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1
Prepare the fresh pasta dough and chill it.
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2
Drain the ricotta in a mesh sieve set over a bowl for 8 hours or overnight.
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3
Bring a large pot of water to the boil, dump in all the spinach, and return to the boil.
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4
Blanch for 5 minutes, then drain through a colander.
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5
When the spinach is cool, forcefully squeeze out all the moisture, and chop fine.
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6
Remove the membranes, fat, and veins from the chicken livers with a paring knife.
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7
Rinse them, and pat dry.
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8
Heat the olive oil in a small skillet, stir in the onion, and cook over medium heat until wilted.
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9
Add the chicken livers, season lightly with salt, and cook for about 5 minutes over moderate heat, turning frequently.
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10
When livers are cooked through but still moist, turn off the heat and let them cool a bit.
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11
Spoon the livers and onion out of the skillet, and chop them fine with a chefs knife.
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12
Beat the egg in a large bowl.
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13
Stir in the chopped livers and the meat juices and oil from the small skillet.
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14
Stir in the chopped basil, 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste, the ground pepper and nutmeg.
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15
Fold in the chopped spinach, drained ricotta, and grated cheese.
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16
Chill thoroughly in a sealed container.
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17
To make tortelli, cut the pasta dough into four pieces, and roll them all through the pasta machine at progressively narrower settings into sheets 6 inches wide, or as wide as your machine allows.
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18
Cut the sheets (crosswise) when they stretch longer than 20 inches.
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19
Roll the shorter sheets until the pasta is quite thin, always keeping the sheets about 6 inches wide.
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20
Lay one sheet of dough on a lightly floured surface with the long edge running left to right in front of you.
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21
With your hands or a rolling pin, stretch the dough gently top to bottomthat is, make it a bit wider than 6 inches, so you can fold it over the filling.
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22
Drop a rounded tablespoon of filling on the bottom half of the sheet every 3 inches, from left to right.
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23
With a pastry brush dipped in water, moisten the edges of the sheet and in between the mounds of filling, to help the dough stick together.
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24
Now fold the sheet over the filling so the top edge aligns with the bottom.
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25
Press the dough lightly so it adheres and encloses the filling.
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26
Run the pastry cutter in between the mounds, creating 3-inch-square tortelli.
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27
Press the edges of the squares to make sure the pasta has sealed.
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28
Set the tortelli on a lightly floured tray; stretch and fill all the rolled sheets in the same way.
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29
To cook the tortelli, bring 8 quarts of salted water to the boil in a wide pot.
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30
Pour the ragu maremmano (recipe follows) or other sauce into one or two skillets (depending on the size of your pans).
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31
For the whole batch of tortelli, heat 4 to 5 cups of sauce; about 2 cups sauce for a half-batch.
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32
If the sauce is thick, loosen it with hot water from the pasta-cooking pot.
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33
Have the sauce already simmering when you cook the tortelli.
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34
Drop the tortelli into the boiling water and return it to the boil.
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35
Cook for 3 to 4 minutes, gently stirring and turning the tortelli to keep them from sticking.
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36
When theyre cooked through (test a thick edge of pasta), lift them from the pot with a spider, drain off excess water, and slide them into the sauce.
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37
Spread the tortelli in one layer in the skillet, spooning over the hot sauce and shaking the pan, to coat them thoroughly.
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38
Remove the pan from the heat, sprinkle grated cheese over the tortelli, and drizzle a final flourish of good olive oil.
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39
Arrange tortelli on warm plates and spoon over hot sauce from the skillet.
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40
Soak the dried porcini in a cup or so of hot water for at least 1/2 hour.
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41
Using the food processor, puree the onion and celery to a paste.
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42
Heat the oil in the saucepan over medium-high heat, scrape in the paste, and stir it for 3 or 4 minutes as it steams and starts to caramelize.
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43
Add all the meats to the pan, raise the heat, and continuously turn and loosen the chopped meat as it sears and browns.
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44
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons salt over the meat, and keep tossing and breaking up any lumps, until all the meat is colored and has started to release moisture.
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45
Cook, stirring frequently, to evaporate all the liquid in the pan, about 15 minutes or more.
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46
When the meat is dry, pour in the wine, stir well, and bring it to the boil.
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47
Cook, frequently stirring, to evaporate the wine.
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48
Meanwhile, lift the reconstituted porcini pieces from the soaking water, squeeze them dry, and chop into bits.
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49
Stir the porcini into the sizzling meats.
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50
When the wine has almost evaporated, pour in the porcini water (but not the sediment), stir, and cook until it too has disappeared into the meat.
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51
Pour the tomatoes into the pan, slosh the containers with 2 cups of water, and stir that in.
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52
Cook, covered, until the tomato juices are bubbling, then lower the heat and simmer the sauce, partially covered, for 2 to 3 hoursthe longer it perks the better!
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53
As the sauce reduces, add stock or water as needed to keep the meat covered by liquid.
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54
Taste, and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
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55
Use right away orfor best flavorlet the sauce sit for a couple of hours or up to 2 days (refrigerated).
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56
Loosen sauce with water or stock, if necessary, when reheating.
