One of my favorite pasta is ravioli, and my favorite ravioli is spinach ricotta. I’m glad I’ve found a good recipe somewhere online a long time ago. But, I’m not very good & diligent on following recipes, so I always made it with my own flare. LOL. Look at my nail at the background! Cute, right?

Yields : 28 pieces

Ingredients :

• 3/4 pound pasta dough
• 1/2 pound spinach
• 1/2 pound ricotta cheese
• 1 small egg
• 1 tbsp heavy cream or creme fraiche
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• pinch of blackpepper
• 4 tbsp of grated cheese

Directions :

1. In a pot of boiling water, cook the spinach until tender. Remove the spinach from the boiling water and let cool for 2 to 3 minutes. Squeeze out the water from the spinach and chop it up.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine chopped spinach, ricotta, egg, creme fraiche, and 4 tablespoons grated cheese. Season with the nutmeg, salt, and black pepper.
3. To assemble the raviolis, cut the dough into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece to form a thin layer (about 1/8 inch) of dough. Don’t forget to flour the working surface!! (I actually forgot to flour the working surface, I ended up having to scrape each ravioli carefully). Place 1 spoonful of filling onto 1 sheet of dough 1/2 inch from the edge. Continue to place spoonfuls of filling along the dough 1-inch from each other.
4. Place 1 of the other pieces of rolled out dough on top of the piece with the filling on it. Pinch the dough around the filling to form the ravioli. Use a cookie cutter or a knife to cut out the raviolis.
5. Pinch the edges of each ravioli with the tines of a fork.
6. Set aside each ravioli on a plate lightly dusted with flour. Do not stack the raviolis, because they will stick together. I stacked them.. sorry :p but in my defense, I cooked them right away!
7. When you are ready to cook the raviolis, add them to boiling water. When the raviolis float, about 3 to 4 minutes, they are finished cooking.
8. Serve each portion with the sauce of your choice.

Simple sauce is best, because the ravioli itself is flavorful. Since I have some bechamel sauce ready, I just add some herbs and garlic to the sauce and pour it over the raviolis. Using a simple butter sauce is also  great. To make the sauce, melt the butter in a saucepot. Simmer herbs in the butter for 1 minute.