“I saw a cool way to put designs into pasta and thought I could try to make red stripes for the American Flag. My favorite parts of making this were when I made the nest in the flour to hold the ingredients. I loved mixing the beet dough and seeing the red color pop out! I also really liked to turn the pasta crank. My dad grinds all of our flour. We grow a lot of vegetables used to make the garden sauce for the ravioli.”

- Daniela Bergantz, Age 10, the 2016 Healthy Lunchtime Challenge winner from Utah

Makes 6 Servings or 30 Ravioli

INGREDIENTS

For the Whole-Wheat Dough:

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup 9-grain flour (or you can substitute all-purpose or semolina)
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 egg, beaten, for sealing

For the Red Flag-Stripe Dough:

• ½ beet, peeled, halved, and quartered
• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• ½ cup 9-grain flour (or you can substitute all-purpose or semolina)
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Water if needed, to form dough

For the Sauce:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
• 8 tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 squash, peeled and chopped
• 1 zucchini, peeled and chopped
• Sprig of fresh oregano or ¼ teaspoon dried
• 2 sprigs of thyme or ½ teaspoon dried
• Sprig of rosemary or ¼ teaspoon dried
• 1 tablespoon agave
• 1/3 cup heavy cream

For the Filling:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ½ onion, peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and minced
• 2 cups shrimp, peeled, tails removed, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley
• ¼ cup ricotta cheese
• Salt

PREPARATION

1. To make the Whole-Wheat Dough: In a large mixing bowl, combine the two flours. Form a hole or nest in the flour and add eggs, oil, and salt; stir to mix. Add a bit of flour or water, if needed, to form a dough. Separate the dough into two equal pieces and feed into the pasta maker to form a long, thin sheet of pasta dough. Or, flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a sheet, ¼-inch thick or less.
2. To make the Red Flag-Stripe Dough: In a medium saucepan filled with cold water, boil beets over medium-high heat, about 5 minutes, or until soft. In a blender, combine the beets with ¼ cup of the beet water, and blend into a puree. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flours. Form a hole or nest in the flour and add beet puree, eggs, oil, salt; stir to mix. Add a bit of flour or water, if needed, to form a dough. Separate the dough into two equal pieces and feed into the pasta maker to form long, thin pasta strands, like spaghetti noodles. Or, flatten the dough with a rolling pin into a sheet, ¼-inch thick or less and use a knife to make skinny long strips. Lay the red dough strips on top of the sheets of whole-wheat dough, ½-inch apart in a stripe pattern, and press into pasta. Lay it flat.
3. To make the Sauce: Toss all the sauce ingredients into a crockpot on low heat for 10 hours or more. Or, in a large stockpot, warm olive oil over medium heat, cook the garlic for 2 minutes, then add the remaining ingredients, cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes until slightly thickened.
4. To make the Filling: In a large nonstick skillet, warm the olive oil over medium heat, add the onions, garlic, and shrimp, and cook for 6 minutes or until the shrimp is pink and cooked through. Add the parsley and ricotta cheese and mix well. Salt to taste.
5. To Assemble: Place ½ tablespoon of filling on the overturned, flat dough sheet about ½-inch apart. Brush beaten egg around the mounds of filling. Place the other flat sheet of dough on top of the mounds, so that the stripes are facing up. Press a very small cup, bowl, or cookie cutter around each mound of dough and filling to create a cut-out ravioli. Use the extra dough to make more raviolis. Seal the dough edges with a fork. In a large stockpot of boiling salted water, drop 10 ravioli in at a time, and cook over medium heat, for 6 minutes, or until they are completely cooked and float up to the top. On each plate, combine 5 ravioli with ¼ cup of tomato sauce and serve. 

494 calories 18g fat 61g carbohydrates 26g protein