you don’t have to get naked to make this dish, but the ravioli do! this recipe dates back to a 14th century Florentine cook book, and in the local dialect it’s called ‘ravioli ignudi’.
First wash and cook the fresh spinach by putting it into a large pot with about 2 cups of water. Let it simmer on a low heat with the lid-on for about 15 minutes. Frozen spinach can be used instead, if you prefer.
Check the spinach after 10 minutes and stir it around briefly.
After another 5 minutes or so it should be cooked soft and steaming.
Next drain out the water and leave the spinach in a pasta colander to cool.
While the spinach is cooling prepare the main ingredients for the ravioli.
In a large bowl mix the ricotta, parmesan, pecorino, eggs, salt, pepper and nutmeg together with a spoon. Using a deli-counter fresh ricotta will make a big difference in taste. Sometimes you can find fresh ricotta at a farmers market or farm stand as well.
Mix until all the ingredients are combined together.
After that strain out the spinach and form it into little balls, it’s important to get as much water out as possible.
Now chop the spinach up into small pieces, and then mix it together with ricotta and parmesan cheese.
After that put some water on the stove to boil, and prepare in a small sauce pan some herb butter with fresh sage leaves, let too simmer on a low heat
To prepare the ravioli form small balls and roll them in flour.
Next carefully place the ravioli balls into the boiling water. They will first sink to the bottom.
When they rise to the surface of the water they’re done, this happens quickly maybe 2 to 3 minutes.
Carefully take them out with a large straining spoon
Serve the ravioli immediately with the melted herb butter and a little grated parmesan cheese on top.
and sharing how we make it from our kitchen in florence, italy. we enjoy cooking and learning new recipes and hope you will too. buon appetito, and thanks for stopping by. more
long hot summer, ma che caldo fa! continue reading
to the tooth, or so your teeth can feel it. ‘dente’ means tooth in italian and ‘al’ means ‘too’ in this case. when eating spaghetti if the center is slightly hard the teeth will feel it.
History and distribution of tomatoes from wikipedia. In italy it reads “Eventually the peasant classes discovered that it could be eaten when more desirable food was scarce”. More desirable foods must of been meat dishes.
Taste is important, following recommendations of a recipe are good but not always the way you may like it. Look over the ingredients to see which are going to add more seasoning than others, like bacon or pancetta which will add a saltly flavor when cooked.
If you live in a city or town that has local farmstands or a store that sells locally grown produce it’s worth the extra trip. some of the best produce we’ve been lucky to cook with has come from some of these small growers and sellers.