The earliest records of Venetian ravioli trace the dish’s heritage as far as the mid-14th-century, where a recipe appeared in the Libro per Cuoco, an early Italian cookbook. This record details a recipe not dissimilar to modern iterations: green herbs are blanched, minced, then mixed with egg and fresh cheese. Perhaps consider it, then, the ancestor of the now much-loved ravioli with spinach and ricotta.
Our spinach and ricotta ravioli recipe includes handmade ravioli parcels that lovingly house fresh spinach, light and creamy ricotta and bright lemon zest, lifting the dish overall. We then top our spinach and ricotta ravioli with a luscious sage butter, lending an enticingly earthy aroma to the dish.
Spinach and ricotta ravioli recipe
Serves 2
Prep time: 65 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Calories per serving: 657kcal
Ingredients:
For the spinach ravioli filling
- 200g fresh spinach
- 200g ricotta
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Nutmeg to taste
- Salt and black pepper to taste
For the ravioli
- For all you need to know, simply follow our recipe for homemade ravioli
For the sauce and garnish
- 100g butter
- 8 sage leaves
- Black Pepper
- Salt to season
- 30g pine nuts
Method
To make your ravioli (watch the video tutorial below or scroll down for step-by-step instructions)
- Half fill a large pan with water and bring to the boil. Add your spinach, and allow to cook until wilted. This shouldn’t take much time at all, so don’t leave the pan unattended. Once wilted, drain your spinach, then lay the mixture in the centre of a cloth or kitchen towel. Gather the ends of the towel and twist over the sink or a bowl, ensuring to aggressively squeeze your parcel, as to remove as much water as possible from the mixture.
- Once you have extracted as much water as possible, transfer your spinach to a large mixing bowl. Add the ricotta and fresh lemon zest, then grate a good amount of fresh nutmeg into the mixture. Add salt and pepper to taste, and stir the mixture until fully combined.
- Cover the mixture and place in the refrigerator for an hour.
- You’re now ready to transform your mixture into delicious ravioli - to do so, simply follow our step-by-step guide to making fresh ravioli here.
To make the sage butter
- Remove the butter from the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature on the counter.
- Roughly chop the sage leaves and add to butter (you can even leave some of the sage leaves whole if you like, there’s nothing better than a mouthful of butter-soaked pasta with a crispy sage leaf). Season with salt and black pepper to taste.
- Place the butter in a large pan and gently heat until the sage becomes crisp, and the mixture turns a deep golden colour.
- Once cooked, transfer the pasta to the butter. Toss gently to coat.
To make your garnish
- Toss your pine nuts in a large frying pan, gently dry-frying until toasted and fragrant. Be careful not to burn the nuts, as this will impart a more bitter flavour. Once golden brown, scatter your pine nuts over your dressed pasta, finish with a generous blanket of Parmigiano Reggiano and enjoy!
Making fresh ravioli from scratch is a complex process, but one eased by having the right tools. We offer a range of complete pasta-making kits, designed to suit both intrepid pasta explorers and the greenest of pastai (pasta makers), ideal for perfecting your spinach and ricotta ravioli at home!
Spinach and ricotta ravioli wine pairing recommendation
An Italian white like Pecorino is a perfect palate cleanser, cutting through the richness of the ricotta cheese and leaving your taste buds refreshed after each bite of ravioli. The herbal and citrus notes found in Pecorino wine also complement the earthy flavours of spinach in the ravioli. Both the wine and the dish have a balanced presence, ensuring that neither overwhelms the other.
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