Ricotta and Spinach-filled Mezzelune with Taleggio Cream Sauce

Combine two flours together in medium bowl, then place onto clean (preferably wooden surface). Create a well in the middle, and add eggs, a drop of extra-virgin olive oil and a pinch of salt. Begin to pull flours in from sides, using a fork to beat egg and flour together. Continue pulling flours into eggs until you have reached a fairly eggy dough.

Use your hands to knead dough, pulling in remaining flours into mixture. Continue kneading until dough is soft, but elastic and compact.

Cover with plastic wrap and rest in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat large sauté pan over medium heat, and add spinach.  

Cook, turning frequently, for between 3-5 minutes until spinach is completely wilted and cooked. Remove pan from heat, and using a sieve, drain spinach.  Press out as much liquid as you can.  Alternatively, you can place spinach directly into clean tea towel and squeezing spinach into a ball within the towel, remove all excess liquid from greens.  Spinach will need to be as dry as possible.

Remove as much excess liquid from ricotta cheese.  Set aside.  

Finely chop spinach and combine with ricotta cheese in medium bowl.  Adjust to taste with salt and pepper.  If you like, a dash of freshly grated nutmeg also is a good flavor enhancer.  

Lightly dust clean working space (if you have large wooden board, use here) with just enough flour to prevent dough from sticking to your hands.  

Remove dough from fridge, and cut into parts. Place one of the pieces on floured working surface, and flatten with a rolling pin until very thin, or use the pasta machine and continue rolling through until desired thickness reached.

Repeat same steps with other half of dough, making a pasta sheet of the same size. Set aside, covered with a moist towel if necessary to prevent pasta from drying out too much.

Cut with circle cutter and place about 1 teaspoon of filling on dough, closing the mezzelune overlapping the pasta to form a sort of half-moon shape. Seal borders with a fork, put sealed shapes on a tray sprinkled with semolina to avoid the mezzelune from sticking together.

Bring salted water to a boil in large stock pot, and add a few drops of olive oil. Gently drop mezzelune in lightly boiling water a few at a time.

Cook until pasta is al dente (firm but not too soft or overcooked - approximately a few minutes after when the mezzelune have come to the surface). Drain pasta, picking them from the boiling water with a slotted spoon.

Remove rinds from Taleggio cheese, and chop coarsely.

In large, wide sauté pan, melt milk with Taleggio cheese over very low heat.  Ingredients will need to melt and blend with each other, so stir frequently to induce melting.

Add 1 egg yolk to mix and stir well to incorporate ingredients.  Adjust to taste with salt and pepper, and if not liquid enough, add small amount of cooking water from pasta to reach desired consistency.

Add mezzelune directly into pan with sauce and stir to coat each pasta shape.  Place into individual serving plates and serve warm.  If you like, a dusting of freshly grated Parmesan cheese is a great finishing touch.

A note regarding your Mezzelune with Taleggio sauce:  if you'd like to brightup up your classic Italian Mezzelune pasta recipe visually, our chefs recommend adding a few colorful, steamed veggies to your final presentation.  Our team of expert chefs have opted for a beauitful purple broccoli and yellow zucchini in the photo above, but you can express your style and individuality here by including any colorful, nutritious veggies you like to this Italian recipe.