It’s not a secret that I love Christmas and I love to host in my home the family’s Christmas lunch.
Each year when the calendar turns to the first december’s days I start decoranting my house, baking cookies for friends and thinking to the Christmas menù.
In my childhood memories on Christmas lunch there was always pasta.
Pasta with meat sauce or, more often, pasta “al forno”, that is baked pasta with red sauce, cheese, meat, ham, peas and any other ingredient you immagination can suggest you.
I’m not a big fan of baked pasta, so some years ago I decided to make the tortellini.
Tortellini are typical from Emilian Romagna, northern Italy, not easy to find the “real” recipe, like for mostly of the tradional italian dishes.
I had the idea to call my cousin that lives in Modena, married to a modenese woman.
Tortellini in Modena are a serious stuff, after 30 second I received on my phone a picture of this post, wich is attached on their fridge all year around.
One kilo parmesan cheese? hmm… there is a mistake
I start to prepare my tortellini without thinking to my doubts, the result was fantastic.
The filling is rich, savoury and delicate at the same time. The best way to eat them is to plunge them in a warm meat stock.
So the tortellini are my “family classic” for the Christams lunch. I know, this is not a fast preparation and you will need a little bit of practise, but believe me… you will love them.
Tortellini
For the dough: 800 gr. flour 00 – 300 gr. fine semolina flour – 10 eggs
Filling:600 gr. pork loin (you can mix veal and pork ), cutted in small cubes – 300 gr. mortadella, cutter in small cubes or stripes – 300 gr. prosciutto, cutter in small cubes or stripes – 1 kg parmesan cheese, grated – a pinch of nutmeg
Combine the flours and put them on the wooden board or kitchen surface, make a well in the middle and break in the eggs. Mix with a fork the yolks and the whites then start to pick a little flour at time. When the dough is enough compact, use your hands to work it into a homogeneous texture. Work the dough for a least 5 minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Wrap the dough in a cling film and set aside for 30 minutes.
During this time prepare the filling. In one non-stick pan cook the meat without fat until it’s grey.
Let it cool then transfer in the mixer together with the rest of the ingredients.
Mix until you will have a smooth and sticky filling.
Using a pasta machine, roll out the dough to a thickness of 4mm and cut out squares with a 4cm sizes . Put one little ball of filling in the middle then fold the square forming a triangle. Then turn the opposite edges of the pasta aroung your finger and pinch the tips together.
Repeat with all the pasta and filling.
Cook the tortellini in meat broth for about 4 minutes and serve immediately
Tips:
– you can prepare the tortellini in advance. After the preparation let the tortellini to dry at room temperature, place them on a tray and transfer to the freezer. Once frozen, they can then be transferred to a plastic bag. Cook the tortellini in the boiling broth while they are still frozen.
An Italian Christmas, my homemade tortellini
