Cjarsòns di Carnia con Burro e Ricotta Affumicata

Ingredients

• For the pasta dough
• 300 g plain flour (tipo 00)
• 150 ml water, warm
• 1 pinch fine salt
• For the filling
• 300 g floury potatoes, boiled in their skins, peeled and mashed while warm
• 150 g spinach, blanched, squeezed firmly dry, finely chopped
• 40 g sultanas, soaked briefly in warm water, drained
• 30 g candied lemon peel, finely chopped
• ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1 pinch fine salt
• To dress
• 100 g unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 80 g ricotta affumicata, Friulian smoked ricotta, finely grated
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon, for dusting at service

Method

1. 1
   Combine the flour and salt on a work surface. Add the warm water gradually, working the dough until smooth and cohesive. It will be firmer and slightly denser than an egg-based dough. Knead for 8–10 minutes. Wrap and rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it is supple and does not spring back when pressed.
2. 2
   Mix the mashed potato, chopped spinach, drained sultanas, candied lemon peel, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a bowl. Season with a pinch of salt. Mix cold. Taste: the filling should register as unusual-savoury — a perceptible sweetness and warmth from the spice, but emphatically not confectionery. Adjust spice if needed, but do not push the sweetness further.
3. 3
   Roll the rested dough to a thickness slightly greater than Emilian egg pasta — approximately 2–3 mm. Cut rounds of 7–8 cm diameter. Place a small amount of filling (no more than one level teaspoon) at the centre of each round. This is where the dish lives or dies: overfilling collapses the balance of the dish, and the rich sweet mixture must remain a restrained counterpoint, not the dominant mass. Fold each round into a half-moon, pressing the edges firmly to seal without air pockets.
4. 4
   Cook the cjarsòns in a large pan of generously salted boiling water in batches. They are done when they float and the dough at the sealed edge is just tender to the bite — 3–4 minutes from the surface.
5. 5
   While the pasta cooks, melt the butter in a wide, pale-coloured pan over a medium flame. Continue cooking, swirling frequently, until the milk solids turn golden and the kitchen smells of hazelnut. Remove from the heat immediately. The colour must be noisette — amber-gold, not brown-black; the scent is nutty, not bitter.
6. 6
   Lift the cjarsòns from the water with a slotted spoon and transfer directly into the beurre noisette. Turn gently to coat. Divide among warmed plates. Grate the ricotta affumicata generously over each portion — it should fall in fine, dry shards, not clumps. Finish with a light dusting of ground cinnamon. Serve at once: the smoke of the ricotta against the spiced sweet filling should be the first thing perceived on the palate.