Pansotti con salsa di noci (stuffed pasta with walnut sauce)

Method

1. Add the butter to a medium frying pan over a medium heat. Once foaming, add the chard/spinach and cook, stirring, until wilted. Leave to cool.
2. Squeeze the leaves to remove as much excess liquid as you can. Roughly chop them, put in a bowl, then add the herbs, ricotta, parmesan, lemon zest and juice. Mix thoroughly, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper and a grating of nutmeg. Transfer to a piping bag.
3. To make the pangrattato, heat a splash of oil in a wide frying pan. Add the focaccia crumbs and a pinch of salt, then cook, stirring constantly, for 5 minutes or until the crumbs are crisp and golden. Transfer to a plate lined with kitchen paper to drain.>
4. To make the sauce, mix the walnuts, garlic, parmesan, mascarpone, oregano, lemon zest and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the extra-virgin olive oil 1 tbsp at a time, mixing well after each addition, then set aside.
5. Divide the pasta dough into quarters and dust your work surface with semolina. Take a quarter and run it through your pasta machine, starting at the widest setting and gradually moving down until the sheet is 1-1.5mm thick. Pipe blobs of the filling, roughly 15g each, in a line along the centre of the sheet. Brush a little beaten egg around the blobs, then roll out a second piece of pasta dough and lay this on top. Carefully press down around the filling to seal the pansotti and remove any air bubbles, then cut a triangle around each blob of filling.
6. Repeat this with the other 2 pieces of pasta dough and the remaining filling – you should get 20-24 pansotti in total. As you cut them out, transfer them to a tray dusted with semolina.
7. Bring a large pan of heavily salted water to the boil. Add the pasta and cook for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, very gently heat the walnut sauce. Drain the pasta, divide among plates and drizzle the walnut sauce over the top. Finish with the pangrattato, a drizzle of oil and a little chopped parsley.