It will be a pleasure to prepare the recipes in my book. The following are suggestions on how to cook and eat - with room for your tweaks and additions. I have suggested a small amount because of the solidity and sharpness of the garlic. You may need to add a few extra sage leaves if yours aren't aromatic as usual. It is, therefore, essential to taste everything during the cooking process: the raw ingredients and the dish. Today, I share my recipe for ricotta tortelloni with butter, sage and hazelnuts.
Filled pasta takes a little time to make but is well worth your efforts. Rolling, filling and folding pasta is meditative and a great way to calm a busy mind. The filling is simple but lovely and subtle, especially with the buttery sauce. You could make tortellini, the more common, smaller version of this pasta, but they take much longer to prepare. You can make the tortelloni either beginning with a square or a circle to give a slightly different shape. I like to make them from a process, which results in nice round, plump tortelloni but do as you prefer.
I usually use whole eggs for pasta - one egg per 100 g of flour - but for filled pasta, it's better to enrich the dough with a bit of egg yolk, resulting in a finer, more structured pasta.
Components
For the Tortelloni Dough
300 g Tipo 00 hour, plus extra for dusting
pinch of sea salt
Two eggs plus two yolks
1–2 tablespoons lukewarm water, if needed
For the filling
350 g fresh full-fat ricotta
100 g parmesan, finely grated
Two egg yolks
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
a small handful of at-leaf parsley
leaves, finely chopped (optional)
sea salt and black pepper
For the sauce
One egg white, lightly beaten
100 g lightly salted butter
small bunch of sage leaves picked
40 g (1/4cup) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
grated parmesan to serve
Approach
To make the tortelloni dough
- Tip the flour and salt onto a clean work surface and combine.
- Create a well in the centre and crack in the eggs and yolks.
- Gently whisk the eggs using a fork, then slowly bring in the flour and mix to incorporate.
- When the dough becomes stiff, use your hands to mix until the dough is soft and malleable.
Depending on the type of flour you've used, you may need to add the water to bring the dough together – if so, start with one tablespoon and only add the second tablespoon if you need to.
Divide the pasta dough into four pieces. Cover three of the pieces and set them aside. Roll the dough using a rolling pin into a rough disc around 3 mm thick on a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough through a pasta machine to the widest setting, then roll again through the narrower settings, dusting with a bit of flour between each roll if needed, until the pasta sheet is about 30 cm long. Fold the dough back in on itself so it's a bit narrower than the width of the machine, and uses a rolling pin to flatten it slightly. Set the device back to the widest setting and roll back through the first settings again, folding and flattening the pasta dough before each roll. Repeat this process twice, so you've moved the dough through the most comprehensive stages, folding between each roll three times. This makes the pasta friendly and robust, and you can now roll the dough through the settings until the pasta is around 1–1.5mm thick.
Cut into rounds using a 7 cm circle cutter and place one teaspoon of filling into the centre of each game. Working quickly, so the pasta doesn't dry out, brush a little egg white around the edge of the circle, then fold it into a half-moon shape, pressing the edges to seal. With the straight edge facing you, bring the corners together (so the straight edge.
Curves) and press them together gently with your thumb and index finger. Set aside on a lightly floured tray and repeat with the remaining dough and filling, re-rolling any pasta scraps. Cut and Shape the tortelloni just a few at a time, keeping any rolled pasta sheets or dough under a damp tea towel to prevent them from drying out.
Bring a large saucepan of generously salted water to a boil and cook the tortelloni for about 2 minutes, until they have floated to the surface and are al dente. While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter with the sage and hazelnuts in a large frying pan over low heat.
Add 60–125ml (1/4 – 1/2 cup) of pasta water as needed and swirl the pan around to combine. I like the butter to be golden brown rather than 'burnt', but if you prefer a nuttier sauce, cook the butter for a minute.
Or two longer. Transfer the tortelloni to the sage butter using a slotted spoon and stir gently to coat. Serve immediately topped with parmesan.
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