Spinach and Ricotta Tortelli with Butter and Sage Dressing

Welcome to the heart of traditional Italian pasta making with our signature recipe for homemade ravioli stuffed with creamy ricotta and fresh spinach, finished with a classic butter and sage sauce. Handcrafted filled pasta is a true labor of love, combining simple, high-quality ingredients into an unforgettable culinary experience. In this recipe, you will learn the secrets to mixing a smooth egg-and-flour dough from scratch, rolling it to perfection, and wrapping it around a savory, well-balanced ricotta and spinach filling. Finished with a simple yet luxurious emulsion of fresh butter, fragrant sage, and freshly grated Parmigiano, this dish captures the true, comforting flavors of Italian home cooking.

Ingredients

For Tortelli dough

•400g flour (200g all purpose flour and 200g semola flour)

•4 eggs

For dressing sauce

• 80g of butter

• 12 sage leaves

• grated Parmigiano

For Tortelli filling

• 250 g ricotta cheese (preferably sheep milk)

• 200 g boiled spinach

• 30 g grated Parmigiano cheese

• salt to taste.

• pepper to taste

• nutmeg to taste

How to Make Tortelli Dough

Place flour into a bowl or onto a flat surface.

• Make a hole in the center of the mound, and break one egg at a time into the center.

• Beat eggs using a fork, slowly draw flour into the center of mound, where the beaten egg is. Keep

adding flour to the egg until possible, then knead with your hands until it’s smooth and

homogeneous.

• If the dough is too soft or sticky, add more flour. Alternatively, if the dough is too stiff, add a few

drops of warm water.

• Form into a ball and sprinkle with flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest at room

temperature for 30 minutes.

• Spread the dough out onto your surface, which should be lightly floured to avoid sticking. Using a

rolling pin, begin rolling pasta out from the center, until you reach the ideal thickness of 1mm.

You can also use a pasta machine, remembering to flour the dough if it is too sticky.

How to make the Ricotta and Spinach filling

Rinse and dry fresh spinach leaves, and boil in salted water. Remove from heat, drain well, and

squeeze out excess liquid with your hands. Mince finely on a chopping board.

• In a medium mixing bowl mix the ricotta, spinach, pepper, salt, nutmeg and add the freshly

grated Parmesan cheese and mix well until the blend is firm and well-amalgamated. There should

be no excess liquid.

How to make Tortelli

• Take as many disks as possible from your pasta sheet. Fill up each disk with a spoonful and be

careful not to overstuff them.

• Pass a wet finger onto the disk edge and fold it into a taco shape. Pinch your “taco” edges together

by gently pressing down around the filling eliminating as much air as possible.

• Flip your “taco” so you have a smile shape, holding up the corners with your fingers.

• Join and pinch corners to make them stick together.

• Place your tortello onto a tray, sprinkled with flour.

Make the sauce and complete the dish

• Cook tortelli in a large pot of salted water for 3-4 minutes. Set aside a bit of cooking liquid to add

to butter blend.

• In a medium sautè pan, melt butter. Add sage leaves and reserved cooking liquid from pasta.

Allow to cook for a few minutes, until sauce is thickened but not too dense.

• Add cooked tortelli to sauce, allow to blend together.

• Remove the pot from heat, add Parmesan cheese and stir until creamy.

• Serve hot.