The Best Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Recipe

Name: The Best Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli Recipe
Prep time: 40 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6
Cuisine: Switzerland
Ingredients: 400 g white flour; 4 pcs. eggs; 4 tbsp olive oil; 1 tsp salt; 500 g fresh spinach leaves; 250 g ricotta; 50 g Parmesan cheese (grated); 1 pc. garlic clove; 1 tbsp olive oil; Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Ravioli: Spinach and ricotta filling

Today we’re whisking you away to a small Italian village with traditional Italian houses, the cries of the market traders in the narrow alleyways and the mouth-watering aroma of freshly made pasta. Join us in bringing this wonderful Italian atmosphere into your own kitchen and make these delicious ravioli. Ravioli come in all shapes, sizes and flavours. The best known, of course, are the classic, square ravioli with serrated edges and a round filling in the middle. Today we’re making precisely these classic ravioli with a delicious spinach and ricotta filling. There isn’t really much to bear in mind when making ravioli. They’re quite straightforward and simple to make – just a bit time-consuming – but for homemade pasta, it’s well worth the effort, isn’t it?

Key figures

Serves: 4–6

Preparation time: 1 hour

Cooking time:20 minutes

Cooking time:3 minutes

Pasta dough – Traditional version

White flour		400 g
Eggs		4
Olive oil		4 tbsp
Salt		1 tsp

Spinach and ricotta filling

Fresh spinach leaves	500 g
Ricotta	250 g
Parmesan (grated)	50 g
clove of garlic	1
olive oil	1 tbsp

Salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste

Making pasta dough – the traditional method

The process is the same for all types of dough – the powder is mixed with the flour.

Place the flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the centre. Now add the four eggs and the olive oil to the well. Sprinkle the salt around the edge of the flour.

Now beat the eggs with a fork, gradually incorporating some of the flour from the edge. As soon as the mixture starts to thicken, set the fork aside and begin to knead everything carefully with your hands. Make sure to incorporate all the flour. The dough should be smooth and slightly leathery. If the dough is too dry and crumbly, you can add a tiny bit of water.

Of course, you can also use a food processor for the kneading process. To do this, simply place all the ingredients in the mixing bowl with the dough hook and knead for about 5 minutes.

Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for 1 hour. In the meantime, you can get on with making the filling.

Tomato powder 100 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF8.20

Wild garlic powder 100 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF12.50

Porcini mushroom powder, 100 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: 13

CHF17.90

Beet powder 100 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF8.20

Spinach powder 100 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF8.20

Sepia ink 8 x 4 g

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF12.50

Pasta dough – Various colours and flavours

Tomato

365 g	plain flour
35 g	Tomato powder
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

Wild garlic

370 g	plain flour
30 g	Wild garlic powder
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

Porcini mushroom

370 g	plain flour
30 g	Porcini mushroom powder
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

Beetroot

380 g	plain flour
20 g	Beetroot powder
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

Spinach

365 g	plain flour
35 g	Spinach powder
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

Cuttlefish

380 g	plain flour
12 g	Cuttlefish ink
4	eggs
4 tbsp	olive oil
1 tsp	salt

How to make the spinach and ricotta filling

Pour a little water into a deep pan, add a pinch of salt and bring to the boil.

Wash the spinach leaves thoroughly under cold water. Once the water is boiling, add the washed spinach leaves and leave to simmer. As soon as the spinach has wilted, drain it and squeeze out as much water as possible so that the filling contains as little water as possible.

Now add the garlic to a clean pan with a tablespoon of olive oil, sauté briefly, then add the squeezed spinach. Season the mixture with salt, pepper and a little nutmeg, remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 30 minutes.

If you’d prefer to skip cooking the spinach, you can use frozen leaf spinach. In that case, simply add the fresh garlic without sautéing it first.

Once the spinach has cooled, chop it very finely and mix it with the ricotta in a bowl. Now stir in the Parmesan and finally season everything to taste with the spices.

Before you put the filling into a piping bag, be sure to taste it to check that you’ve seasoned it strongly enough – and, of course, to get a taste of the delicious end result.

Chill the filled piping bag for a further 30 minutes or so. In the meantime, you can roll out the pasta dough and prepare the mould.

Finishing the ravioli: roll out the dough and fill them!

You can now take the finished dough out of the fridge, cut it in half and put one half back in the fridge.

Now dust your work surface with a little flour and roll out the dough lengthways. Make sure you don’t roll it out any wider than the pasta machine.

Set the pasta machine to setting ‘0’ and run the dough through once. Then set it to setting ‘1’ and run the dough through again. Repeat this process until you reach setting ‘7’.

The dough should form a nice, thin, long strip. Now dust your ravioli mould lightly with flour, place the start of the dough strip over it and press it into the indentations. Fill these indentations with the cooled spinach and ricotta filling.

Now grab a pastry brush and brush the edges and gaps with a little water. Fold the overhanging part of the strip of dough over the top, press it down gently and trim off the excess. Finally, roll over it with a small rolling pin, remove the excess dough, lift the ravioli out of the mould and place them on a floured work surface.

Now bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and add your freshly made ravioli. In a separate pan, melt a little butter and add some fresh sage.

The ravioli are ready as soon as they float to the surface – this takes about 1 minute. Now you can drain the ravioli and add them to the pan with the melted butter and sage. Toss them briefly in the pan and they’re ready to serve! Grate a little fresh Parmesan over the top and you’re done! Time to enjoy!

Pasta machine Atlas 150 with attachments

Ready-to-ship quantity: 17

CHF265.00

Ravioli mold round 5.5 cm, 12 ravioli

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF55.90

Silicone brush, 20 cm

Ready-to-ship quantity: more than 20 pieces

CHF16.90

Leftover dough: What can you do with it?

You can knead the remaining dough together again and either put it back in the fridge, repeat the rolling-out process to make another sheet of ravioli dough, or fit the pasta attachment to the pasta machine and run the dough through it several times. You can either leave the finished pasta to dry on a pasta rack, or dust it with flour, twist it into small nests and leave it to dry in this way. It will keep for several months!