Ricotta and sage tortellonis
INGREDIENTS (for 3-4 persons)
For the pasta dough:
- 2 large eggs (or 3 smaller)
- 200 g of all-purpose flour (or 00)
For the filling:
- 150 g ricotta
- a good pinch of nutmeg
For the recipe:
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 100 g of butter
- 150 g of fresh mushrooms (Black trumpets, shiitake, …)
- 100 g of parmesan cheese
For the pasta dough:
- 2 large eggs (or 3 smaller)
- 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour (or 00)
For the filling:
- 1/2 cup of ricotta
- a good pinch of nutmeg
For the recipe:
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1/3 cup of butter
- 5 oz of fresh mushrooms (Black trumpets, shiitake, …)
- 3,5 oz of parmesan cheese
Hello my sweethearts! Let’s start with the wonderful homemade tortellOnis. Did you get the O right there? Yes, we’re going to make tortellOnis, not tortEllinis. Do you know there is more to tortellinis than just filled pasta? Well we didn’t either but let’s dive into the wonderful world of pasta!
Tortellini are known as the ring-shaped pasta, so are tortellonis, but we’ll get to that later. Initially it resembled the belly button of Venus (pure “amore” right there!), so one more reason which says food is love. The basic difference between them is the filling (and how it’s served). Tortellini are more like meat filled soup dumplings, while tortellonis can be filled with ricotta, pumpkins, or whatever you like, but they are served stir-fried. Furthermore, tortellonis are bigger in size, and mostly not meat filled, so it’s really a good vegetarian option.
Well congrats, today you learned some essential pasta history, so let’s say you are a little closer to Rome than before (or don Vito if you want).
So, let’s jump to the recipe. Well we can do the recipe in the old way of do this and that, and theeeeen, well, fall asleep faster, or we do it like this …
You still there my sweethearts? Well I hope so! Because we’ll make love to that flour in no time.
1. Grab the white powder, yeah you know, and mix it with the eggs. Local, big, yellow like your grandmas forever loving lemon tree, egg. So now listen to me my sweetheart, with pasta it always goes like this: 100 grams of flour means one egg. You see, 200 grams of flour means then 2 eggs. You get it now? It’s a rule you don’t mess with, (you just say thanks and put it in your pasta bible).
2. Great, so now you make a little volcano of flour and in the middle, you make a hole, where you break the eggs into. Now you knead the s***t out of it. No mercy, you are the boss here! You do it good, great really! Now you put the pasta into a bowl, cover it, and put it into the fridge for 20 minutes. Wine time, I guess!
3. Now you cut the pasta dough into 6 similar pieces, and you roll it out, easily with the machine. You can also do it by hand, then you are really a true Italian (but let’s stick to the machine Francesco). You thin it out just so you can see the shadow of your hand behind it (bible material right there). And always remember to flour your operating area, just like Al Pacino did in Scarface. Now you cut your pasta into small little squares. Great! We are now ready for the filling.
4. Take your ricotta and salt and pepper it, until it fits your taste, then add a good hit of the nutmeg. Ladies and gentlemen, nutmeg is the essence of the filling, so don’t ever, ever, ever forget it. Mix it together, taste, and if great than put it in a plastic filler (for fancy cook) or if normal do the next step with a teaspoon.
5. Now take a bowl of cold water, your pasta and filling. Insert filling (not too much here) with plastic bag (not so ecological) or with teaspoon (better) on pasta, tap two sides of the square, and seal it nicely. While doing, let the air flow out of the pocket as much as it can. Great! You got half of your tortelloni work done!
6. You should now have a triangle of pure love, squeeze the ends of it together, really really tight, I mean like size 0 jeans on Homer Simpson tight, tight! That’s your perfect tortelloni my sweetheart!
Now repeat the process till your loved ones think you gone mad making pasta. And always remember, you got the best tortellonis in the whole world right there in front of you!
Now we let the magic happen!
1. First put water to boil, season with salt and add the best tortellonis in the world. Cook until al dente, capisce?
2. In the meantine (if you are handy, if not do it one by one) grab your pan, hit it with butter, let that bad boy melt, and when it’s all bubbly add the whole cloves of garlic. We add whole cloves just for the aroma in the butter (great right?).
3. Ok, now add the sage, roast it until golden. Mmmmmmm that nice smell!!! Next add the mushrooms, don’t overcook them, they must just become slightly roasted.
4. In the end add the tortellonis in the pan, season everything and that’s it! Easy peasy tortellonisy! Grate the parmesan, add some olive oil and put your best Italian voice on, because it’s “o sole mio” time!
P.S. If you made too much ricotta filling (as I somehow always do) add it in the end to the meal just like that, don’t waste anything!!!
Cheers my sweethearts, see you soon!!!
