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ravioli filling with spinach and ricotta

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This is the classic non-meat filling for ravioli, a tradition for holidays, butsuperb at any time.

for the filling:

12 ounces of spinach, fresh preferably, but frozen fine
one cup ricotta
two tablespoons butter
one egg
one-quarter cup freshly grated parmesan
touch of nutmeg
salt and pepper

Rinse the spinach (if using fresh) very well (get rid of all the grit). Melt the butter in a fairly deep saute pan, add the spinach and cook, stirring constantly, about five minutes. As soon as it cools enough, put it on a chopping board and mince it as fine as you can. Put the spinach in a large mixing bowl.

Make sure you have squeezed out all of the excess liquid from the ricotta. Add the ricotta to the spinach, stirring as you go. Add salt to taste, pepper and the nutmeg. Add the egg. Stir some more. Add the parmesan, continuing to stir. Add enough parmesan so the mixture is solid, almost like a paste, so that it can be dropped on the pasta dough and hold its form.

Taste for salt. Chill thoroughly. Ready for the ravioli.

See how to make ravioli for the basic recipe; this is your filling.

The simple butter and sage sauce is ideal for this ravioli, but a light tomato sauce is also excellent.