Ricotta and Spinach Ravioli Recipe: Butter and Sage, the Way We Teach It

Ravioli are the moment in the class when the sheet stops being pasta and becomes a container, and the rule we repeat in class fits in one word: dry. Spinach squeezed until no more water comes out, ricotta, pepper, nutmeg and parmesan, inside a thin sheet sealed without air. Butter and sage do the rest.

The sheet is our fresh pasta, the same as the tonnarelli, rolled thinner: through the pasta machine up to number 7. We count the filling per strip of pasta, about eight ravioli: 300 g of spinach and 100 g of ricotta, salt, black pepper, nutmeg and parmesan to taste. Below is the method as we do it at Piazza Margana 22, from the piping bag to the cutter, the mistakes that make ravioli open in the pot and how to change the filling with the season.

For four people you need four strips of pasta, 1.2 kg of fresh spinach and 400 g of ricotta.

• fresh pasta for 4, from the fresh pasta recipe: one strip per person, about 8 ravioli
• 300 g of fresh spinach per strip, to boil and squeeze
• 100 g of ricotta per strip
• salt, black pepper, nutmeg and grated parmesan, to taste
• a big piece of butter and fresh sage leaves for the sauce
• parmesan, extra virgin olive oil and black pepper to finish

We give the quantities per strip because in class everyone fills their own: six people, six strips, 1.8 kg of spinach and 600 g of ricotta. Salt, pepper, nutmeg and parmesan are not weighed: you taste the filling and adjust.

For tonnarelli the sheet stops at 3 on the pasta machine; for ravioli you keep going down to 7, one setting at a time, until the strip is long, thin and even. At 7 the sheet lets you see your hand through it, seals well with a finger of water and cooks in two to three minutes together with the filling; thicker, it stays raw at the edges and the raviolo tastes like a bread parcel.

The dough is our fresh pasta: in class it is the small piece we set aside before cutting the tonnarelli on the chitarra. Keep the strips dusted with semolina and covered until you fill them, because at 7 they dry out in minutes.

The spinach is boiled in salted boiling water, a couple of minutes, then drained and squeezed with your hands or in a cloth until no more water comes out: you have to drain as much water as you can, because water in the filling wets the sheet from inside and makes the ravioli open. Chop it and put it in a bowl with the ricotta, black pepper, nutmeg and grated parmesan, salt to taste: for one strip, 300 g of spinach and 100 g of ricotta.

It should come out firm, holding on the spoon. Taste it raw and adjust now, because later you cannot. Then your creativity: change it with the season, other vegetables, meat, fish or whatever you prefer. The inside of your raviolo has to explode in your mouth.

The filling goes into a piping bag, which doses equal walnuts at even spacing along half the strip. Then a finger of water only on the short sides, between the doses: not on the whole sheet, otherwise it slides and will not seal. Fold the strip over itself, from side to side, and close only the short sides.

Before cutting, push the air out with your fingers around each dose: trapped air expands in the pot and pops the seal. Then the ravioli cutter: first the long side of the strip, then the short sides between one raviolo and the next. The ravioli go on a tray dusted with semolina, without overlapping.

Butter and sage is the best match for these ravioli. In a wide pan a big piece of butter is melted with fresh sage leaves until the butter turns the colour of hazelnut and the sage is fried and crisp. At that point switch off: hazelnut butter goes too far in seconds and turns bitter.

The ravioli are boiled in salted boiling water, two to three minutes from when they float, and moved into the pan with a little cooking water, which binds the butter into a glossy sauce. Finish with grated parmesan, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and black pepper.

Air inside. The first cause: trapped around the filling, it expands in boiling water and pops the seal. After folding, before cutting, push it out with your fingers around each dose.

Water where it is not needed. Wet only the short sides, between the doses. Wetting the whole sheet makes it slide and the seal does not hold.

A wet filling. Badly squeezed spinach dampens the sheet from inside. The more water you remove, the better.

A sheet too thick. At 7 it seals well and cooks in two to three minutes; thicker, it stays raw at the edges.

Burnt butter. Hazelnut, not brown: switch off as soon as the sage is fried.

The sheet and the method stay, the filling changes. With seasonal vegetables in place of spinach, always cooked and squeezed or dried well: chard, roasted pumpkin, artichokes. With meat, a filling of chopped roast and parmesan; with fish, ricotta and herbs with a crumbled white fish. The same rule always applies: dry, firm on the spoon, tasted before sealing. Butter and sage goes with almost everything; with pumpkin a crumbled amaretto works too, with fish a drizzle of oil and lemon zest instead of parmesan.

In our kitchen at Piazza Margana 22, in the centre of Rome, a short walk from Piazza Venezia. Ravioli are made in the fresh pasta and tiramisu class: from the same fresh pasta come the tonnarelli for the amatriciana and, from the piece set aside, the ravioli, and the class closes with tiramisù. The private version is for a group that wants the kitchen to itself, and in the gluten-free class the ravioli are made on a gluten-free dough. Shared classes are taught in English; for Italian or Spanish, book a private session. The full list is on the cooking classes page.