Ravioli

Ravioli are small stuffed pasta pockets sealed at the edges and boiled. The filling — cheese, meat or vegetable — does more to define the dish than whatever sauce it's dressed with, which is why a menu naming just "ravioli" is really only telling half the story.

What it actually is

Sheets of egg pasta are rolled thin, dabbed with a spoonful of filling at regular intervals, covered with a second sheet and pressed to seal, then cut into individual squares or circles. A ricotta and spinach filling is the most familiar version outside Italy, but meat, pumpkin, mushroom and fish fillings are all traditional in different regions, and each is treated as its own distinct dish rather than a variation on one.

They're boiled briefly in salted water — just long enough to cook the pasta casing through without bursting the seal — then dressed simply, usually with butter and sage, a light tomato sauce, or nothing more than the pasta water itself and grated parmesan.

How it's served

• In a shallow bowl, dressed lightly rather than drowned in sauce.
• With butter and sage, the classic pairing for a cheese filling.
• A handful per portion, since the filling makes them richer than plain pasta.

Writing it on a menu

• Name the filling specifically — it's the actual identity of the dish.
• Flag gluten, egg and dairy; the pasta casing and most fillings carry all three.
• Say if the pasta is made fresh in-house, since hand-rolled ravioli hold a noticeably thinner, more delicate casing than a dried, packaged version.
• Note any meat or fish filling plainly for guests expecting a vegetarian pasta course.