Ligurian Potato and Mint Ravioli (Turle)

Make the filling

1. Wash the unpeeled potatoes and boil them in an abundant boiling salted water. Drain, peel and mash with the potato masher. Or pass the potatoes through a potato ricer.
2. While the potatoes are still hot, add the toma (or other cheese) cut into small pieces, the Parmigiano, 2 egg yolks and 4-5 finely chopped mint leaves. Season with salt and pepper, mix everything together and let cool.

Make the pasta

1. Sift the flour onto a pastry board or into a bowl and create a well in the centre.  Add the eggs and pour in the water. Using a fork, start by beating the eggs with the water and then mixing the liquid with the flour, adding the flour to the liquid little by little from the outside in.
2. Continue using your hands until all the flour has been mixed with the egg and water and the dough starts to stick together. Turn the dough out onto a flour dusted pastry board (if starting in a bowl).
3. Knead the dough with the heel of your hands as you would for bread for 5-10minutes until it is smooth and elastic. You may need to dust with more flour if your dough seems sticky or sticks to the work surface.
4. Roll the dough into a ball. Wrap it in plastic wrap or a tea towel and let it rest for at least 30 minutes.

Make the ravioli

1. Cut off ¼ of the dough and roll it out with a rolling pin until it is about 2 mm thick (leave the rest of the dough covered so it doesn’t dry out). Alternatively flatten the dough piece a little with your hands and pass it through a pasta machine starting with 2-3 times through the widest setting (7 for me) then through the next 2-3 settings until you have pasta sheets that you can almost see your fingers through.
2. With an 8 cm diameter cookie cutter, or with a glass, cut discs out of the dough. In the centre of each disc place a heaped teaspoon of filling. Brush a little water or egg white around the edge of the pasta disc. Fold the disc in half and seal the edges by pressing down with your index finger or a fork. Arrange the ready ravioli spaced apart on a well-floured surface so that they do not stick to each other. Repeat with the remaining pasta and filling.

Cook and serve or freeze

1. Bring a big pan of salted water to boil and cook your turle ravioli for about 8 minutes.
2. Meanwhile put the butter in a shallow pan and let it melt, add the chopped mint and let it geta bit crispy. Remove the raviolis from the water with a skimmer or slotted spoon and lay them in the pan with the butter, mix very gently. Before serving, sprinkle with some Parmigiano cheese and decorate with few fresh mint leaves.
3. If you don't want to cook the ravioli the same day, you can freeze it and cook from frozen. Freeze the pasta spread out on a tray. Once frozen, you can put the ravioli in a sealed freezer bag.