Tortelli pasta stuffed with greens

There are dishes which are just perfect to share the pleasures of a light and pleasant meal with friends, especially when the summer has finally made its arrival and is offering up some lovely warm days, during which time it’s nice to eat something a bit less substantial …. although that should not mean giving up strong flavours. Today we offer you a specialty of Emilia-Romagna, the famous tortelli pasta filled with greens and parmesan, a perfect dish for summer. In fact, in this region it is served during the feast of St. John, which falls on the 23 June. The combination of aromas and flavours created by the pasta, ricotta cheese and greens, will give your guests all the goodness of a well-balanced dish which if paired with a lovely white wine from Emilia, will make it all the better.

Prepare the pasta and set aside. For the filling: wash the greens and remove the hard stems, then boil them for 10 minutes. Drain and squeeze out the water well, then place them in a tall, narrow container. Add the egg, salt, pepper, ricotta, nutmeg and Parmesan and blitz everything with an electric hand blender. Roll out the pasta dough as if for extended lasagna. Flour a work surface and lay out your sheets of pasta. Now place a teaspoon of the filling, or just a bit less, in the centre of the strip every 2cm or so, then cover with a second sheet of dough. With your fingers, seal around each pocket of the filling so as to remove any air bubbles. With a pastry cutter or other suitable utensil, cut out the ravioli shape that you like (I chose square with zig-zag edges), sprinkle with flour and set aside in a wide, floured dish. Cook for 5 minutes in boiling salted water; meanwhile melt the butter in a pan. When they are cooked serve about 8 per person, drizzle over with melted butter and sprinkle with parmesan.