Traditional Italian Maremma Ricotta and Spinach Tortelli with Meat Ragù | Tortelli Maremmani al Ragù
Tortelli maremmani are the largest filled pasta in Tuscany and the plainest. No scalloped edges, no pleats, no folding tricks. Two sheets of egg pasta, a mound of ricotta and greens between them, a square cut with a knife, and that is the whole shape. The size is not decoration but arithmetic: a big tortello takes less pasta per mouthful, and pasta meant flour, and flour cost money nobody down here had.
The filling is ricotta and spinach with nutmeg and a hard hand of grated pecorino, bound with almost nothing. The ragù is a slow meat sauce of beef and pork, or wild boar when the season allows, cooked until the meat falls apart and stopped short of paste. The two halves come from different worlds: the tortello is the food of the sharecropper's kitchen, the ragù is the food of Sunday.
What makes them work is restraint on both sides. The filling must be dry enough to hold and loose enough to taste of ricotta rather than binder. The ragù must be loose enough to coat and concentrated enough to stand up to a cheese filling.
Yield: 4 servings as a first course, about 32 tortelli. Prep: 1 hour 15 minutes. Rest: 30 minutes for the dough. Cook: 2 hours 30 minutes for the ragù plus 4 minutes for the pasta. Difficulty: advanced. Course: primo. Region: Maremma, southern Tuscany.
The Story
The Maremma is the low coastal belt of southern Tuscany running from Grosseto towards the Lazio border, and for most of its history it was a place people left rather than moved to. It was marshland, malarial from late spring until the first frost, and the families who worked it lived in the hill towns and came down only when the fever slept. It was drained in stages from the Lorraine grand dukes onward, finished by the works of the nineteen thirties, and only then became farming country.
Its cooking follows from that. It is shepherd and herdsman food rather than the refined kitchen of Florence or Siena. Sheep grazed the drained plain in enormous numbers, which is why pecorino and sheep ricotta run through everything here. The butteri, the mounted cattlemen who still work the long horned Maremmana breed, ate from the same pot, and wild boar came out of the macchia as it does now.
The tortello belongs to the feast days in that calendar, and in many families to Easter and to the day the wheat was threshed. Making it was a shared job: one rolled, another filled, a third cut and sealed. The ragù depended on what the household had, which is why there is no single authoritative version. Beef and pork is the everyday form, wild boar the autumn one, duck the version found inland towards the Val d'Orcia.
Ingredients
For the pasta
Type 00 flour, 2 cups (250 g)
Durum wheat semola rimacinata, 1/2 cup (80 g)
Eggs, large, 3
Egg yolk, large, 1
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp (5 ml)
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
For the filling
Sheep milk ricotta, well drained, 10 oz (285 g)
Fresh spinach, 1 lb (450 g), or 6 oz (170 g) once cooked and squeezed
Pecorino Toscano stagionato, grated, 2 oz (55 g)
Egg yolk, large, 1
Freshly grated nutmeg, 1/4 tsp
Fine sea salt, 1/2 tsp (3 g)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the ragù
Ground beef chuck, 9 oz (250 g)
Ground pork shoulder, 5 oz (150 g)
Yellow onion, finely diced, 1 medium
Carrot, finely diced, 1 medium
Celery stalk, finely diced, 1
Garlic clove, crushed, 1
Extra virgin olive oil, 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Dry red wine, 3/4 cup (180 ml)
Tomato paste, 1 tbsp (16 g)
Canned peeled tomatoes, crushed by hand, 1 1/2 cups (360 g)
Meat broth, hot, 1 1/2 cups (360 ml), plus more as needed
Bay leaf, 1
Fine sea salt and black pepper, to taste
For finishing
Unsalted butter, 2 tbsp (30 g)
Pecorino Toscano stagionato, grated, 1 1/2 oz (40 g)
Reserved pasta cooking water, about 1/2 cup (120 ml)
Preparation
Start the ragù, because it needs the time
Warm the olive oil in a heavy pot and sweat the onion, carrot, celery and garlic over low heat for 12 to 15 minutes, until soft, sweet and barely coloured. The soffritto is the backbone of the sauce and cannot be hurried: browned too fast it turns bitter, cut short it leaves the ragù thin. Raise the heat, add the beef and pork and break them up, letting the meat lose its water and then brown rather than stew in its own juices.
Deglaze, then build the sauce
Pour in the red wine and scrape the base clean, letting it bubble until the raw alcohol is gone and the liquid has nearly disappeared. Stir in the tomato paste and cook it a minute so it darkens, then add the tomatoes, the bay leaf and a cup of hot broth. Simmer partly covered for 2 hours, adding broth whenever the surface looks dry. It is ready when the fat separates to the top and the meat crushes against the side of the pot.
Make the pasta dough
Mix the two flours with the salt, heap them on the bench and make a well. Break in the eggs and the yolk, add the oil and beat with a fork, pulling in flour until a shaggy mass forms. Knead a full 10 minutes with the heel of the hand, until the dough is smooth, firm and springs back slowly. Wrap it and rest it at room temperature 30 minutes so the gluten relaxes and the sheet will stretch without tearing.
Cook and dry the greens
Wilt the spinach in a wide pan with only the water clinging to the leaves, about 2 minutes, then spread it on a tray to cool. Squeeze it in handfuls as hard as you can, then again in a clean towel. Wet greens are the commonest cause of a burst tortello, because the water migrates into the filling and softens the seal from inside. Chop it finely rather than leaving strands.
Mix the filling and chill it
Fold the ricotta, spinach, pecorino, egg yolk, nutmeg, salt and pepper together with a spatula, working only until evenly combined. Do not beat it: overworked ricotta loosens, and a loose filling spreads inside the parcel and prevents a clean seal. Correct the salt now, since nothing can be added later, then chill for at least 20 minutes, which firms it and makes it easier to portion.
Roll the sheets
Cut the dough into four pieces and keep the rest covered. Roll each to the second thinnest setting, about 1 mm, thin enough to see the shadow of your hand through it but not so thin the filling shows. Maremman tortelli are not delicate: a sheet rolled too fine tears under a heavy filling. Work one sheet at a time, because a dried edge will never seal.
Fill, seal and cut
Lay a sheet out and place tablespoon mounds of filling in a row about 2 1/2 inches (6 cm) apart. Brush lightly between them with water, lay a second sheet over the top and press firmly around each mound with the side of your hand, working outward to push every trace of air out. Trapped air expands in the water and splits the seal. Cut into squares with a knife or fluted wheel, press the edges again and set them on a semola dusted tray, not touching.
Cook the tortelli and finish the plate
Bring a wide pan of well salted water to a gentle rolling boil, never a violent one, which tears large filled pasta. Slide the tortelli in a few at a time and cook 3 to 4 minutes from the moment they rise. Meanwhile warm a ladle of ragù in a wide pan with the butter. Lift the tortelli out with a spider, drop them in with a splash of cooking water and fold gently, tilting the pan rather than stirring.
Plating
Use warm wide plates, not bowls. Tortelli maremmani are big enough that eight laid flat is a portion, and they should be seen individually rather than piled. Lay them in a single layer, slightly overlapping, with the ragù spooned between and over them rather than under.
Finish with grated pecorino at the table and nothing else. No basil, no parsley, no oil over the top. This is a farmhouse plate and the sauce is its only decoration: the pasta should look pale and matte against the dark ragù and no square should be drowned. If sauce pools at the edge of the plate it was too loose and wanted a few more minutes of reduction.
Professional Technique
The controlling technique here is the seal, because everything about this pasta works against it. The squares are large, the filling is heavy and wet, and the sheet has to survive four minutes of boiling. The seal is made by pressing air outward from the mound with the flat of the hand, not by pinching the edges, which traps a pocket that expands in the water and opens the parcel from inside. Water on the sheet helps, but only a film: too much and the surfaces slide instead of gripping.
The second technique is the deliberate mismatch between pasta and sauce. A ricotta filling is mild and lactic, a long ragù is dark and concentrated, and the two are meant to stay legible against each other rather than blend. That is why the ragù is finished separately and the tortelli folded into it for a few seconds with butter and starchy water. A parcel left sitting in ragù absorbs it, the filling turns muddy and the dish loses the contrast it was built on.
Texture and Moisture Control
Moisture control here is almost entirely about the filling. Sheep ricotta carries a great deal of whey and spinach holds more water than it looks capable of holding, and both release it into the pasta while the tortelli sit on the tray. Drain the ricotta in a sieve at least 2 hours, overnight if you can, and squeeze the spinach twice. A filling that weeps leaves a grey patch under each square and a parcel that sticks and tears when lifted.
On the pasta side the variable is thickness. Too thin and the sheet tears under a large filling and bursts. Too thick and the double layer at the sealed edge stays tough while the centre is cooked, which is why the edges are cut close to the mound rather than left as a wide flap. The right sheet is around 1 mm and feels supple rather than papery.
The ragù has a texture target of its own. Reduce it until the fat rises and the liquid just holds its shape on a spoon, then loosen it at the last second with pasta water. That starch is what makes the sauce cling to a smooth pasta surface instead of sliding to the bottom of the plate, and the butter folded in at the end emulsifies with it into a glossy coating.
Professional Mise en Place
This is a two day dish in a professional kitchen and a two stage one at home. The ragù and the filling both improve overnight, and the tortelli are made in a single uninterrupted session.
Equipment and tools
Pasta machine or a long rolling pin for the sheets
Heavy bottomed pot for the ragù, wide rather than tall
Fine sieve and a clean towel for draining ricotta and greens
Fluted pastry wheel or a sharp knife and a bench scraper
Trays dusted with semola and a spider skimmer
Prepared ahead
Ragù cooked up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated, where it improves
Ricotta draining in a sieve overnight
Spinach cooked, squeezed twice and chopped, the day before
Filling mixed and chilled, up to 1 day ahead
Service setup
Tortelli on semola dusted trays in one layer, not touching
Ragù warm and slightly looser than its final consistency
Water at a gentle rolling boil and well salted
Butter, grated pecorino and a wide finishing pan ready
Chef Tips
Make the ragù the day before without exception. A meat sauce left overnight tastes deeper, the fat sets on the surface and can be lifted off if there is too much, and it frees the next day for the pasta. No version of this dish is improved by cooking both parts at once.
Weigh the filling for the first few mounds. A level tablespoon, about 3/4 oz or 20 g, is the right load for a square of this size. Eyeballing it produces tortelli of different weights that cook at different speeds, and the heavy ones are the ones that split.
Test one tortello before cooking the batch. Boil a single square, cut it open and taste it, checking that the filling is seasoned, the seal held and the pasta at the sealed edge is cooked through. Anything wrong is still fixable then and nothing is once the rest are in the pot.
If wild boar is available, replace the beef with 9 oz (250 g) of ground boar shoulder and marinate it overnight in the red wine with the bay leaf. It is the autumn version here, and the gamier meat stands up better to the pecorino in the filling.
Common Mistakes
Using wet ricotta. Ricotta straight from the tub carries whey that seeps into the pasta and softens the seal from the inside. Drain it in a sieve for at least 2 hours, and discard what collects underneath rather than stirring it back in.
Leaving air inside the parcel. A trapped bubble expands in the boiling water and opens the seal. Press from the mound outward with the flat of the hand so the air is driven to the edge and out before the sheet is cut.
Boiling the water hard. A violent boil throws large filled pasta against the sides of the pot and tears it. Keep the water at a gentle roll and lift the tortelli out with a spider rather than draining them.
Simmering the tortelli in the ragù. They absorb sauce, the filling goes muddy and the contrast between the mild ricotta and the dark meat disappears. Fold them through the warm sauce for a few seconds and serve at once.
Rushing the soffritto. Vegetables browned quickly over high heat turn bitter and that bitterness never leaves the sauce. Fifteen minutes of low gentle sweating is the only way to get the sweetness a long ragù is built on.
Wine Pairing
Rosso di Montalcino DOC: The most reliable match on the list. Sangiovese with the structure of Brunello but without the weight, so it has the acidity to cut a meat ragù and the softer tannin not to clash with a ricotta filling. Sour cherry and dried herb are exactly the register this sauce sits in.
Chianti Classico DOCG: The everyday Tuscan answer and a very good one. Its high acidity and savoury tomato leaf character meet the tomato in the ragù directly rather than fighting it, and the medium tannin has just enough grip to handle the pork fat. Choose a straight annata rather than a riserva, which would overpower the filling.
Bolgheri Sassicaia DOC: The coastal Maremma bottle and the geographically closest of the five. Cabernet grown on this shoreline gives dark cassis, cedar and a fine polished tannin, and that tannin is what carries a long cooked meat sauce. A serious wine for a plain dish, which is very much the Maremman way on a feast day.
Vino Nobile di Montepulciano DOCG: A step up in body from Chianti and the right choice if the ragù has been made with wild boar. Prugnolo Gentile gives darker plum fruit and a firmer tannic frame, and the extra structure stands up to game where a lighter Sangiovese would be flattened by it.
Carmignano DOCG: The outlier and the most interesting option. Sangiovese blended with a little Cabernet gives a wine with Tuscan acidity and an unexpected roundness through the middle, and that roundness is what carries the creamy ricotta filling. It bridges the two halves of the plate better than a pure Sangiovese does.
Storage & Reheating
Uncooked tortelli keep on a semola dusted tray in the refrigerator about 4 hours and no longer, because the filling begins to wet the pasta. Beyond that, freeze them: spread apart on a tray, freeze solid, then bag for up to 2 months. Cook from frozen in gently boiling water, allowing about 2 minutes more, and never thaw them, which turns the sheet to paste.
The ragù keeps refrigerated in a sealed container for 4 days and freezes well for 3 months in portions. Reheat it slowly with a splash of broth or water, stirring, until it loosens back to a coating consistency. It always looks tighter cold than it is.
Sauced tortelli should be eaten straight away, but leftovers hold one day refrigerated. Reheat in a covered pan over low heat with 2 tablespoons of water or broth, shaking gently for about 4 minutes, or in a dish covered with foil at 325°F (165°C) for 12 minutes. A microwave boils the filling, splits the ricotta and leaves the pasta rubbery.
Nutrition
Per serving, based on 4 first course portions of about 8 tortelli:
Calories: 760 kcal
Total Fat: 36 g
Saturated Fat: 15 g
Trans Fat: 0.6 g
Unsaturated Fat: 19 g
Cholesterol: 260 mg
Sodium: 840 mg
Total Carbohydrates: 68 g
Fiber: 5 g
Total Sugars: 7 g
Added Sugars: 0 g
Protein: 43 g
Lactose: 3 g
Principal micronutrients: iron, calcium, vitamin A, folate, vitamin B12, zinc, potassium
These figures are estimates. They vary most with the fat content of the meat and with how much separated fat is lifted off the chilled ragù before reheating.
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