Ingredients

For the filling

1lb. of ground meat (veal, pork, beef)

1 carrot

1 stalk of celery

half yellow onion

rosemary

¼ cup of olive oil

1 pinch of salt

¼ pound spinach

4 oz. of parmesan cheese

1 egg

1 pinch of nutmeg

1 oz. of rice

1 cup of milk

For the pasta dough

4 eggs

2 lbs. all purpose flour

1/3 cup of water

1 teaspoon of salt

1 tablespoon of olive oil

· Chop finely the onion, the carrot and the celery and sautŽ in olive oil until golden. Add the rosemary and the meat, and brown the meat for 10 minutes. Add salt, pepper, then cover and cook for 30 minutes. If the meat gets too dry, add some hot water.

· Cook the rice in milk until soft and let it cool down. If the rice absorbs all the milk, add more hot milk. The rice will make the filling lighter and smoother.

· Cook the spinach in just the water clinging to the leaves after washing, for 5 minutes, then drain.

· Make the pasta dough: in a large bowl, break the eggs, add the olive oil, the water, the salt and beat with a fork. Still using the fork, incorporate the flour little by little. Keep adding flour until the dough will be hard enough to be kneaded. Knead for ten minutes with strength, adding flour every time it becomes sticky. The dough must be firm. Shape it into a ball and wrap it into plastic wrap to keep it from drying out. Let it rest for 30 minutes.

· In the meantime, keep making the filling. In a food processor, put the cooked meat, the parmesan cheese, salt, nutmeg, spinach, cooked rice, and blend the ingredients. Pour the filling into a bowl, add one egg and stir with a wooden spoon.

· Roll the pasta dough into a sheet. I recommend using a machine because the pasta will be smooth and the stripes will be of the ideal width for ravioli. After many years of intense use, I still love my sturdy and simple Imperia machine, but many other models are available for purchase online http://www.kasbahouse.com/villawareonline/pastamachines.asp or in kitchenware stores. The dough can also be rolled out with a rolling pin and then cut into stripes of the desired width.

After resting, the pasta dough is sticky, so keep adding flour to roll it out.

In order to keep the pasta stripes from drying out, I recommend rolling out the dough in small quantities, keeping the rest of it in the plastic wrap.

· In a small bowl, whisk two eggs with two tablespoons of water.

· When the first stripe of pasta is ready (about 4” x 20) brush some beaten egg on it.

· Take a tablespoon of filling and, with the tip of a knife, place small mounds of filling on the top half of the sheet, fold over, press the edges to seal, and cut out ravioli with a pasta cutter or with a ravioli stamp. For fancier shapes, you can use a cookie cutter.

· Repeat until you run out of filling. If you have some pasta left, you can cut it into fettuccine.

· Place the ravioli into a floured surface. They can be used immediately, or kept in the refrigerator for a couple of days, or frozen. In this case, I suggest letting them dry for a few hours in a cool, dry place, remembering to flip them upside down after a couple of hours.

Bon appŽtit!