Untitled design (12).png — TORTELLINI

…obviously filled with cheese.

After growing up with an occasionally turbulent tradition of Christmas Eve ravioli making, I was shocked at how much easier folding a square of pasta in half instead of matching two squares was! Turns out having half the amount of leak-able edges is a recipe for success! Nora and I used our handy (on account of the hand-crank) pasta machine to roll out the sheets but I’m confident that this fresh pasta recipe would work out with a rolling pin. The filling below was our favorite out of the batches we’ve made but you can really go wild here. I’d recommend heating a spoonful of your final filling to get a sense of what the flavor and texture will be after the torts have been boiled. And whatever sauce you decide on, as with any other pasta, plan on cooking the tortellini in it for a minute or two with a splash of pasta water

Fresh Pasta Ingredients:

1 ½ cups AP flour
½ cup Semolina flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 eggs (at room temp)
¼ cup water

Mixed Milk + Mushroom Filling Ingredients:

8 oz Prodigal Farm Vache
1 container (3.7 oz) Green Dirt Farm Fresh Sheep Nettle
¼ cup grated Prairie Tomme or Hardware (Parm works too!)
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 shallots, finely chopped
½ pound mushrooms, finely chopped (we like Maitake/Hen of the Woods)
½ tsp microplaned nutmeg
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp sea salt
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil

Steps:

THE PASTA

Whisk salt, semolina and AP flour together and make a well in center.
Beat eggs in the well, incorporating more and more flour until a shaggy mass forms.
Add water and form dough with wetted hands before kneading until a smooth, elastic dough form adding more flour or water if too wet or dry. (6-8 minutes of intense kneading)
Wrap in saran and allow dough to rest for at least 30 minutes at room temperature.

THE FILLING

Combine cheese in mixing bowl to come up to room temp.
Heat olive oil and butter in pan before adding garlic, red pepper flakes, shallots and mushroom. Sautée just until edges begin to brown and crisp then remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste and allow to cool for at least 5 minutes.
Combine veg and cheese mixture before grating in nutmeg. Combine well and season with S+P to taste- this will be your filling so get it right!

THE TORTELLINI

Ready a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly dust with flour.
Roll out pasta to second thinnest setting on machine or thin enough to see the color of your hand through it.
Portion sheet of pasta into 2x2 inch squares and place a heavy teaspoon of filling in the center of each. Apply egg-wash to two perpendicular lengths of the square’s perimeter before forming a triangle by pinching the egg-washed lengths to the non-eggwashed lenghts. Continue to pinch the triangle closed, trying to prevent trapping air in the pocket. Wrap the seamless side (the side you didn’t pinch) of the triangle around a finger, allowing the two corners to overlap before pinching the dough together and placing on a baking sheet. Repeat until you’ve used all of your filling!
Place baking sheet of tortellini into refrigerator for an hour to firm up a bit.
Cook tortellini in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes before using a slotted spoon to transfer them to your sauce of choice!