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Spinach and Ricotta Pasta Roll
Ingredients
- For the pasta:
- 400g tipo 00 flour
- 4 large free range eggs
- Pinch salt
- For the Filling:
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 500g fresh spinach, washed
- 350g ricotta cheese or vegetarian alternative
- 50g Pecorino or Twinehams Vegetarian Hard Cheese, finely grated
- For the Tomato and Pepper Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, finely sliced
- pinch chilli flakes
- 200g roasted peppers, roughly chopped
- 750g passata
- 1 tsp runny honey
- Fresh basil leaves to garnish
Instructions
This recipe features in our Booths Christmas Book 2016, it is incorrectly labelled as vegetarian. Due to the inclusion of Pecorino cheese, which is made with animal rennet it is not a vegetarian recipe – we sincerely apologise for the error.
To make this recipe vegetarian, we recommend replacing the Pecorino with a vegetarian hard cheese, such as Twinehams Vegetarian Hard Cheese, available to purchase in Windermere, Knutsford, Penwortham, Ulverston, Keswick, Lytham, Garstang, St Annes, Burscough, Poulton, Fulwood, Clitheroe, Ilkley, Kirkby Lonsdale, Kendal, Chorley, Ripon and Penrith stores. The ricotta cheese sold by Booths is also produced using animal rennet, so please use a suitable alternative.
1 To prepare the pasta, pile the flour on a clean work surface and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and a pinch of salt then using your fingertips, break up the eggs and bring the flour into the well, mixing all the time until it starts to come together to form a dough. Alternatively, put the flour, salt and eggs into a food processor and pulse until the dough comes together into a loose ball.
2 Knead the dough on a lightly-floured surface until smooth for 5 minutes. Wrap in cling film and chill while you prepare the filling and sauce.
3 For the filling, place the spinach in a large saucepan, without adding water. Cook gently until wilted. Drain and cool, then squeeze out excess water and chop roughly. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion until softened, then add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the spinach, season with sea salt and ground black pepper and set aside to cool.
4 For the sauce: heat the olive oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the garlic slices and cook gently for just a minute. Add the chilli flakes, and chopped peppers and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the passata and honey and simmer gently for just 15–20 minutes.
5 Stir the ricotta cheese and pecorino into the cooled spinach mixture. On a work surface dusted with flour, roll the pasta out by hand into a large sheet as thinly as possible – you should end up with a sheet about 35 cm square. Spread the spinach filling over the pasta right up to the edges. Gently roll up the pasta into a large sausage and place on a large sheet of muslin or a large clean tea towel. Wrap as tightly as you can, securing with string.
6 Fill a large roasting tin with water or a fish kettle if you have one and bring to the boil. Add the pasta roll to the water, covering with a lid or a big sheet of foil and simmer for 18–20 minutes.
7 Meanwhile, blend the tomato and pepper sauce until smooth, with a stick or jug blender.
8 Transfer the pasta roll to a board. Unwrap and remove the muslin or tea towel. Cut the roll into 1.5cm slices. Spoon the sauce into the centre of serving plates and arrange two slices of the pasta roll on top of the sauce. Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve with extra pecorino scattered over the top.
