Cavatelli With Brown Butter Beets, Ricotta and Pistachios
Updated Oct. 16, 2023
- Total Time
- 40 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½cups whole milk ricotta
- ¼teaspoon finely grated orange zest, more to taste
- 1½teaspoons chopped fresh sage
- 1¼teaspoons kosher salt, more as needed
- ½teaspoon black pepper, more as needed
- 6tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1½pounds beets, peeled and finely grated in a food processor
- 1½teaspoons balsamic vinegar
- ¾pound fresh or dried cavatelli
- ½cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
- ¼cup chopped pistachios
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)
803 calories; 37 grams fat; 20 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 11 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 90 grams carbohydrates; 9 grams dietary fiber; 15 grams sugars; 29 grams protein; 928 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
In a small bowl, combine ricotta, orange zest and sage. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Step 2
In a large heavy skillet over medium heat, melt 5 tablespoons of butter. Cook until foam subsides and butter is a deep hazelnut color, about 5 minutes. (Watch carefully to see that it doesn’t burn.) Stir in beets and season with 1¼ teaspoons salt and ½ teaspoon pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook until beets are very tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in vinegar. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling salted water, cook cavatelli until al dente. Drain, reserving ⅓ cup cooking liquid.
- Step 4
Transfer pasta to a large warmed serving bowl. Toss with remaining 1 tablespoon butter, the grated cheese and most of the reserved liquid. Toss well; add remaining cooking liquid if necessary to reach a creamy consistency. Stir in beet mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Dollop spoonfuls of seasoned ricotta on top of pasta and sprinkle with pistachios and cracked black pepper.
Private Notes
Comments
Last night was our third time making this recipe and it doesn't cease to amaze: unique and delicious, and so visually arresting. The only thing we regret doing last night was grating the beets finely--would probably do medium next time so they would be sturdier. Made homemade ricotta and about half of the called amount which was perfect (in the past, there's been way too much leftover). Love this dish and it's always a hit!
We make this at least once a month. Beautiful color and flavor. Preferred modifications to recipe: - Wash and rub olive oil on beets; then roast for 60 min at 400 degrees - Peel and blend beets - Add to brown butter in sauté pan per recipe, but don’t need to cook long - Season according to recipe - Skip ricotta and nuts
It’s not terrible, but not great either. Flavors are ok, but texture all wrong. Even w/lots of added pasta cooking water, not enough liquid to work as pasta sauce. W/so much butter and cheese, plus cooked grated (aka mushy) beets, the final dish is heavy and gloppy. Although ricotta topping tasted great on is own, it didn’t work w/beets and pasta; every single diner scraped it off. Concept of beet pasta sauce good but this isn’t the recipe. As a starter, to fix, I’d dice beets instead of grate.
Wow, the blend of flavors is so spectacular. I had beets that were already cooked. I don’t have a food processor so i lightly blended them and added them into the browned butter. Other than that, i precisely followed the recipe. I’d serve this to company as the flavors are complex and the texture with the pistachios is lovely. Melissa Clark does it again!
We used pecorino instead of Parmesan — I don’t know if that’s a make-or-break but what we had was too heavy/rich for us. Had lots of leftovers we didn’t want to waste, so for the reheat we left off the ricotta and pistachios. I squeezed lemon over it (definitely needed some acid), added flaky salt, and shaved pecorino on top — it was great. Not as pretty, but very tasty.
I love beets and i love pasta so i thought i would love this. I follow the recipe exactly - The flavor is ok, very buttery/sweet. I dont think this needs the ricotta and im somewhat doubtful on the parmesan. Next time i think i would just throw the sage in with the beets at the end and call it a day, or use olive oil, lemon and dill to make it more like a cold pasta salad. But good idea (i would never have come up with this myself so im glad i tried it andhave something to riff on!)
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