Ricotta and spinach tortelli

Method

1. Put the flour in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Pour the eggs, yolks and water in the well and use a fork to whisk the eggs, incorporating the flour little by little until you can no longer whisk with the fork. Use floured hands to combine the rest of the flour until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.
2. If you’re starting with fresh spinach, trim the stalks and cook in a large pot of rapidly boiling water for about 2 minutes. Once cooked, drain the spinach extremely well (squeezed of all its liquid) and chop very finely.
3. Prepare the filling by combining the spinach with the ricotta, beaten egg, grated cheese, nutmeg and salt in a bowl.
4. Cut the dough into four pieces and roll out one piece of dough at a time (keep the rest covered while you work), dusted with plenty of flour. Using a pasta machine or rolling pin, roll it thin enough that you can begin to see your hand through it (on a pasta machine, this is usually the third or second last setting). You may want to cut the long pieces of dough in half when they get too long to handle. With a rolling pin, you have your work cut out for you as this is a very elastic dough, but try rolling from the centre outwards for best results.
5. Working on strips of pasta about 14 cm wide and as long as you like, place balls of 2 teaspoons of filling onto the pasta sheet along one long edge, roughly 2 cm from the edge and 4 cm apart. Fold the sheet of pasta lengthways to cover the filling and line up the edges. Press the pasta sheet down carefully around each spoonful of filling, being careful not to trap too much air (work from one side to the other, one tortello at a time). With a frilled-edge pastry cutter, trim the tortelli so that you have ravioli roughly 7 x 7 cm with a 2 cm border around the filling. If you don’t have a pastry cutter, you can use a sharp knife to cut the tortelli out and a fork to press down along the edges. This has a dual purpose: to seal the edges and to create that texture that helps hold sauce. If you find folding over the pasta tricky, you can also simply layer one sheet on top of the other and trim – the remnants can be rolled back together into a ball and rolled out into a new sheet.
6. Continue until you finish the pasta and filling. Line a baking tray with baking paper and dust with flour. Keep the finished tortelli in a single layer on the tray.
7. Put the tortelli in a large pot of steadily simmering, well-salted water. Cook until al dente, about 5 minutes. The tortelli will begin to float and puff up slightly. If you taste to check whether they are cooked, look especially at the edges where two sheets of pasta are overlapping.
8. When done, take the pot off the heat, remove the tortelli with a slotted spoon and place onto a clean, slightly damp tea towel to drain off any excess water for a moment. Then place the tortelli on a large oval serving plate or distribute directly into bowls. Top with your preferred sauce, a good sprinkling of grated pecorino cheese and serve immediately.
9. Tortelli are best made fresh and cooked right away, but if you do want to prepare them in advance, the best way to keep them is frozen. To freeze, blanch the tortelli in boiling, salted water with a drop of olive oil for 10 seconds. Remove, place on a damp tea towel to drain and arrange the tortelli flat on a sheet of foil. Fold them up well, place in a freezer bag or zip-lock plastic bag and freeze. When you are ready to serve them, boil them as you would normally.