sticky.
- Wrap in plastic and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes. This makes a tender dough.
- Take through pasta roller or roll into sheets
- Place on cloth that has been floured. Allow to dry for 10-15 minutes or until the pasta can be rolled and cut without sticking together.
- To cook pasta, place in salted boiling water and cook for 3-6 minutes until done.
- In separate frying pan, place in cream cheese with milk and cook over low heat until cream cheese is melted. Toss pasta into pan. Plate and add toasted poppy seeds.
Notes
Please follow me on instagram. If you make this recipe, please tag me #spinachtiger.
If you love this recipe, please give it five stars. It means a lot. xoxo
Please be sure to check out all the dishes tomorrow morning at Five Star Foodie and Lazaro Cooks.
Well…hello there! I am so much in love with your bright pasta! BUT is there any way I can make it without eggs?
Amazing!! This tops my beet risotto by far haha .. Love, love, love the colours, and I bet it tasted incredible too!
I love this dish Angela. The color of the pasta dough is magical. I saw Deana used poppy seeds with her dish too. That is a brilliant pairing with the beets.
LL
P.S. Junk Food should be a lot of fun too!
So pretty and such great flavors!
Beautiful job. Love the dish. Thank you for participating. It may have been rushed but the final product was marvelous.
Job well done.
Pretty great job for a rushed recipe. I think it is very creative and love the creme cheese sauce.
Great dish! I love the double pasta hook up! The gnocchi intrigues me. It’s so bold!
Bren, thanks. I think between the two, the gnocchi tasted the most beet like and was my favorite.
That looks so awesome Angela. I love the color of beetroot and in fact I have a couple of beets left in the fridge so I might give it a go or mmm, maybe I’ll go for that crostini recipe instead!
A Pasta lovers dream! This is not only beautiful but just a delight for all of the senses 🙂
Beautiful way to present beets. We have still not tackled gnocchi, even though most say it’s easy to do. Thanks for the little reminder to give it a try. Perfect dish Angela.
You have to make gnocchi. So easy. so good. And, I can’t wait to see what kind of flavors you might do. Something exotic?
I know you love your purple food. But it’s your red food that makes me love you most. We became friends over red food. XOGREG
Thanks Greg. We’re going to do that again this December, so get ready for red.
That beet pasta looks beautiful Angela! And I love how you made two diff types!
I love that you made two pasta varieties. The color is stunning and that cream cheese poppy combo is a winner.
Lora, thank you. I was going for that bagels and cream cheese taste
This was an incredible dish. It was a great challenge and you nailed it.
I have to say I was curious about your gnocchi… the sweet potato addition is really interesting. I love the beet pasta for the color and the flavor. I remember having a terrible version from a shop once that tasted nothing like beets. I tried it at home with good ingredients and voila… delish!
Once again a great fun dish… love the tousled pasta look!
Thanks Deana, I saw some beet gnocchi around the web. Not very pretty, not deep enough in color. The purple sweet potato was the secret and lots of beet puree.
Really well done, love the color.
I would love to try beet pasta…and although it was difficult to photograph the final dish, the photos of the dough are stunning! So glad you made the deadline!
A terrific dish – with the pasta and the gnocchi, the color is so pretty! I love that you used the purple sweet potatoes in the gnocchi too!
Great pasta! I am a big fan of beets. That pasta dish looks really amazing.
Cheers,
Rosa
I adore this dish! Its stunning 🙂 AND delicious!
Amy, actually, this month the group has gone above and beyond with dishes so much better than mine.
looks awesome! i love beets, so this sounds absolutely delicious to me. nicely done! can’t wait to see everyone else’s posted tomorrow.