To celebrate the coming of Spring I wanted to create a dish with spring vegetables, and came up with these wonderful ravioli filled with baby asparagus, snow peas, peas, baby carrots, ricotta, parmigiano, and basil. Served with a fresh tomato sauce they are delicious and I will definitely prepare them again. They have such a lovely flavor and actually taste of Spring.

I have a confession to make though. To celebrate Spring here in the Netherlands, I used peas from Kenya, snow peas from Guatemala, baby asparagus from Peru, baby carrots from Spain, basil from Israel, and tomatoes from Dutch greenhouses. To make these with local ingredients, I’d have to wait for some months and the dish would end up being Summer Ravioli instead. Of course it would taste even better with fresh local ingredients.

A trick I used to give the green vegetables a vibrant color is to parboil them with a bit of baking soda. The baking soda makes the water alkaline (the opposite of acid), which makes the vegetables cook more quickly and become a bright green. If instead you were to add vinegar to the water, the vegetables would take longer to cook and the color would become more olive green. All the vegetables should be cooked such that they are tender but still have some bite. Cooking times may vary according to the size and quality of the vegetables. The younger they are, the quicker they will be tender.

I’m running behind a bit on posting, as I have quite a number of recipes all photographed and ready to be written and published. I prepared this tonight and it was so good that I decided to post it straight away. So here goes…

Ingredients

For about 30 ravioli, 2 servings as a main course or 4 servings as primo piatto

100 grams (1/2 cup) peas (fresh or frozen)

75 grams snow peas, diced (1/2 cup when diced)

100 grams baby carrots, peeled and diced (1/2 cup when diced)

100 grams baby asparagus, top 5 cm (2″) reserved and the remainder sliced (1/2 cup when sliced)

20 grams (.7 oz) basil

50 grams freshl grated parmigiano (1 cup)

125 grams (1/2 cup) ricotta

1 egg, beaten

salt

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tsp baking soda

For the pasta dough

2 eggs

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

For the tomato sauce

500 grams (1.1 lbs) ripe plum tomatoes

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 clove garlic, peeled and left whole

salt and freshly ground black pepper

For serving

extra virgin olive oil

freshly grated parmigiano

Preparation

Bring a saucepan with 500 ml (2 cups) water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda, and 1/2 tsp sugar. Add the peas.

Boil for 3 minutes.

Drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.

To dice the snow peas, cut them in 3 or 4 strips lengthwise…

…and then chop crosswise.

Boil the snow peas for 1 minute in 500 ml (2 cups) water with 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Drain and rinse with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.

Boil the carrots for 3 minutes in 500 ml (2 cups) water with 1/2 tsp salt. Drain and rinse with cold water.

Pat dry with paper towels.

Reserve the tips (top 5 cm or 2 inches) of the baby asparagus. Trim the bottom and slice the rest.

Boil the sliced asparagus for 2 minutes in 500 ml (2 cups) water with 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp salt. Drain, rinse with cold water, and pat dry with paper towels.

Combine all the vegetables in a bowl.

Add the ricotta, the parmigiano, the beaten egg, and 3/4 of the basil (leaves only, cut into chiffonade). Season with salt.

Stir to mix. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt. (If you are worried about eating raw egg, you could taste before adding the egg.) As usual with ravioli, use slightly more salt in the filling than you think you do.

Cover with plastic wrap and allow to firm up in the refrigerator.

Meanwhile, make the pasta dough, allow it to rest for half an hour, roll it out thinly, and make ravioli with about a tablespoon of filling in each raviolo.

These ravioli are a bit bigger than usual, with a tablespoon instead of a teaspoon of filling in each.

Make a tomato sauce from the tomatoes, the olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. Keep it warm over low heat. Add the remainder of the basil chiffonade.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the ravioli. Bring 500 ml (2 cups) water to a boil. Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda and the reserved asparagus tips. Boil them for 2 minutes, then drain.

Add salt and ravioli to the large pot of water and cook the ravioli for 2-3 minutes. Lift them out of the water with a slotted spoon…

…and add them to the tomato sauce.

When you’ve added all of the ravioli to the tomato sauce, add freshly grated parmigiano and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Toss the ravioli to coat them with the sauce.

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

Don’t forget to garnish with the asparagus tips!

Flashback

These spinach tartlets with pine nuts are a great side for red meat, or even wonderful by themselves as a vegetarian dish.