*Possibly . Our love affair with pasta making continues. ‘The best veggie ravioli in the world’ is, of course, an unrealistically big claim, but this is a fantastic dish. The chard/cheese/herb filling tastes amazing, and they all work beautifully together with the vegetable stock; nothing dominates, everything sits together perfectly – please resist any temptation to bump up any quantities. It is cooked like a gyoza, lightly fried first and then poached in vegetable stock. This makes 16 large ravioli, using a 7cm circular cutter. They can be cooked from frozen (allow an extra 1-2 minutes in cooking time, don’t thaw before cooking). It will use 2/3 of the pasta, making any less than this amount is impractical; the 1/3 you don't use can be can be frozen. You will definitely need a pasta machine to get the pasta thin enough. A hand held blender or food processor is also useful, as the filling needs to be fairly smooth. You’ll also need a frying pan that has a tight fitting lid. We've also done it with Wheat Free/Gluten Free Pasta

Pasta:-

200g best quality ‘00’ pasta flour

2 eggs

Fine semolina flour

Filling:-

5 spring onion whites, peeled and finely chopped

Groundnut oil

200g chard, stems and leaves separated, stems finely diced, leaves finely shredded

100ml vegetable stock or nage

1 heaped tbsp chives, finely chopped

1 heaped tbsp chervil or dill, finely chopped

Zest of one lemon, finely grated

80g ricotta

80g soft sheep’s cheese (soft goat’s cheese also works fine)

salt and pepper

Salsa:-

1 spring onion white, peeled and finely chopped

2 large tomatoes, skinned, seeded and cut into a 5mm dice

1 tsp lime juice

salt and pepper to season

Cooking the ravioli:-

40g butter

200ml vegetable stock or nage

salt

To serve:-

Your favourite salad leaves

First make the pasta dough:-

• Put the '00' pasta flour and egg in a bowl and mix together well until you have a soft smooth dough. It takes about 5 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a semolina dusted work surface and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

• Then knead the dough for 5 minutes until it is very smooth, and similar in texture to plasticene. Cover the ball of dough with cling film and allow to rest for a least 2 hours, preferably overnight, in the fridge

To make the filling:-

• Heat a small saucepan with a splash of oil. Cook the spring onions for 2 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside, but don’t wash the pan. Add the chard leaves, and cook gently for 2-4 minutes, until wilted down. Remove and set aside.Finally, in the same pan, add some more oil and cook the chard stalks for 2 minutes, then add 100ml of the veg stock, and cook for 5 minutes – it should absorb all of the stock. Blitz the spring onions, chard stalks and leaves, lemon zest, herbs, ricotta and cheese until fairly smooth – it is good to have a little texture. Season and set aside

To prepare the ravioli:-

• Cut the pasta into three equal lumps. Roll one out thinly and pass through a pasta machine until nearly translucent. Place on a floured surface and cut out 16 x 7cm circles. Put a heaped teaspoon of the chard mixture in the centre of 8 of the circles, then smear a little water around the edge. Pop another disc of pasta on top, smoothing the edges together ensuring that there aren’t any air bubbles inside. Place on a plate sprinkled with fine semolina, to stop the ravioli sticking together. Repeat with another third of the pasta to create a total of 16 pieces. This can be done 3-4 hours in advance, if needs be. The final third of the unrolled pasta can now be frozen

To make the salsa:-

• Heat some oil in a small saucepan, and add the chopped spring onions. Cook until soft and translucent. Meanwhile put the diced tomatoes into a bowl. When the onions are done stir into the tomatoes. Add half of the lime juice, season and taste. If it seems appropriate add the other half of the lime juice.

Cooking the ravioli in two batches:-

• Put 20g of the butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once melted, add 8 of the ravioli and cook for 2 minutes. Then add 100 ml of the vegetable stock, clamp a lid on and cook more slowly for a further 3-4 minutes. The sauce should be thick enough to lightly coat the pasta; if it isn’t take the lid off and boil more quickly to reduce. Season with salt. Remove from pan and keep warm. Clean the pan and repeat with the 2nd batch. Serve the ravioli with the salsa dotted around the plate and a heap of salad leaves each