Since I had some lovely homemade sausage, I thought it was time to try another Italian classic: ravioli filled with sausage and potato. Another version of sausage ravioli is with ricotta and spinach, the Bartolini version. As I wanted the flavor of the sausage to shine, I opted for the potato. I prepared these ravioli as a piatto unico (full meal in one course) with just a green salad afterwards, and dressed them with butter and sage. Here’s what I did…

Ingredients

For 2 servings as piatto unico, or 4 servings as primo piatto

250 grams (.55 lb) Italian pork sausage

250 grams (.55 lb) potatoes

50 grams (1.8 oz) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano, plus more for serving

1 shallot

1 Tbsp minced fresh aromatic herbs (I used mint and thyme, but basil and parsley would also be great)

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper

freshly grated nutmeg

200 grams (1 1/3 cup) Italian 00 flour

2 eggs

70 grams (5 Tbsp) butter

fresh sage leaves

Preparation

Peel the potatoes and boil them until tender, about 20 minutes.

Mince the shallot.

Heat the olive oil in a non-stick frying pan and add the shallot.

Take the sausage out of its casings. If you made prepared your own sausage meat, roughly shape into sausages. Add the sausages to the shallots.

Cook over medium heat until the sausages are golden browned and just cooked through (you can check by breaking one in half with a spatula) and the shallot are golden but not crispy, about 10 minutes. (It may be tricky to cook the sausage and shallot in the same pan as the shallot may overcook before the meat is cooked. It is easier to cook them in separate pans.)

Transfer the contents of the frying pan to a food processor…

…and process until finely ground but not pureed.

When the potatoes are tender, drain them, put them in a bowl, and mash them with a fork.

Add the sausage mixture and aromatic herbs to the mashed potatoes.

Add a dash of freshly grated nutmeg.

Add the parmigiano.

Mix everything with a fork until the mixture is homogeneous. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper. As usual, the filling should be slightly over-seasoned to avoid bland ravioli.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to firm up in the refrigerator. (If you are in a hurry you can skip this step as this filling is quite firm already. Just allow it to cool to room temperature.)

Make pasta dough from the 00 flour and eggs. Allow it to rest for half an hour, wrapped in plastic wrap, and then roll it out to the thinnest setting. Make ravioli. In this case I made them quite big, with about 2 tsp of filling in each raviolo.

Repeat until you have used up all of the filling. There should be enough dough for that, but you may have to gather the trimmings and roll them out.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. To make the sauce, melt the butter.

When the butter foams, add sage leaves. Cook for a minute, then turn off the heat.

When the water boils, add salt and the ravioli.

Cook for a couple of minutes.

Lift the ravioli out of the water with a strainer. Work quickly, so they won’t overcook.

Lower the ravioli in the butter with sage.

When you have added all of the ravioli, toss the pan to coat the ravioli with the sage butter on all sides.

Sprinkle with freshly grated parmigiano and toss some more.

Serve at once on preheated plates, sprinkled with some more parmigiano.

Wine pairing

This is nice with a light Italian red, such as a Valpolicella or a Valpolicella Ripasso. This latter wine is produced by allowing it to soak in the leftover grape skins and seeds from the fermentation of Amarone, the big brother of Valpolicella made from dried grapes, which adds flavor and complexity.

Flashback

Russian Salad is called “Huzarensalade” in Dutch, named after hussars, the light cavalry that comes from Russia and other Eastern European countries. Russian Salad consists of boiled potatoes, boiled vegetables, ham, and mayonnaise. Russian Salad has a bit of a bad name because it is often made with mayonnaise from a jar and canned vegetables. If made fresh and with moderate use of mayonnaise, it can be quite elegant. Another key success factor is to cook the vegetables separately so each can be cooked just right. The work of this salad is in cutting the vegetables into small cubes — I do not know of a household machine that can do this for you.