A rotolo is an unusual stuffed pasta dish – the sort of pasta that you’d do for a dinner party. Making a rotolo undoubtedly involves a bit of love and hard work, but it’s full of flavour and looks stunning. This recipe for a Pumpkin and Spinach Rotola, which appears here with permission, comes from Alice Hart’s excellent new cookbook Vegetarian (pub. Murdoch £14.99).
In the book Alice Hart suggests that, if it makes life easier, you can roast the pumpkin, wilt the spinach and make the pasta the day before. That way, you’ll only have to assemble and simmer the rotolo and make the sage butter on the day.
Pumpkin and Spinach Rotolo with Sage Butter - Recipe
Ingredients – Serves 6 as a starter
For the pasta:
- 300g type 00 flour, plus extra for rolling out
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
For the filling:
- A handful of small sage leaves
- 450g peeled pumpkin, cut into 2cm cubes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 600g spinach leaves, washed
- 75g butter 250g ricotta, drained
- 2 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan
- A good grating of nutmeg
- plus slow-roast tomatoes made with 500g cherry tomatoes (ingredients and method below)
For the slow roast tomatoes:
- 500g ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
- About 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
- 1 or 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
Method
- To make the slow roast tomatoes: Preheat the oven to 110?C (225?F/Gas ½). Lay the tomatoes out on 2 baking sheets, cut sides up.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper, sugar, rosemary and garlic, and drizzle with olive oil. Roast for about 3 hours until shrunken and a little blackened at the edges.
To make the pumpkin rotolo:
- Pulse the pasta ingredients in a food processor until ‘breadcrumbs’ form, and tip onto a work surface. Knead for 5 minutes until smooth, soft and elastic. Form into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and leave in a cool place for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Shred a couple of sage leaves finely and toss with the pumpkin and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Season well. Spread on a baking sheet and roast for 30 minutes, or until tender.
- Wilt the spinach in 15g of the butter over a medium heat in a large pan. When no water remains, season and set aside to cool, then roughly chop. Combine the ricotta and Parmesan and season with plenty of nutmeg and salt and pepper. Set aside.
- Roll the pasta out to form a rectangle 40 x 30cm, using a small amount of flour to prevent it sticking. Trim the edges so they are straight and true and lay this rectangle on a clean, flat tea towel. Wring out any water from the spinach and scatter over the pasta, leaving a border.
- Dot the spinach with the ricotta and scatter with roast pumpkin. Roll up from a long edge to form a sausage shape, then roll the tea towel firmly around it and tie the ends like a cracker. Bind with a couple of pieces of string. Lower the rotolo into a large pan of generously salted boiling water and poach gently for 20 minutes.
- Remove the rotolo from the pan and shake off excess water. Cut the strings. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in a pan and add the rest of the sage leaves. Cook until crisp, then drain on absorbent kitchen paper.
- Melt the remaining butter in the pan and when it starts to turn golden, remove from the heat. Unwrap the rotolo, trim the ends and slice into 12 pieces. Divide between 6 warmed plates, add a few roast tomatoes and spoon the butter over. Finish with crisp sage leaves.
Rebecca Ford - I'm a UK based freelance travel writer and photographer - and the country I most like to visit is Italy. That's not just because of the ...
