The recipe makes 4 portions, although you will have a huge amount of pasta dough left to use for many other dishes.
Ingredients (serves 4)
- 6 free range eggs (large) and 1 yolk
- 600g “00” tipo flour.
- 300 g spinach (fresh or frozen)
- 300g ricotta
- Salt
- Black Pepper
- 150 g salted butter
- Sage leaves
- Shavings of grand padano cheese
Method
- Place the sieved flour in a large mixing bowl, make a well and add the eggs to the centre. Combine with a fork then begin to kneed with hands in the bowl. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth (approx 5 mins). Wrap in cling film and leave to chill in fridge for 30-60 mins.
- While the pasta chills make the filling. Start by blanching the spinach in a pan over a medium heat- basically put the spinach in the pan with a small bit of water and reduce until softened, adding a little salt and pepper. You will be shocked at how small the spinach goes if you are using fresh spinach. Transfer the cooked spinach to a clean tea towel, wrap tight in a ball and squeeze out any excess water. Leave to cool.
- Once cooled, chop the spinach, place in a bowl and mix in the ricotta. At this point put plenty of salt and black pepper in to season. Taste it!
- Now the pasta has chilled, roll out thinly using a pasta roller on a floured surface. Don’t be scared, making fresh pasta is so easy- you just need a pasta roller (around £20) and you are on your way!
- Lay a sheet of pasta on the floured surface. Place the cold filling mixture into blobs evenly spaced on the pasta sheet, approximately a tablespoon of filling per ravioli.
- Brush the pasta with milk, around the edge of the filling. Lay a second sheet of pasta of the same size on top of the filling and carefully shape around the filling, pressing lightly around the base to ensure the pasta is sealed.
- Using a cutter of the desired shape, approximately 1cm bigger than the dome of filling, cut each filled ravioli out. Press together the pasta around the edges after cutting to ensure they are firmly sealed and place on a floured tray or plate so they don’t stick.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and place the raviolo gently in the pan and cook for 3-4 minutes or until bobbing on the surface. Remove and leave to drain on a blue cloth or kitchen roll.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan, chop the sage leaves (leave 4 behind) and add to the pan. remove from heat. Meanwhile heat a frying pan with a little oil until very hot. Add the a 4 remaining sage leaves and fry until crispy. (this will only take around 5-10 seconds)
- To serve, place the Ravioli in a serving dish, add 2-3 tablespoons of the sage butter on top of the raviolo. Add grated shards of Padano cheese, ground black pepper and the fried sage leaf.
- The picture shows a garlic crouton. This is easy to make. Simply get a piece of french bread or ideally ciabatta, brush with oil and put in a hot dry frying pan or griddle pan if you have one. Cook for 2 mins each side, remove from pan and rub with a peeled garlic cube on both sides. Crispy yumminess.
Ok, it may sound difficult, but it’s not, you just need a bit of confidence with the pasta roller (a bit of patience too), but it’s very worthwhile. The final finish and taste is as good as any fine dining restaurant you could visit. I’m very proud of this dish and as such sits in my “fine dining” section. You could if you wish make this into a main, just have 3 of them and maybe serve with some tenderstem broccoli?
