Or Chicken and wild garlic Tortelloni in a simple tomato sauce lol thank you google translate.
So, my mum gave me a pasta machine which had been in her shed since she and my stepdad married in 1992. she'd either never used it, or used it once. I figured, what the heck?
First off, the pasta. This was 1 cup 00 Grade white flour (8oz for non USA readers), and 1 beaten egg, plus a sprinkly of salt and a little water. Pasta is an art form, I can't tell you if the egg will be enough moisture or if you'll need the water.
if using a heavy duty mixer with a dough hook, put the flour and egg in together, set to just above minimum and ignore for a while.
if doing it by hand, put your flour on the kitchen worktop, and make a well in the middle. pour your beaten egg in and gently mix together. this is a method which takes some practise not to get egg all over your worktop, but just be careful lol.
Anyway, I used my darling Kenwood, so I got to ignore it for a while. I checked about 5 mins later, and saw it was quite dry so I SLOWLY added dribbles of water until it just came together as a solid dough, then I left it to knead a little longer in the mixer. I then kneaded it a little by hand, wrapped in saran wrap (cling flim) and put in the fridge for an hour to rest.
Now for the filling. Again, I am a martyr lol. I collect antique mincers, so I figured I'd mince my own cheap cuts of chicken. for 32 tortelloni, I used 3 chicken legs, skinned, boned, de-sinewed and minced. you can chop finely if you're not a Spong owner
I fried this off gently until just cooked, and then turned off my cooker but left the pan in the hot place. Then I then added some finely chopped wild garlic leaves (you can use normal garlic if you want), home grown oregano (again, use a packet if you want but for this recipe fresh is better than dried), home grown chives (theme anyone?) home grown basil (yep. again.) and a home grown sorrel leaf (use a little lemon zest if you've not got sorrel! or as well as the sorrel. you know, whatever!).
I stirred well, and then dollopped in some cream cheese. just 1tsp to bind the filling a little. I used a lactose free cream cheese, but again it's all about taste. you could use creme fraiche, plain fromage frais or ricotta. check the seasoning.
This was left to cool while I surfed the internet for a little while.
once this was cooled, I set about rolling out the pasta dough. the pasta machine was such a *sweary swear swear swear I do my own censoring sweary swear* that I gave up on the *sweary swear* and rolled by hand, painful, but worth it.
Then once rolled out, I cut out my circles using a 1.5" plain edge cookie cutter, coating each side in a little flour while I stacked.
to fill and fold: wet the edge of the pasta circle with milk or water, and put a little filling in the middle of the circle. fold the edges together to make a semi-circle shape (for brits: kinda like a cornish pasty). hold with the flat edge towards you, folding the curved edge away from you. pinch the pointy corners to fix in place. I know this probably makes no sense, but I am planning to do a youtube vid next time I make these so watch this space.
leave to dry for some hours. 1 is ok, but 2-4 is better.
now, to cook the tortelloni, get a very large pan, fill it 3/4 full with water and add a little salt. you do not need oil.
get it to a rolling boil, then drop in your tortelloni one by one. otherwise they stick together.
keep them on a high boil for 5 mins. drain them and quickly drop them into heated sauce, stir and serve.
the sauce was half an onion, finely chopped
a bayleaf
300mls passata (I made my own by blending a can of tomatoes lol)
a little garlic
some bullion powder (Brits: Oxo or similar)
a sprinkle of sugar
a squeeze of lemon juice
concentrated tomato paste.
fry the onion until see through but not brown. add the garlic quickly followed by the passata and tomato paste. throw in the bayleaf and cook high to reduce by about 1/3, keep stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick, check seasoning.
I suggest making this BEFORE cooking your tortelloni because they're incredibly quick and this takes some time.
serve with a little shredded basil.
I was so pleased!!! they're yummy, they take a lot of time, but they're worth it.
sorry for the terrible photo of the half eaten dindins, I'd already scarfed a load before I remembered to take a photo.
and finally, this is the pasta machine in the box we keep for the scrap metal collector (rag and bone man).
button to nominate it!
