Ravioli alla Genovese

Ravioli alla genovese enclose a meat-and-vegetable filling in thin egg pasta. Squares are cut from sealed sheets, leaving a border around each mound of filling. The cooked pasta can be fine enough for the darker centre to show through it. A gently uneven edge belongs to the preparation as readily as a regular moulded outline.

The filling varies between recipes. Borage or escarole can supply the greens; marjoram gives an aromatic note. Veal, pork, cooked ham and offal appear in particular preparations, together with egg and grated cheese. These ingredients do not form one universal formula. Check the actual recipe or pasta-maker’s filling rather than using the regional name as a complete ingredient list.

The meat and greens are prepared for the chosen filling before the parcels are formed. Cooked greens are drained and chopped; meat, herbs and the other specified ingredients are combined into a filling that can sit in small mounds. Egg-pasta sheets enclose those mounds, with the spaces between them pressed closed before cutting.

You can cut the filled sheets by hand with a toothed wheel or use a ravioli mould. The important relationship is between the filling, its enclosing sheet and the sealed border. Follow one complete preparation for the dough, filling and cooking, including the treatment of its particular meats.

Tocco begins with a whole piece of beef cooked slowly in a sauce. Tomato, aromatic vegetables, dried mushrooms and pine nuts belong to one version of the sauce. The sauce dresses the pasta; the cooked meat can be served separately. Starting with a whole cut distinguishes the method from a ragù begun with minced meat.

Olive oil and grated cheese offer a different serving. This leaves the soft pasta and its filling more apparent, with a light sheen rather than a covering of meat sauce. Choose the finish when planning the meal, and lift the cooked parcels gently so their thin borders stay intact. Neither finish changes the identity of the filling into a different regional pasta.

At a pasta counter, ask which meats, greens and cheeses are used. A square outline alone does not distinguish Genoese ravioli from every other filled pasta. Offal, ham, egg, milk-soaked bread or different greens may belong to the particular preparation. Retain the actual ingredient information.

If you buy a sauce with the ravioli, check which sauce it is and how the maker intends it to be served. For pasta made at home, choose a full recipe and keep its dough and filling directions together.

Filled fresh pasta and a separately prepared sauce have their own handling and cooking directions. Follow the maker’s instructions or the complete recipe used at home, including any chilling and cooking guidance. Protect the delicate parcels as directed and keep their ingredient information available. A cooking time from another ravioli shape or a different filling is not an instruction for this batch.