Recipe: Spinach Ravioli from South Tyrol

Who better to learn how to make pasta from than Italy’s best home cooks, the nonnas themselves? In the cookbook Pasta Grannies you’ll find accessible and traditional family recipes from nonnas all over the country, and learn how to make pasta yourself (with and without a pasta machine). Nonna Anna Maria teaches you how to make this spinach ravioli yourself, or rather: Anna Maria’s crafuncins da ula verda.

Anna Maria lives in a popular ski resort and worked in a clothing shop before she retired. Now she shines in the local amateur theatre group and has time for her other passion – cooking. She keeps bags of this ravioli in the freezer for friends and neighbours to take home. These crafuncins are ‘lean’ because they contain no meat, and Anna Maria leaves out the ricotta that is sometimes added. ‘I want to be able to taste the spinach,’ she says. The dough has traditionally contained rye flour, but Anna Maria prefers farro because it is easy to work with.

How to make the spinach ravioli

• First, make the pasta dough. Mix the 00 flour and farro flour, and place the mixture on the pasta board. Make a well in it and add the egg, olive oil, water and salt. Stir the liquid ingredients together with a fork, then draw them through the flour. Break the well once the liquid ingredients no longer run and form a ball of dough. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until smooth. Leave the dough to rest for 30 minutes in a covered bowl. Thanks to the oil and farro flour, this is a soft and moist dough that may be slightly sticky. Resist the temptation to sprinkle more flour on the board, as this will make it difficult to seal the ravioli later.
• Anna Maria uses an electric roller for her pasta dough. It’s a fun toy, but only worth the effort if you regularly make large quantities. So stick with an ordinary rolling pin and roll out the dough to a thickness of 2 mm. Use a 7½ cm cutter to cut out rounds; if you do this carefully, you should be able to get 32 pieces. Remove the excess pasta around the rounds; this makes them easier to pick up.
• For the filling, melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and a pinch of salt and fry the onion for about 7 minutes until soft and translucent. Stir in the flour and add the water or stock to make a thick roux. Cook for a few more minutes and add the chopped spinach. Season the mixture with salt and plenty of nutmeg, and heat everything for about 10 minutes until very thick. Spoon it into a bowl and let it cool slightly before adding the grated Parmesan. Purée the mixture with a stick blender – it should be smooth enough for a piping bag.
• A piping bag lets you portion the filling quickly and neatly. Spoon the filling into a piping bag using a spatula. If you don’t have one, no problem. Simply spoon teaspoonfuls of filling, about the size of a shelled walnut, onto one side of all the pasta rounds.
• Carefully pick up a round of dough and fold one half over the filling to make a mezzaluna (half-moon). Make sure the edges line up properly and pinch them closed.
• If the dough starts to dry out, spray a little water onto the rounds with a plant mister before sealing them. Spread the crafuncins out on a tray without letting them touch; turn them over every 30 minutes if you are not going to cook them immediately. They freeze well: place the tray in the freezer, then put them into bags and seal them once frozen. They should be eaten within a month.
• Just before serving, melt the butter in a small non-stick pan until golden brown but not burnt.
• Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the crafuncins and simmer them gently for a few minutes. Remove them with a slotted spoon and arrange them on a warm plate. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and pour over the brown butter. Serve immediately, optionally with sage fried until crisp in olive oil.

Title: Pasta Grannies
Author: Vicky Bennison
Price: €29,99
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers

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