Fresh pasta is always a good choice. It takes a simple dish and elevates just enough to make it feel that much more special. Keep your pasta light and bright with an in-season spinach and ricotta ravioli. A white wine butter sauce brings it all together. Pair it with a Sauvignon Blanc for a classic and refreshing combo.
The Dish
FRESH, BRIGHT, BUTTERY
When you’re eating pasta in the summer, you wanna keep it light and fresh. Opting for a spinach ricotta ravioli in a white wine butter sauce is a great choice. The filling is equal parts spinach and ricotta with some lemon zest and black pepper. The sauce is a classic white wine sauce – using the same wine to pair with the meal – with shallot, garlic, and lots o’ butter.
Top it all off with freshly grated Parmesan, some more lemon zest, and some freshly cracked pepper. I sometimes will even squeeze a bit of lemon juice straight on there – the citrus is one of my favorite components of this dish so I go big on the lemon. A sprig of rosemary or thyme makes for a nice garnish, but totally unnecessary.
The Wine
HIGH ACIDITY, CITRUS, GRASSY
The pairing for this dish is very easy because you can – and should – use the same wine for cooking as you will for drinking. The one exception is if you’re drinking a very nice (expensive) wine, in which case you should not “waste” it on the sauce. Then you should get wine specifically for cooking, but keep it the same varietal.
I love a Sauvignon Blanc for this dish because it matches the citrusy, acidic, and vegetal notes of the pasta. Specifically, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc is a winner here. Throw a slight chill on it, take your dinner to your outdoor dining space, and watch the sunset with a cool glass of Sauv Blanc…tell me something better. I’ll wait.
Making Fresh Pasta
If you want to make linguini or spaghetti or any other type of noodle, you’ll need a pasta machine or sorts. For ravioli, however, you don’t need a big fancy machine. You really don’t need anything besides a rolling pin and something to cut the pasta with, but I found a ravioli mold to particularly efficient and helpful.
I got my mold from William Sonoma (no, this isn’t sponsored). You just roll out a sheet of dough real thin, and drape it over the mold. Push the dough down into the pockets of the mold, and fill with your spinach ricotta mix. Roll out another sheet of dough, and carefully place it on top. Seal with the roller – the mold has creases that will cut and seal your ravioli into perfect little squares with a zigzag trim. Be sure to flour the mold sufficiently so your pasta doesn’t stick.
Don’t be intimidated – you can totally make fresh ravioli yourself! Give it a go with my recipe below. Give the recipe a rating if you tried it out and let me know how it goes!
Fresh Spinach Ricotta Ravioli
- Prep Time: 90 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 105 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Fresh pasta
- Cuisine: Italian, American
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
Fresh spinach ricotta ravioli with lemon zest and black pepper in a white wine butter sauce.
Ingredients
Fresh Pasta Dough
Spinach Ricotta Ravioli Filling
- 1/2 cup fresh, full-fat ricotta
- 1/2 cup thawed frozen spinach (or blanched fresh spinach)
- 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Garlic powder
- Salt, black pepper
White Wine Butter Sauce
- 1 shallot
- 2 large cloves garlic
- 1 cup white wine
- Roughly 4 tbsp of butter
Instructions
Spinach Ricotta Ravioli Filling
- Combine all ingredients into a bowl and mix until thoroughly combined.
- Taste, and add garlic powder, salt, and pepper as desired.
Fresh Pasta Dough
- Check out the recipe for fresh pasta dough to get ingredients.
- Roll dough out into thin layers, long and wide enough to place over your ravioli mold.
- Place your layer of dough over the mold and press gently down into the mold pockets.
- Fill the pockets with your filling.
- Seal the ravioli and extract from the mold.
- Bring a pot of water to boil, and season the water with a generous amount of salt.
- Cook fresh pasta for 3-5 minutes.
White Wine Butter Sauce
- Reduce 1 cup of white wine by half. This will take roughly 15 minutes.
- Heat 2 tbsp of butter over medium heat.
- Finely chop shallot and garlic and add to butter.
- As the butter melts, add the next 2 tbsp of butter.
- Add the reduced white wine, stirring constantly to maintain consistency.
Assembly
- Put cooked ravioli in a shallow bowl or dish.
- Spoon white wine sauce over the ravioli as desired.
- Finalize with freshly grated Parmesan, lemon zest, and cracked black pepper.
- If you’re like me and love lemon, squeeze a small wedge of lemon juice over it all.
- Pour yourself a glass of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoy!
Notes
If you’re not using a mold…
- If you’re working without a mold, estimate how big you want your ravioli to be, and ensure your dough is the width of 2 ravioli, and ideally the length of about 6 ravioli. Prepare two thin layers.
- Dollop filling into the center of what would be your raviolis. If your sheet of dough is 2 by 6 ravioli, then there will be 12 dollops. Keep them spaced apart. Apply the second thin sheet of dough on top, press down between dollops, and slice with a knife or pizza cutter into squeeze. Ensure the seems of your ravioli are fully shut. Use water along the edges to help meld the pasta together so your ravioli does not burst at the seems.
Sydney is a 29-year old American living between France and Italy. She has a WSET Level 2 certification in wine, along with a degree in environmental engineering and an MBA. She loves exploring local farmer’s markets, haunting her favorite wine bar, and discovering new restaurants.
If I were no longer by myself, say 30 yr. ago, I certainly would have purchased a pasta machine. What fun!
Fantastic recipe for trying ravioli for the first time. I made my pasta dough a little simpler from another site (1 1/4 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt,1/4 cup hot water and 1 egg) and I mixed the two recipes and I can’t wait to try this again. I used Clos Du Bois Chardonnay as I don’t care for sweet wines and I’m not much of a expert on wines. I’m obviously not a chef just a grandpa who loves to cook and try new things. Thanks again. Look forward to trying more of your recipes
Author
Hi, Tony!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I think Clos Du Bois Chardonnay is a great choice for this recipe 🙂 A dry Sauvignon Blanc would work well too if you wanted to experiment with something that leans more into the citrus/acidic notes, but Chardonnay is great to develop a rich, buttery flavor. You can’t go wrong either way!
Sydney
Incredible!!!! I made this last night for my husband and I, I just used my own pasta dough recipe. Really amazing sauce recipe as well – created a nice balance with the creamy filling (we love Sauvignon Blanc!!!). I think the sauce would pair really nicely with a lot of other meals too. Thanks for sharing!!!
Author
Hi, Laura!
Thank you so much for your rating & review – I’m thrilled you enjoyed the sauce and the Sauvignon Blanc pairing 🙂
Looks delicious.
Author
Thanks, Marcia! They sure were 🙂