Ravioli di patate e pesto con fagiolini, pomodorini e mandorle

Fill large pot of water, bring to boil and add potatoes.  Cook over medium heat until potatoes are cooked through.  Drain, allow to cool enough to handle, peel and set aside.  

Gently wash the leaves of basil, and dry with paper towel, dry leaves very carefully to avoid bruising delicate basil leaves.  Remove skins from the garlic cloves, cut in half to remove the inner stem (which is sometimes green in color).  If you're using fresh garlic, leave cloves intact.   

In order to avoid heating the ingredients while preparing pesto, place following ingredients into the bowl of your food processor (or a glass, if you're using an immersion blender):  all of the basil, garlic, nuts, and 100g Parmesan cheese.  Allow to chill before processing.  Once chilled, process and blend well until you have reached consistency of solid paste.  To assist blender in processing ingredients, add olive oil in small quantities to help blend.  Cover with plastic, and place in refrigerator until ready to use.  

In large bowl, place cooled, peeled potatoes and chilled pesto.  Smash potatoes with fork, and incorporate pesto well.  Adjust seasonings to taste with salt, pepper, olive oil and more Parmesan cheese.    Your filling should be soft but compact, and flavorful.

Setacciare la farina sulla tavola di legno e creare un pozzo al centro.  Rompere le uova e versarle nel pozzetto, una alla volta.  Aggiungere un solo tuorlo.

Con una forchetta, sbattere le uova. Aggiungere delicatamente un po' di farina al composto di uova. Continuare a versare la farina nelle uova un po' alla volta, fino a quando la farina non sarà completamente assorbita.  Impastare con le mani per ottenere un composto uniforme, continuare a lavorare la pasta, spingendo con il palmo delle mani, fino a quando l'impasto risulta liscio e compatto. 

Formare una palla rotonda e liscia e disporla su un piatto.  Coprire con un panno inumidito o con pellicola di plastica e lasciare riposare la pasta in un luogo fresco per 30 minuti o 1 ora.

Use minimum flour necessary, just enough to prevent dough from sticking to your hands while working.  

Cut dough in parts. Place one of the pieces on lightly floured work surface, and flatten with rolling pin until it is moderately thin, or use prepared pasta machine. 

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

Cut with square cutter and place about 1 teaspoon of ravioli filling on dough, closing ravioli overlapping pasta to form square shapes.

Seal ravioli borders with fork, put shaped ravioli on a tray sprinkled with semolina to avoid ravioli sticking together.

Using heavy-bottomed sauté pan, heat few tablespoons of olive oil.  Add garlic and allow to brown slightly.  Add tomatoes, allow to cook over very low heat, for about 20 minutes. 

Using immersion blender, process everything to create smooth sauce.  If you prefer, you can leave the sauce as is, or pass through a sieve to reach a perfectly smooth version.  

Adjust to taste with salt and a pinch of sugar to correct acidity.  Add a dash of high quality extra virgin olive oil, if available, the latest harvest.

Bring water to a boil in stockpot. Add salt and few drops of olive oil.  Gently drop ravioli 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 ravioli have come to the surface). 

Drain ravioli, picking them from boiling water with slotted spoon.  Set aside, but keep hot.

Preheat oven to 160C.  Line small baking sheet with baking paper. 

While boiling ravioli, wash and remove stems from French (Green) beans.  Cut into 1"-long pieces, and boil until cooked through, but still somewhat "al dente." 

While cooking beans, toast almond pieces for about 5 minutes, being careful not to burn fine slices. When beans are done cooking, drain, run under cold water and dress with fresh olive oil and salt to taste.  

Place a serving of the tomato sauce onto individual serving dish, create large circle using spoon.  Place on top a serving of cooked ravioli, with another splash of tomato sauce.  Add Green beans, toasted almonds and Ricotta shards or grated Parmesan cheese.   Serve hot.