COURSE: Primo Piatto
DIFFICULTY: Hard
PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour 30 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

For the Ravioli:
1 recipe Basic Egg Pasta Dough [2]

For the Filling:
7 farm fresh eggs
½ cup whole milk ricotta
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano
½ cup spinach, blanched, drained, & chopped
Pinch of nutmeg, freshly grated
Salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste

For the Dish:
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
4 tablespoons Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
1 cup boiling water
Salt, to taste
1 fresh white truffle

To make the filling:

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, heavy cream, Parmigiano Reggiano, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Fold in the spinach.

To prepare the ravioli: 

Roll the pasta dough to the thinnest setting on a pasta machine. Cut the sheet in half (make the second sheet slightly larger than the first) and create 6 mounds of the filling, 2 inches apart, with a well in the center of each mound. One at a time, crack an egg into a bowl, and carefully transfer the yolks to the center of the ricotta mounds, keeping the yolks intact.

Lay the second sheet of pasta gently over the mounds and very carefully press the dough together with your fingers to seal the ravioli. Be sure to remove any pockets of air. Using an appropriate sized ravioli cutter, pastry cutter, or even a knife, and cut around the mounds of filling into round ravioli.

If you're not cooking the ravioli immediately, arrange them in a single layer on baking sheets lined with lightly-floured kitchen towels, and cover with additional towels.

To prepare the dish:

When you are ready to cook the pasta, bring salted water to a boil in a shallow pot. Heat the butter in a medium sauce pan, add 1 cup of boiling water, stir, and simmer for about 2 minutes until the liquid reduces by half. Add the Parmigiano Reggiano and keep the sauce hot over very low heat.

Gently lower the ravioli one at a time into the boiling water using a wide spatula, and cook each for two minutes. Gently lift out one at a time, and place them in the sauce pan with the butter sauce, cooking them for an additional minute, egg-side-up to avoid overcooking the yolk.

Serve one raviolo per person topped with additional drizzles of the butter sauce, a sprinkling of Parmigiano Reggiano, and — of course — freshly-shaved truffle.