Upon request (Karen) – I am going to put together the recipe for my New Year’s Day Pasta extravaganza. My baby sister and one of her Irish friends were visiting Tuscany for the New Year celebration and I dusted off some of my favourite meals to wow them both. Pasta stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese, covered in a creamy white sauce and home made “sugo” (my special meat sauce). This dish is perfect because leftovers (and believe it or not with the quantity I make there is always something left over) – freeze perfect for that lazy Sunday afternoon when you want to be totally spoiled but have no intention of getting out of bed before noon.
I am going to take you through the entire recipe in steps – because otherwise you would read it, smile a little, maybe even picture yourself at the table with a glass of Chianti red . . . and then pull out a dish of institutionalized pasta and we don’t want to go there. I won’t hide from you that it is not a fast dish – however the build-up to it offers so much potential for showing off that I believe its well worth it.
The dish is made of three basic components: the filling, the creamy white sauce and the meat sauce, better known as sugo.
The filling is actually very versatile and can be used several ways, so let’s start with that. It is practically the same recipe as my tempting Ravioli Gnudi: spinach, ricotta cheese, egg, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. So if you want to get your hands dirty (literally speaking) try this recipe first, use a simple butter and sage dressing – green salad – a little proscuitto and pecorino afterwards and of course, don’t forget a light but classical Tuscan wine. Once you have worn it out on all of your friends, family and neighbors then you can step up to the next phase.
