In Piemonte ravioli are called agnolotti and should contain meat, whereas in Liguria ravioli are called pansoti (or pansotti) and do not contain meat. Instead they are stuffed with a mixture of cheese and greens. The traditional mixture of greens is called “preboggion”, which refers to greens found growing in the wild on the Ligurian coast. Pansoti are often served with a walnut sauce, the same as I used for gnocchi a few weeks ago. The traditional cheese is called prescinsêua and is a fresh cheese that is a cross between ricotta and yogurt. The word pansoti is derived from the Ligurian word “pansa” (pancia in Italian), which means belly or paunch. Pansoti can have different shapes, but they should be ‘paunchy’.

Outside of Liguria it is very difficult to make traditional pansoti, but with a few substitutions we can get pretty close. I used home made ricotta instead of the prescinsêua, and I used a mixture of chard and spinach instead of the preboggion. You can also use other greens, such as borage, chicory, arugula, endive, lettuce or cabbage. I will try to replace some of the ricotta with yogurt next time I make it.

Something interesting about this pasta is that in many recipes a bit of white wine is used to make the dough. I hope no Ligurians are scrutinizing the ingredient photo, as I’ve blasphemously used French white wine.

The resulting dish was very nice. Although pansoti are the traditional pasta dish for Ligurian walnut sauce, I think I prefer my own pairing with potato gnocchi.

Ingredients

For 4 servings

2 eggs

200 grams (1 1/4 cup) Italian 00 flour

60 ml (1/4 cup) dry white wine

350 grams (.8 lb) mixed greens, such as chard and spinach

30 grams (3 Tbsp) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

100 grams (3.5 oz) ricotta (or a mix of ricotta and yogurt)

marjoram (fresh, but I only had dried)

salt

walnut sauce from this recipe

Preparation

Remove any tough stems from the greens and roughly chop the leaves. (If using chard, the stems can be saved and used for another purpose.)

Wash the leaves and put them in a stock pot with the water that clings to the leaves.

Bring to a boil and cook for about 8 minutes with a bit of salt. The leaves will shrink a lot.

Use a kitchen towel to wring as much water out of the greens as possible.

Combine the greens with one of the eggs, the ricotta, parmigiano, marjoram and some salt in the food processor.

Process until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Refrigerate, covered with plastic wrap, for a few hours to firm up.

Make pasta dough using the flour, the remaining egg, and the white wine. Roll out the pasta dough until it is very thin, and cut it into squares of about 8 cm (3″). Put about a scant tablespoon of the stuffing on the center of each square.

Close each pansoto carefully, and trim excess dough if you like.

Warm up a non-stick frying pan with about half of the walnut sauce over low heat. Cook the pansoti in salted boiling water for a few minutes.

Transfer the pansoti to the pan with the walnut sauce with a slotted soon. It is okay if some cooking water comes along, but not too much.

Add the remaining walnut sauce.

Toss until the pansoti are coated with the sauce.

Serve on warm plates, sprinkled with some more freshly grated parmigiano.

Wine pairing

The traditional wine pairing for pansoti is a Ligurian white called pigato. Many other unoaked dry whites, preferably Italian, will work as well.

Flashback

Two years ago I blogged about sous-vide cod with braised fennel and a white wine sauce. Even if you don’t have sous-vide equipment, this recipe is worth to have a look at as the combination of cod with the white wine sauce and the braised fennel is a very nice one.