A Note Before You Start
The printer friendly version of this recipe comes directly from one of our cooking classes which means the translation is a little "rough". The weights are in grams so I recommend using a kitchen scale for this recipe. While this is NOT an exact conversion, 3/4 of a cup of "00" flour is approximately 100 grams. Generally speaking when making a pasta dough that will hold a filling, the use of equal amounts of "00" flour and semolina are recommended. For every 100 grams of flour add 1 large egg. After mixing, if your dough is too sticky, add a little more flour one tablespoon at a time. If it's too stiff, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time.
Ingredients
For Tortelli dough:
•400g flour (200g all purpose "00" flour and 200g semolina flour)
•4 eggs
For Tortelli filling:
• 250 g ricotta cheese (preferably sheep milk)
• 200 g wilted and chopped fresh spinach
• 30 g grated Parmesan cheese (I use 50 grams)
• salt and pepper to taste.
• a pinch of nutmeg (optional)
For the sauce:
• 80g of butter
• 12 sage leaves
• grated Parmigiano
Preparation
Make the pasta dough:
• Place both flours into a bowl and mix to combine. Then, on a flat surface create a mound with a well in the center.
• Break one egg at a time into the center.
• Beat eggs using a fork, and slowly begin to incorporate the flour from the sides of the mound. Keep adding flour to the egg mixture. When nearly all the flour has been incorporated, use a scraper to bring it all together and begin to knead the dough. When kneading, push the dough away from you with the palm of your hand and fold it back on itself. Turn it a quarter of a turn and continue kneading in this fashion. Dough will be ready to rest when it is smooth and it springs back when indented.
• 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.
Make the ricotta and spinach filling
• Blanch the fresh spinach in a few tablespoons of liquid on medium heat. Stir often to wilt. Remove from heat, drain well. When cool enough to touch, squeeze out excess liquid in a clean dishcloth. Finely chop the spinach.
• In a medium mixing bowl mix the ricotta, spinach, pepper, salt, nutmeg and add the freshly
grated Parmesan cheese and mix well to incorporate. There should be no excess liquid.
How to make Tortelli:
• Using a 3&1/2" biscuit cutter, cut out rounds on the sheets of fresh pasta. Place a rounded teaspoon of filling just off center on the pasta round. If your dough is on the dryer side, you may need to dip your finger in water and go around the outer edges of the disc before folding in half. Take the top half of the dough and fold it gently over the filling and gently press out any air surrounding the filling and sealing the tortelli.
• Flip your “taco” so you have a smile shape. Join and pinch the corners to make them stick together.
• Place your tortello onto a tray, lightly dusted with flour.
Assembling the dish:
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. After it has come to a boil add 2 Tbsp of salt to the water carefully. (Adding salt before the water comes to a boil may cause pitting on the bottom of your pot.) Cook tortelli for 3-4 minutes. Remove the cooked tortelli with a slotted spoon and set in a serving bowl. Reserve 1 & 1/2 cups of pasta water to use for the sauce.
• In a medium sautè pan, melt butter. Add the fresh 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, allowing the pasta and sauce to blend together.
• Remove the pot from heat, add Parmesan cheese and stir until creamy.
• Serve hot.