Tortelli
from Italian Traditional Food

Tortelli are a delicious meal in themselves

Tortelli are the larger version of the ravioli. Both contain the traditional filling of ricotta cheese and spinach. Tortelli are favoured amongst the rural housewives as they are more filling and to my mind, better tasting. Nowadys, the tortelli filling can be practically anything but I still prefer the traditional ricotta cheese and spinach.

Tortelli can be served with either pasta sauce and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese or quite plainly with butter, a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. If you want to use pasta sauce on the tortelli, I would suggest making it the day before as it will save you a lot of preparation time.

The quantities below will make up to 96 tortelli. To make this quantity of just the tortelli will take you about 3 hours.

Serves: 8

Ingredients for filling:

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together until it forms a firm consistency.

2. The tortelli filling should be moist to the touch without being wet.

Ingredients for pastry:

Extras:

2 egg whites (beaten, to be used to seal the tortelli)
Pasta making machine
Pastry board

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients together.

2. Add cold water as necessary. to make a firm dough.

3. Continue to mix the ingredients until the dough is of a firm consistency.

4. Turn out the dough onto a lightly dusted board.

5. Knead the dough until it is well mixed and firm without being sticky. Add a little flour as necessary.

6. Return the dough to the mixing bowl.

7. Put the dough in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.

8. Dust pastry board with a little flour.

9. Cut one piece of pastry off from the main dough so that it will be easier and more manageable to work with.

10. Work with one piece of pastry at a time. Return the rest to the fridge to keep cool.

11. Take one small piece and knead until firm (lightly dust with flour, as required)

12. Put the now firm pastry through the pasta making machine, starting at No.1 and finishing at No.6.

The numbers represent the thickness of the finished pastry. I prefer to finish at No.5 as it results in chunkier tortelli whereas my family prefer theirs set at No.6 as the pastry is thinner. Just experiment to see which size you and your family prefers.

13. Lay out the pastry on a lightly floured board.

14. Make a small ball of filling using a spoon. Make it about the size of a large marble.

15. Spoon a little of the filling onto the pastry so that you end up with a row of seven or eight small egg sized mounds.

16. This is how they should look.

17. Beat the egg white and use it to wet between the filling mounds on the pastry using a pastry brush.

18. Fold the pastry over the mounds.

19. The tortelli mounds should now look like this.

20. Press down (seal) in between the mounds to seal the pastry.

21. Cut around each of the mounds using a pastry wheel.

22. The cut tortelli should now look like this.

23. Trim the three edges of the tortelli using the pastry wheel cutter to make a nice ridged pattern.

24. Inspect every one of the tortelli ensuring that they are all completely sealed (using your thumb and index finger press down on all sides of the pastry) otherwise they will open during the boiling process and allow water in and ruin the tortelli.

25. Lay the finished tortelli onto a towel covered tray to dry.

26. Repeat the above Steps 9-25 until you have finished using up all the pastry and filling.

27. This is how the tray of finished tortelli should look like.

Cooking:

1. Add 1 level tablespoon of salt to a large pan of water.

2. Bring pan of water to the boil.

3. Add tortelli (as many as is required) and cook on a medium boil for about 10-15 minutes until tender.

4. Drain the tortelli.

5. Spoon the tortelli onto serving plate.

6. Add tomato sauce to tortelli.

7. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese.

8. Serve immediately.

Tip:

1. If the tortelli are to be cooked on the same day or within one-two days, store them in the fridge (turning them over at least once) otherwise, store in freezer bags in the freezer until required.

2. Tortelli can be kept in the freezer for up to two months. They can be cooked straight from the freezer but will need 15-20 minutes.

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