Nonna’s Ravioli Ricotta e Spinaci 🍝🥬

Ingredients

• 200 g tipo 00 flour
• 2 eggs
• 30 g Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano
• 130 g spinach
• 70 g ricotta
• To taste lemon zest
• To taste salt
• To taste pepper
• To taste extra virgin olive oil
• To taste nutmeg powder
• 10 g fresh sage
• 40 g unsalted butter

Steps

1. Create a well with the flour and crack the eggs inside. Beat the eggs, gradually incorporating flour from the sides until a shaggy dough forms. Knead for 2-3 minutes, or until soft as an ear lobe. If the dough is still too firm, wet your hands. The moisture will help hydrate the dough. Don’t over knead!
2. Cover the mixture with cling wrap and leave it unrefrigerated for at least 30 minutes.
3. In the meantime, drizzle some olive oil in a skillet and cook the spinach over high heat. Salt the spinach to draw out the moisture.
4. After a couple of minutes, lower the heat to medium and let the spinach cook for another 10 minutes, until the spinach is soft and reduced.
5. Drain as much of the water from the spinach as you can. Ideally use a cheesecloth and squeeze, if not you can use your bare hands or a sieve too.
6. Finely chop up the spinach and mix with the ricotta, parmesan, nutmeg, lemon zest, salt and pepper to make the filling. You can transfer the filling to a piping bag if you wish.
7. With the filling put aside, flour your workspace and divide the dough in two. Roll them out into equal rectangles using a pasta machine* or a rolling pin. The dough should be 1-2mm thick – you should be able to see your fingers through the dough. *If using a pasta machine, start from the widest setting (no.1) and work your way up until no.7.
8. Dollop the filling onto one of the sheets of dough, each ball about 1cm in diameter. Leave about a finger-and-a-half spacing of dough between each dollop and trace the border with water. Carefully lay the second sheet of dough on top, squeezing out any air bubbles along the way.
9. Once each dollop has been firmly closed on all sides, use a pizza roller to cut out equal squares of ravioli. You can use a floured fork to create a pattern, or you can be creative and create your own ravioli design!
10. Boil the ravioli in salt water, about 2 minutes or until cooked.
11. In the meantime, lightly brown some butter with the sage. Add pasta water to emulsify and make the sauce creamy.
12. Transfer the cooked raviolis into the butter sauce and mix for 1-2 minutes. Serve and eat with love!