Monday 15 June 2015

Tortellini with Blake

This weekend Blake showed me how to make tortellini. It was amazing!

We use his Kitchen Aid attachment to roll the dough - which is quite nice as it uses the motor to turn the rolls, so no need of a spare hand to crank it. 
The lowest speed setting is really comfortable (not stressful at all) to work with. 
The width may be smaller (around 15cm) than most of the manual machines I have seen, but I do not think that is a problem.


As a filling, we use mince pork seasoned with salt, peppercorns and fennel seeds. This is on the dry side so really easy to work with.
It is also raw and we use a small enough volume that it will cook in 2-3 minutes, which is the time the pasta dough needs.

We cut small squares (half the width of the dough sheet, so around 7cm x 7cm) and put a small teaspoon of the filling in the middle. 
We then wet two sides and fold in a triangle, removing the air so that the dough is closely shaping the filling. 

Next is an artistic folding of the two acute angles of the triangle over and around the filling that you push and fold like a handbag would hanging from its handle. Wrap one angle around the filling then the other one over the first and tuck all nicely. 
I guess you can find videos on the web if you are interested in the details. It took me a couple of times to get it right, but once it is boiled you don't notice the difference between perfect and not so nicely shaped! 

As mentioned previously, the tortellini cook in a couple of minutes in actively boiling water. Check that the part with all the folds is tender between your fingers as it is going to take longer.

We serve it in a fragrant beef broth and topped with onion greens. It is excellent! Perfect for a not so warm day - well any day in UK really.







We did around 50; counting 10 per person, and it took us only 
half an hour from rolling to cooking


2 comments:

  1. Miam, ça a l'air délicieux !
    (en passant, je crois que c'est 'fragrant' et pas 'flagrant':-) )

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