Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking - Marcella Hazan [109]
⅓ cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano cheese
About 2 tablespoons butter for dotting the baking dish
1. Prepare the tomato sauce, using only half the recipe.
2. If using fresh spinach: Soak it in several changes of water, and cook it with salt until tender. Drain it, and as soon as it is cool enough to handle, squeeze it gently in your hands to drive out as much moisture as possible. Chop it rather coarse, and set aside.
If using thawed frozen leaf spinach: Cook in a covered pan with salt for about 5 minutes. Drain it, when cool squeeze all the moisture out of it that you can, and chop it coarse.
3. Put the chopped onion and butter for the filling in a skillet or small sauté pan, turn on the heat to medium, and sauté the onion until it becomes colored a pale gold. Add the chopped prosciutto. Cook it for about half a minute, stirring to coat it well, then add the chopped spinach. Stir thoroughly once or twice and cook for 2 minutes or more until the spinach absorbs all the butter.
4. Turn out all the contents of the pan into a bowl, add the ricotta, the 1 cup grated Parmesan, a tiny grating—about ⅛ teaspoon—of nutmeg, and the egg yolk. Mix well with a fork until all the ingredients of the filling are evenly combined. Taste and correct for salt.
5. Prepare the yellow pasta dough by machine, or by hand, rolling it out as thin as it will come by either method.
6. If making pasta by machine: You must join all the pasta strips to make a single large sheet. Lightly moisten the edge of one strip with water, then place the edge of another strip over it, overlapping it by very little, about ⅛ inch. Run your thumb along the whole length of the edge, pressing down hard on the two edges to bond them together. Smooth the bumps out with a pass or two of a rolling pin. Repeat the operation with another pasta strip, continuing until all the dough has been joined to form a single sheet. Even off the irregular fringes with a pastry wheel or knife.
If making pasta by hand: When you have rolled out a single thin sheet of pasta proceed to the next step.
7. Spread the spinach filling over the pasta, starting about 3 inches in from the edge close to you. Spread it thinly to cover all the sheet of dough except for the 3-inch border near you and a ¼-inch border along the other sides. Lift the edge of the 3-inch border and fold the whole width of the border over the filling. Fold again and again until the whole sheet of pasta has been loosely rolled up.
8. Wrap the pasta tightly in cheesecloth, tying both ends securely with kitchen string. If you do not have a fish poacher, choose a pot that can subsequently accommodate the pasta in 3 to 4 quarts of water. Bring the water to a boil, add 1 tablespoon salt and when the water resumes boiling, slip in the pasta roll. Adjust heat to cook at a steady but moderate boil for 20 minutes. Lift the pasta out supporting it with two spoons or spatulas to make sure it does not split in the middle. Remove the cheesecloth while the pasta is still hot, and set the roll aside to cool.
9. Preheat oven to 400°.
10. While the pasta is cooling, make the béchamel sauce, bringing it to a medium thickness. When done, mix it with the tomato sauce prepared earlier.
11. When the pasta is cool and firm, slice it like a roast into ¾-inch slices.
12. Choose a bake-and-serve dish that can accommodate the pasta slices in a single layer. Lightly smear the bottom of the dish with sauce. Place the pasta slices in the dish, arranging them so that they overlap slightly, roof shingle fashion. Pour the rest of the sauce and béchamel mixture over the pasta, sprinkle with the ⅓ cup grated Parmesan, and dot lightly with butter.
13. Bake on the uppermost rack of the oven for 10 to 15 minutes, until a light golden crust forms on top. Remove from the oven and allow to settle for 10 minutes before bringing to the table. Serve directly from the baking dish.
Ahead-of-time note The dish can be assembled completely up to this point several hours in advance, but not overnight. Do not refrigerate because cooked spinach acquires