Radicchio & Smoked Scamorza Ravioli/Tortelloni in butter & sage

Ingredients

For the filling
150g sweet red radicchio chopped
1 knob of butter
100g shaving smoked scamorza cheese
Grated parmesan
Salt & pepper

For the Pasta
100 g flour
1 egg
1 spoon oil

For the Sauce
Butter
Sage

Preparation

The pasta:
Make the pasta by working/kneading the ingredients into a soft, elastic dough – put aside to rest.

The Filling:
Cook the sweet radicchio in a knob of butter until soft, depending upon how much water comes out of the radicchio, you can add a bit of water. Add some white wine and boil it down a bit. Liquidize and leave to cool.
When cooled, add the shavings of smoked scamorza cheese, parmesan and salt and pepper.

Yes this is the filling…looks a bit squiggy…that’s exactly how it should look…
this is obviously enough for about 500 ravioli!!

Putting it all together:
Work the pasta again then roll it out into thin pieces. Cut the appropriate shapes.
Put the filling in the centre of each cutting and then close into the tortelloni or ravioli shapes.

Cooking:
Put the tortelloni into a very large pot of salted boiling water.

The Sauce:
Melt some butter in a small frying pan and add the sage leaves.

To Serve:
Pour the butter and sage mixture over the ravioli and serve with grated parmesan and decorate with a couple of sage leaves.

Here we have the ladies from Speen nr Princes Risboro’, Bucks, UK looking very pleased with themselves…not surprising…their ravioli/tortelloni were excellent!!

A Little about the Tortelloni
This dish isn’t strictly from Salento, but is one of Maria’s specialties so why not?!! Tortelloni are the larger version of the more common tortellini, originating from the area between Bologna and Modena. Legends says that an innkeeper was inspired by the Venus’ naval, who having got rather drunk with Zeus following a victorious battle on the outskirts of Bologna, ended sharing a room with him and the inn keep could only see her navel through the keyhole when he went to peek on them.