• Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
Italian Notes
  • HOME
  • PEOPLE & PLACES
    • Abruzzo
    • Basilicata
    • Calabria
    • Campania
    • Emilia-Romagna
    • Friuli-Venezia Giulia
    • Lazio
    • Liguria
    • Lombardia-Lombardy
    • Marche
    • Molise
    • Piemonte-Piedmont
    • Puglia – Apulia
    • Sicilia
    • Toscana-Tuscany
    • Trentino-Alto Adige – Trentino-South Tyrol
    • Umbria
    • Veneto
  • FOOD
    • Antipasti
    • Primi piatti
    • Secondi piatti
    • Dolci
  • PR/ADVERTISING
  • Search
  • Menu Menu

Spinach pasta roll

Rotolo di spinaci

I hadn’t come across a spinach pasta roll, until I found the recipe in an old issue of Sale&Pepe from 2010. And I still can’t believe, how I’ve missed something so good for so long.

The article in Sale & Pepe celebrates the culinary traditions of Emilia la ghiotta listing delicacies from Parma, Bologna and Piacenza. The spinach pasta roll is a traditional recipe from Reggio Emilia which according to the magazine is the poorest and most rural part of the region known for its homemade pasta, cheese and fresh vegetables.

It’s not just the shape that makes the spinach pasta roll special. The roll should be cooked for an hour so that the pasta and the spinach filling makes up a soft, compact roll that can easily be sliced and served with a classic tomato or cheese sauce. The strange thing is that it becomes more al dente the longer it cooks.

Ingredients

For the pasta
200 g flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk

For the spinach filling
500 g fresh spinach
400 g fresh ricotta
100 g grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Grated nutmeg

Preparation

Make a volcano of flour with the egg and the egg yolk in the middle on a clean worktop.
Use a fork to incorporate flour and egg.
Keep stirring and kneading until you have a smooth and elastic pasta dough.
Let the pasta rest for an hour in the fridge.
Wash the spinach and give it a quick boil in as little water as possible (if you use frozen spinach, you can skip this)
Drain the spinach, let it cool and chop it finely.
Stir ricotta with grated nutmeg and parmesan, salt and pepper.
Mix finely chopped spinach with the cheese mixture.
Roll the pasta 10 times through the greatest width of the pasta machine.
Roll the pasta sheet out while you decrease the width gradually.
Press two sheets of pasta together or use a rolling pin to make a thin and square, single sheet of pasta.
Spread the spinach filling evenly over the pasta leaving a free border of 2 cm all the way round.
Roll the pasta over the filling and seal the edges with a drop of water.
Wrap the spinach pasta roll in a piece of cloth or in a sheet of baking paper.
Tie the ends with kitchen string
Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. (it’s easier if you use an oblong saucepan for cooking fish. Otherwise you may have to bend the spinach pasta roll to fit the pan)
Immerse the spinach pasta roll in boiling water, turn down the heat to an absolute minimum and cook the spinach pasta roll for circa 30-60 minutes.
Slice the spinach pages roll before serving with a classic tomato sauce and a shower of grated parmesan.
Unlike other cooked pasta, the spinach pasta roll can also be eaten cold, or covered in bechamel sauce as a gratin, quite like cannelloni.

Share this entry
  • Share on Facebook
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Pinterest
  • Share on Reddit
  • Share by Mail
Spinach pasta roll

Spinach pasta roll from Emilia-Romagna

2 replies
  1. Dawn O DeSimone
    Dawn O DeSimone says:
    October 20, 2021 at 3:12 am

    This looks delicious, and I will definitely try it soon. Is it correct that it needs to cook for 30 to 60 minutes? Seems like a long time. Thank you!

    Reply
    • Mette
      Mette says:
      October 25, 2021 at 2:39 pm

      Yes, it is a kind of lasagne and the filling is rather dry, which means that the cooking time is prolonged. The exact timing depends on your oven, the dryness of the pasta, and how al dente you prefer your pasta, so make sure to keep an eye on the cooking.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Followon TwitterSubscribeto RSS Feed

Booking

Booking.com

Rental cars

More about food

Antipasti recipes - Italian NotesANTIPASTI RECIPES

Primi Piatti - Italian Notes

PRIMI PIATTI

Secondi piatti - Italian Notes

SECONDI PIATTI

Dolci - Italian Notes

DOLCI

The Cathedral of AnagniPhoto from the Cathedral of AnagniMillesimo in Liguria - Italian NotesMillesimo in Liguria
Scroll to top

This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.

Accept settingsHide notification onlySettings

Cookie and Privacy Settings



How we use cookies

We may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.

Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.

Essential Website Cookies

These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.

Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.

We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.

We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.

Google Analytics Cookies

These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.

If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:

Other external services

We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.

Google Webfont Settings:

Google Map Settings:

Google reCaptcha Settings:

Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:

Other cookies

The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them:

Accept settingsHide notification only