Stracciatella-filled pasta with spring zucchini

Instructions

1. To make the pasta dough, combine the flour and salt. Make a well in the centre, then crack the eggs directly into the well, adding the tomato paste and a drizzle of olive oil. Use a fork to lightly beat the eggs, then gradually draw the flour from the well’s edges to begin forming a loose dough. Switch to your hands and knead the pasta dough for 5-10 minutes, until smooth. Form the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight before using.
2. Two and a half hours before cooking, place the stracciatella into a muslin-lined colander hung over a large bowl. Refrigerate and allow to drip for 2 hours, until you get 100 g hung stracciatella (reserve the drained liquid to serve).
3. One hour before cooking, remove the pasta dough from the fridge to bring to room temperature (this will make rolling it out much easier).
4. To finish the filling, combine the hung stracciatella with the remaining ingredients for the filling in a medium bowl. Refrigerate for 20 minutes before using.
5. Meanwhile, to make the zucchini garnish, shave the zucchini into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler, then place into a medium bowl. Lightly salt the zucchini ribbons, let them stand for 15 minutes, then rinse off any excess salt. Pick the petals from the zucchini flowers and set aside.
6. Lightly dust the pasta dough with flour, then feed it through an electric pasta roller, gradually reducing the thickness until you reach setting #2. Use a round 7 cm cutter to punch out rounds of dough, placing 25 g stracciatella filling in the centre of each round. Fold, or shape as you desire, ensuring the edges are sealed. Repeat until you have used all the filling, then transfer the filled pasta shapes to a lightly floured tray and set aside until ready to cook.
7. To finish the pasta, bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and heat a large frying pan. Once the water simmers, cook the pasta for 2 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to transfer to the frying pan with a little pasta water, the butter and lemon juice for the sauce and a sprinkle of salt. Toss lightly to emulsify the pasta water into a sauce, then remove from the heat.
8. Divide the pasta between plates and garnish with the zucchini ribbons and zucchini flowers. Sprinkle with extra pecorino cheese and black pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil and the reserved stracciatella milk (drained liquid).