Ravioli

Two thin sheets of egg pasta sealed around a spoonful of filling, cut into squares or rounds, boiled for a few minutes and dressed simply: ravioli are the oldest and most widespread of Italy's stuffed pastas, mentioned in Genoese and Venetian documents from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries and now made, under one name or another, in every region. The classic fillings are ricotta with spinach or chard in Emilia and Tuscany, meat in Piedmont's agnolotti and Liguria's ravioli di carne, fish along the Ligurian coast, and potato with mint in Sardinia's culurgiones; each region also has its own shape, from the half-moon of the Emilian tortello to the pleated culurgiones. What distinguishes a ravioli from a tortellino or a cappelletto is only the fold. The dressing is kept quiet, butter and sage, a light tomato sauce or the meat's own juices, so the filling is tasted.