Recipes from two New York women respected in the food business influenced this dish: In her bookA Fresh Taste of Italy,Michele Scicolone (once my Brooklyn landlady) offers Spaghetti with Rubies, where the rubies are chunks of roasted beets sautéed in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes. At her legendary Brooklyn trattoria Al di Là, chef/co-owner Anna Klinger serves ravioli stuffed with beets tossed in brown butter and poppy seeds. Beets, together with poppy seeds, are typical in dishes of the northern Italian regions of Friuli and Alto Adige. With all these factors in mind, I came up with my own combination of pasta with beets and poppy seeds.
Ingredients
Serves 4-6
Step 1
1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the beets in a glass or ceramic baking dish. Cover with the olive oil and water. Bake until a tester easily passes through the beets, about 1 1/4 hours. Let cool.
Step 2
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
Step 3
3. Peel the beets and cut into chunks. Add to the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process to a rough puree. Add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook according to the package directions.
Step 4
4. Add the butter to a 10-inch skillet. Turn on the heat to high. Brown the butter, about 2 minutes. Add the poppy seeds and toast for 2 minutes. Add the pureed beets, salt, and the 1/4 cup pasta water to the skillet. Stir to fully incorporate.
Step 5
5. Use a wire-mesh skimmer or tongs to remove the spaghetti from the pot and place them directly into the skillet with the sauce. Stir to combine.
Step 6
6. Divide the spaghetti into equal portions and place on warm plates. Use two round or oval soup spoons to form little balls of the goat's milk cheese. Place a ball on top of each serving.
Step 7
7. Serve immediately.
How would you rate Farro Spaghetti, Beets, Brown Butter, Poppy Seeds?
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Reviews (24)
Back to TopThis is one of my all time favorite pastas. I make it every year at the start of beet season. The beets are so earthy & pair perfectly with the whole wheat pasta. The goat cheese adds tang & creaminess to balance the dish. Don’t be tempted to leave the poppy seeds out. They add a wonderful texture to the dish.
jbean13
Portland, OR
3/10/2020
Oh man, this is so much better than the sum of its parts! For the folks having a difficult time with the butter - it sounds like your pan is too hot. I added a few sprigs of fresh herbs to the beet puree (parsley, basil, oregano), and topped it with a little dab of smoked goat, and a little dab of goat with red pepper in it, and it was divine. Great for a dinner party because you can roast the beets ahead and it comes together so quickly. That's my plan this weekend!
hspence
Seattle, WA
10/17/2013
this is one of our favorites now! the combination is just simple and delicious. I end up making extra beet puree and just keeping it in the freezer for whenever.
adrianas
The Woodlands, TX
10/13/2013
I too was a little bit skeptical about this recipe, but we really enjoyed it. A rich and hearty vegetarian dinner! We peeled the beets first and then roasted them without the oil to avoid splattering. The outsides got a little bit tough/puckered, but they blended up just fine.
LittleRedHen
5/10/2013
So surprising and delicious! I altered the beet-roasting per others' suggestions. I coated the beets w/ oil in the roasting pan, added the water, then covered w/ tin foil to avoid splattering the oven. Oh! And I lowered the heat on the butter-melting at the start, so I didn't burn it while working on the other ingredients. Definitely a success!
piperf83
4/2/2013
The recipe calls for putting the butter into a pan with the heat on "high" to brown. I can brown butter but not with a pan on "high" heat, particularly when the recipe calls for the pan remaining on high with the butter while I cook other ingredients in it. Perhaps it's a limitation on my part but at this point in the recipe I had to deviate. Browned the butter on the appropriate setting for my stove, added the poppy seeds and toasted, then turned the heat up when I added the beets and remaining ingredients to the pan. That worked but I'll need to play with the heat some more next time. Results were a lovely vegetarian dish.
Anonymous
Burlington, VT
12/5/2012
Beautiful *and* delicious! Other than adding some freshly ground black pepper to the sauce, we didn't change a thing. We used a gluten-free quinoa, amaranth and brown rice pasta and to follow "proper food combining" principles, we substituted guacamole (made with lemon juice instead of lime) for the goat cheese, which added a hint of garlic. This created a lovely colour contrast (and kept it vegan, for those who avoid dairy). My husband said he would eat this dish every week!
oneof7
Ottawa, ON
11/30/2012
so different from any pasta I've ever had! Served it as part of a 4 course dinner party and everyone was very impressed. Would also go nicely with fish.
AChase
Los Angeles
1/3/2012
神! !这是如此的美味,一个漂亮的说h with the beets. Make it, its totally worth it!!
mkwescott
Missoula, MT
5/16/2011
This was a really strange dish. I didn't find it to have nearly as much flavor as I was expecting, but there was something strangely appealing about it. The goat cheese is absolutely essential in this dish; it would be inedible without it. Because of the lack of flavor, I added a bunch of dried herbs to it (basil, rosemary, oregano). Probably won't be making again.
ennaycats
brooklyn, NY
12/13/2010
I thought this recipe was a little unusual but thought I would give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised. I made the recipe as written but decided that a little more goat cheese wasn't a bad idea. This is going on the list as one of my favorite pasta dishes.
Anonymous
Atlanta
11/1/2010
This dish is both easy and delicious. The beet-roasting method wasn't great, though-- the oil spattered all over the oven and filled my kitchen with smoke. I tried covering the glass dish with tinfoil and reducing cook time 15-20 min., and that worked well for me.
Anonymous
Chicago, IL
9/27/2010
I learned to love beets from the time I spent living in Russia, but this recipe is much more subtly flavored than most of the Eastern European beet dishes. The browned butter and toasted poppy seeds add a really lovely flavor. I followed the recipe pretty closely this time, but in the future will probably use a little less butter. Not too difficult to make and not too expensive either!
Anonymous
new york, ny
7/26/2010
I loved this - but as always I did increase the amounts of beet, poppy seeds and goat's cheese - the flavours are beautiful and understated - but definitely add more cheese to cut through the sweet and richness of the dish
chanel11
melbourne, australia
6/18/2010
I made this because we had friends coming for dinner and wanted a vegetarian option along with the carbonara we made. I chose this because it seemed so interesting and wasn't too creamy. Made exactly as directed; everyone LOVED it! Plus, it just looks so cool. Just make sure you have enough goat cheese and people tend to love that stuff :)
chelzadel
Pioneer Valley, MA
4/16/2010
