6 filled pasta recipes that will inspire you to dust off your pasta machine

There’s nothing quite like a big bowl of pasta, heaped with sauce and showered with Parmesan. But while pasta is delicious, comforting and incredibly versatile, it sometimes lacks a little elegance.

If you’re wanting to wow your guests, filled pasta might just be the answer – it’s equally versatile with different flavours, but gives you a degree of precision and finesse when it comes to showing off your food on the plate. Not only that, you can prepare your pasta parcels well ahead of time and finish them at the last minute! We’ve pulled together six of our favourite filled pasta recipes, both sweet and savoury, to provide some inspiration.

Emanuele Scaroni’s open tortellini recipe takes that most sumptuous of Italian comfort foods – a classic ragu – and makes it into a thing of delicate beauty. Ragus vary throughout Italy, but Emanuele’s takes inspiration from Naples, using ground beef and pork, red wine, tomato and herbs to create a sumptuous filling, topped with Parmesan crumble and a Parmesan cream.

These beautiful golden ravioli make for a starter that is as striking on the plate as it is delicious. Cheese and pasta is a much loved combination, but Daniele Usai uses both Parmesan and stracchino – a soft, creamy cheese typical of northern Italy – to add extra richness and depth of flavour. You can even make and cook these ravioli ahead of time, reheating them and adding a generous showering of shaved truffle just before serving.

We normally associate pasta with savoury courses, but Luigi Sartini proves its versatility with this eye-catching dessert. His pasta dough is made with almond, egg white and icing sugar, and provides a neat parcel for a cassata filling – sweetened ricotta mixed with pistachios, dark chocolate and candied orange peel. To finish, the ravioli are placed atop a zesty orange soup, which cuts beautifully through the rich flavours.