Beets & Bowties

We got beets for the 4th (or 5th?)  time in just over a month  from our CSA last week. I'm not complaining, mind you - I love beets. But I've done beet salad (future post), beet burgers, and roasted beets with horseradish  butter (oops, forgot to take a picture!), and I didn't feel like doing any of that again.

Cheese whore that I am, I had 3 different kinds of the good stuff  sitting around, and I started craving it with some pasta. Pasta + cheese + beets + roasted garlic = smashing pretty in pink dinner. How eighties! 

Beets & Bowties

1 bunch, or about 3 medium, red beets

1 head of garlic, plus 2-3 additional cloves, minced

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan

Goat cheese, about 2 tbsp

1  16 0z bowtie (farfalle) pasta 

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 -2 tbsp parsley, dried

salt and pepper, to taste

To roast your beets and garlic, first remove the greens from the beets, leaving about 3 inches of stem. Wrap each beet tightly in foil. 

Next, remove as much paper from the garlic bulb as you can while still keeping all the cloves intact.  Cut off the top of the bulb to expose the cloves and sprinkle with a pinch of salt and drizzle with a bit of olive oil. Wrap tightly in foil.

Place the beets and garlic in a preheated 400 degree oven for an hour or so - it really depends on how large your beets are. Check them after an hour and if a knife slips in easily , they're done. (Don't worry about the garlic - it  can stay in the oven as long as the beets do.) Also, if they're done, the "skin" on the beets should slip right off. Once you get the skin off, just re-wrap them in the foil so they don't get cold. 

Meanwhile, get some salted water boiling for the pasta.

While you're waiting for the water to boil, combine 3 tbsp of olive oil and the extra 2-3 minced garlic cloves in a skillet over very, very low heat to allow the garlic to infuse the oil.

While you're cooking the pasta (please as always, do NOT follow the package directions unless you want mushy, overcooked pasta!) squeeze the roasted garlic into the olive oil and whisk with a fork to integrate into the sauce. You can turn the heat up a touch at this point.

Drain the pasta. Now is a good time to cut the beets into smallish chunks - they won't have time to get cold, but they should be cool enough by now that you don't burn your fingers.

Into the drained pasta, stir in the ricotta, followed by the olive oil/roasted garlic mixture, the beets, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine thoroughly.

Finish with some dried parsley and  grated parmesan; dot with goat cheese.

Enjoy with a nice glass of red wine!