Beenleigh Blue Cheese and Spinach Tortellini

Steaming the spinach inside the Miele Steam Oven for filling the tortellini ensures that its valuable nutrients, such as iron and Vitamin B6 are retained, whilst also maintaining its vibrant, green colour

1. For the pasta, place the eggs, chopped beetroot and salt into a food processor. Blend until smooth. Add the flour and continue to blend until a dough is formed. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until the dough is smooth and shiny. Transfer into a clean bowl and rest in the fridge for 30 minutes while you begin to make the filling.

2. For the filling, put the baby spinach into a large perforated steam tray and cook in the Miele Steam Oven for 2 minutes at 90°C. Once cooked, allow to cool, then place inside a clean tea towel and squeeze out the excess moisture. Finely chop the spinach and mix with the remaining filling ingredients, apart from the egg yolk. Refrigerate while you make the tortellini.

3. To make the tortellini, remove the pasta from the fridge and cut into two pieces. Keep one piece covered with a damp clean tea towel so it doesn’t dry out. Lightly dust the other piece of pasta dough and the pasta machine with flour, then gradually roll through the pasta machine to a thickness of 2mm.

4. Once, rolled, lay the pasta on a clean work surface and cut out 9cm discs. Place a spoonful of the blue cheese filling in the centre of each disc and moisten the edges with the egg yolk. Bring the edges of each disc together to form a semi-circular shape and seal. Bring the pointed ends of the tortellini towards each other around your fingertip to form a ring, then press the corners together to seal.

5. Repeat until you have used all the pasta and filling. Once the tortellini has been made place on a flat tray lined with parchment paper and chill until ready to cook.

6. For the veloute, heat the oil and butter in a saucepan over a medium heat and sweat the onions until soft. Add the chopped garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the butternut squash and stock to the pan and continue to cook until tender. Pour in the cream and bring the mixture to the boil. Tip the contents of the pan into a blender and blitz until very smooth. Season to taste and keep warm until needed.

7. To finish, place the tortellini into a lightly oiled perforated steam tray and cook in the steam oven for 7 minutes at 100°C. Meanwhile, gently warm the butternut squash veloute and divide among the serving bowls.

8. Once cooked, remove the tortellini from the steam oven and place into the centre of each bowl. Sprinkle over some pumpkin seeds, sliced beetroot and micro herbs.