Tortellini in Broth

TORTELLINI

Serves 4:

• 200 g (7 oz.) freshly made egg puff pastry
• 350 g (12.35 oz.) tortellini stuffing

Directions:
Flatten puff pastry with rolling pin.
Cut squared about 3 cm (about 1.18") wide, fill with stuffing mix and close by hand giving it the typical 'belly button' tortellini shape.

Tips:

• The puff pastry should be very thin.
• Be careful not to let it dry too much, it must be flexible enough to be folded and twisted into the tortellini shape.
• It's important that the tortellini be all the same size.
• The amount of stuffing must not force the tortellini to open or break the puff pastry.
• Once made, the tortellini must be laid on a kitchen towel to dry without attaching to one another.

STUFFING FOR TORTELLINI

Serves 4:

• 200 g (7 oz.) lean pork and vela meat
• 80 g (2.82 oz.) chicken breast
• 65 g (2.29 oz.) prosciutto and bologna
• 90 g (3.17 oz.) Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• 1 egg yolk
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Olive oil to taste

Directions:
In a frying pan brown lightly the pork and veal with cubed chicken breast.
Mince the meat with prosciutto and bologna.
Let cool down.
Mix thoroughly the cold meat mixture with egg yolk, grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Serves 4:

• 500 g (1 pound) beef meat
• 5 liters (5 quarts) cold water
• 2 beef bones
• 2 onions
• 2 celery stalks
• 2 carrots
• 2 ripe tomatoes
• Salt to taste

Directions:
Wash meat and beef bones thoroughly to get rid of bone splinters and/or blood traces.
Put all ingredients in a saucepan with cold water, ad salt and bring to boil.
Skim the foam, lower the heat and let shimmer for 4 hours.
From time to time, skim the foam that forms on the surface.
Once cooked, filter the broth with gauze.

Tips:

• To get rid of all unwanted particles that may make the broth look muddy, bring it to boil once more after filtering it and add some egg whites.
• To give a deeper color to the broth, add a spoonful of caramel.

Suggested wines:

• Pignoletto dei Colli Bolognesi DOC
• Trebbiano dell'Emilia
• Bianco di Castelfranco IGT
• Lambrusco Secco

Cotechino in Prison

Serves 4:

• 1 cotechino (about 700 g, or 1.54 pounds)
• 500 g (1 pound) beef (1 slice)
• 100 g (3.52 oz.) prosciutto (2 slices)
• Half onion
• Olive oil
• 5 dl (2.11 cups) dry Lambrusco wine
• 2 dl (0.85 cups) meat broth
• Salt to taste
• Cooking string

Directions:
Pierce the cotechino skin and boil in abundant water.
When half-cooked, drain and carefully remove skin being careful not to break it.
Lay two prosciutto slices on top of beef slice and wrap it around the cotechino. Tie up with kitchen string.
In a terra cotta sauce pan brown minced onion.
Add the meat roll, cover with broth, add Lambrusco, salt to taste and cook for about one hour closing saucepan with lid.
When cooked, cut and discard string, slice and serve hot with its own gravy.

Tips:

• The beef cut should be neither too fat, nor too lean.
• The slice of beef must be big enough to wrap cotechino completely.
• The pan where the cotechino is boiled should be wide. Ideally, the cotechino should not touch pan, but rather float freely in the water.
• When cooked, wait a little while to slice cotechino to avoid crumbling.
• Serve with mashed potatoes or big lima beans sautéed with oil, rosemary and sage.

Suggested wines :

• Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro DOC Secco
• Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC Secco
• Lambrusco Maestri DOC Secco