Skip the store-bought tortellini to make your own fresh pasta parcels at home. Serve with a herbed brown butter sauce for an elegant yet comforting meal.
Main INGREDIENTS
- Pasta
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
FOR THE GREEN PASTA DOUGH
- 200g raw baby spinach
- 5 whole eggs
- 600g “00” flour
- 1 pinch of salt
FOR THE FILLING
- 80g ricotta cheese
- 50g Parmesan cheese
- 80g soft goat’s cheese
- Zest of 2 lemons
- A grating of fresh nutmeg
- A few sage leaves, chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to season
FOR THE HERBED BROWN BUTTER SAUCE
- 250g cold butter, cubed
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 handful of picked thyme
- 8 sage leaves, sliced
- Grated Parmesan cheese, to garnish
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Method
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1
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2To make the Green Pasta Dough:
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3Blanch the spinach and squeeze out any excess water. Blend together with the eggs. Pile the flour onto a clean work surface and sprinkle with the salt. Create a well in the middle with your hands. Add the blended eggs and, using a fork, slowly start to bring the flour in from the outside of the well to the egg mixture and begin to incorporate the ingredients to combine to make a dough. Once the mixture starts to come together, gently knead with the heel of your hand to bring the dough together. Knead to make a shell shape in a forward motion and then bring the dough back on itself and repeat until the dough feels silky and elastic (about 5 – 10 minutes). Do not rest, as this makes the dough sticky.
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4To make the Filling:
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5Combine all the ingredients in a food processor until silky smooth and adjust the seasoning to taste.
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6Rolling your pasta:
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7Flour your surface. Using a rolling pin or pasta machine, roll out the pasta into sheets as you normally would for a lasagne. The sheets need to be thin, but not too thin, as they will tear easily. With a non-serrated knife or pasta cutter, divide your sheet into equal-sized squares of about 4cmx4cm. Work with one sheet at a time to prevent them from drying out. Place a slightly damp cloth over the other pasta sheets.
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8Making the Tortellini:
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9Add ½ a teaspoon of filling to each of the squares. Take a square and fold it diagonally to make a triangle. Press the edges down firmly and squeeze out any trapped air. You may need to add a little water to the edges to seal the edges. Take the bottom corners of the triangle and fold them around your index finger so that they meet. Squeeze or pinch these corners together to seal (use a little more water if necessary) and repeat to make all of your parcels. Store on a semolina-dusted tray while folding, making sure that they do not touch or stick to each other. They can stand for about 3 hours before being cooked.
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10Cook the Tortellini:
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11Bring a 3-ply Stainless Steel 24cm Deep Casserole filled with salted water to a rolling boil. Lower the tortellini in batches into the water using a flat slotted spoon. Cooking them in batches allows the parcels to cook evenly simultaneously and prevents them from sticking to each other. When they float to the surface (after about 3 – 4 minutes), they should be ready to remove with the slotted spoon and kept aside in a large, oiled tray, making sure they are not touching so they do not stick to each other. Before you are ready to eat, toss them in a Le Creuset 3-ply Stainless Steel 24cm Non-Stick Frying Pan with warm sauce to coat and heat through. Serve hot out of the pan and eat immediately. Reserve the pasta water for the sauce.
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12To make the Herbed Brown Butter Sauce:
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13Melt the butter in a saucepan until foamy and slightly nutty in smell. Add the garlic and herbs and allow to foam for a few seconds. Add one small ladle of the hot pasta water and mix to emulsify. Add the hot pasta straight out of the water. Turn off the heat and serve immediately. Garnish with grated parmesan.
