Up to My Ears in Greens

Yipes, the greens are getting away from me in the fridge.  Large bunches of Russian kale, collards and turnips greens along with 2 bunches of leeks are being turned into ravioli filling.  The filling is cooling right now and I'll chop it more finely, then make the pasta for the ravs.  These should taste good with some tomato sauce made from Eatwell Farm tomatoes at one of their tomato saucing party events.

Mixed Greens filling for Ravioli

3 large bunches of greens, washed well, made into chiffinades and then sliced into 1/4 inch strips
3 large or 6 small leeks (or combination of leeks and onions) finely diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves, chopped
1/4 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. turmeric(optional)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. dried italian seasoning(mix of oregano, basil, rosemary)
3 TBSP olive oil
1 lb. of pasta dough

Make the pasta dough. A typical recipe can be found here http://lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/1032
Allow it to rest while you make the filling.

Heat the olive oil over medium high heat, add the leeks, salt, black pepper, turmeric and nutmeg. Saute for 2-3 minutes, then add the greens.  Add the dried italian seasoning and parsley.  Saute for 6-8 minutes until the greens are thoroughly wilted, stirring occasionally.  Once cooked, allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.  Place the mixture in a food processor, and pulse several times to further chop and blend the mixture ( you don't want a smooth paste, but a rough chopped look to the greens).  If you don't have a food processor, chop by hand to achieve the same effect.  The mix should be well chopped and scoopable (if more moisture came out during the chopping, return the mix to a saute pan and heat to through to remove excess moisture). 

Rollout the pasta dough into sheets using a pasta maker or rolling pin.  Place small dollops of greens mixture on one pasta sheet, brush some egg wash or water around each dollop and cover the dollops with a second sheet, cut between the greens mixture dollops to create pasta squares.  Seal the squares with the tines of a fork pressed along the edge of each square. Place the filled squares in a single layer on a cookie sheet lined with a lint free tea towel sprinkled liberally with flour.  You can freeze the raviolis for later by placing the cookie sheet with the ravs in the freezer and once frozen place the raviolis in a freezer bag for later use.  Or if using that day - cover the ravs with a tea towel and place in the fridge until ready to cook. 

To cook, fill a large pot with water, bring to a boil, add ravioli, cook until they all float to the surface, remove from the pot with a slotted spoon or spider and dress with your favorite sauce.