Tortellini from scratch
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Tortellini is a kind of pasta that comes from Emilia Romagna, a region in the north-east of Italy. It's known all over the world now, but its name is often given to similar kinds of pasta with a different kind of filling: that's a big mistake. I was born, grew up and still live in that region, so I was raised eating tortellini whenever there was a holiday or an important occasion, and it's still something I couldn't live without. This is my favorite food, it's something that I would be able to eat everyday if I could. For this reason I feel that I need to defend and protect its original recipe. I'm going to share it with you. |
Ingredients
For the dough:
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For 600gr (21,16 oz) of filling:
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Tools:
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Step 1Let's prepare the filling first:
grind the pork loin and mix it with all of your mortadella and prosciutto. It needs to be mixed very well. Add the eggs and parmesan with some nutmeg and salt. There is not a right quantity for the last 2 ingredients, so it's up to you. Don't be afraid to taste it to make sure that it's ok. Believe me, it's so good that you will end up eating more! NOTE: some people cook the pork loin in a pan with spices before mixing it with the other ingredients. You can do what you think is best. |
Step 2Pour the flour on a pastry board and make a hole in it with your fist.
Put your eggs in that flower hole and break them mixing with a fork. Slowly incorporate the flour around the eggs in the mix and start to knead the dough with your hands. Do this until your dough becomes compact and smooth. The dough can't be very sticky so add some more flour if it is. |
Step 3Cut a smaller piece of dough and cover the remaining one.
Flatten the piece a little with your hand and pass it through the largest level of your pasta machine. Pass it through the next levels until you reach one of the thinnest ones, but not too thin. I passed it through level number 6 twice, I think it's about 1mm thick, but the numbers vary depending on the pasta machine. Now cut your sheet of dough into small squares, about 4cm (1.57 inches) big. They don't need to be perfect so don't worry about it. |
Step 4Take the filling you prepared and put little pieces of it on the dough squares. The more filling you put, the tastier your tortellini will be, but BE CAREFUL because it's also true that the more you put, the harder closing the dough will be.
As soon as all the squares have dough on them, it's time to close them before the dough dries too much. Take a square and fold it in half on its diagonal to form a triangle. Press down the 2 bottom angles with your fingers and rotate the triangle around your finger joining the 2 opposite angles together, and press. This is your first tortellino! Keep making others with the other squares and start all over again cutting a new piece of dough. I recommend you to work on a little piece of dough at a time otherwise it will dry too fast and it won't be sticky enough to close your tortellini. |