Week 6 - Tortelleti or little Pasties
Welcome back for the FINAL where-the-heck-did-the-summer-go week of our 2021 Great Colonial Cook Off.
Before we get to this week’s recipe, I want give a big shout out to everyone who’s cooked along with us this season. Thanks sooooo much. The Cook Off isn’t a cook off without your participation. Also, a HUGE thanks to our cook off insiders - Jean Graham, Ashton Koch, Sharon Noel, Elizabeth Slucas, and Marianne Wong - who generously gave their time to research, select, and test this season’s recipes, as well as doing their best to keep me on track and on time (an impossible and thankless task). Interested in lending a hand behind the scenes for the 2022 cook off? Send us a message via the Colony of Avalon’s Facebook page and we’ll fill you in on the details.
But Enough With the Housekeeping
This week we’ll be making tortelleti. Yup, that’s right. We’re making our own pasta. If that thought has you breaking out in a cold sweat, fear not. As always, we have work arounds for anyone who isn’t up to the task of making fresh pasta from scratch.
Once again, our recipe comes, from Robert May’s 1660 classic The Accomplisht Cook and goes like this:
Tortelleti, or little Pasties
Mince some interlarded bacon, some pork, or any other meat, with some calves udder, and put to it a pound of fresh cheese, fat cheese, or parmisan, a pound of sugar, and some roasted turnips or parsnips, a quarter of a pound of currans, pepper, cloves, nutmegs, eight eggs, saffron; mingle all together, and make your pasties like little fishes, stars, rouls, or like beans or pease, boil them in fresh broth, and serve them with grated cheese and sugar, and serve them hot.
Tortelleti, or little Pasties otherwayes, of Beets or Spinage chopped very small.
Being washed and wrung dry, fry them in butter, put to them some sweet herbs chopped small, with some grated parmisan, some cinnamon, cloves, saffron, pepper, currans, raw eggs, and grated bread : Make your pasties, and boil them in strong broth, cream, milk, or almond-milk : thus you may do any fish. Serve them with sugar, cinnamon, and grated cheese.
Tortelleti, of green Pease, French Beans, or any kinde of Pulse green or dry.
Take pease green or dry, French beans, or garden beans green or dry, boil them tender, and stamp them ; strain them through a strainer, and put to them some fried onions chopped small, sugar, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and nutmeg, some grated parmisan, or fat cheese, and some cheese curds stamped. Then make paste, and make little pasties, boil them in broth, or as before said, and serve them with sugar, cinnamon, and grated cheese in a fine clean dish.
As you can see, this recipe is actually three separate recipes for tortelleti filling. Since we did not have access to a calf’s udder, we tested the spinach and pea versions. You’ll find modern interpretations for both of these options below. If you have some spare calf’s udder in the fridge, by all means give the first option a try. We’d LOVE to hear how it turns out.
Interestingly, May does not provide a recipe for the “paste” or pasta dough. We used this one, but feel free to substitute your own, or use some pre-made sheets of fresh pasta from your local supermarket. We won’t judge. If you can’t find fresh pasta, or are really looking for a time-saver, you can also use won ton wrappers. The texture and flavour will be different, but if it works for you, go for it.
If you have a pasta machine or a pasta attachment for your food processor, it’s time to pull it out and dust it off. If you don’t, you can join Lori and roll the pasta by hand with a rolling pin. Never rolled pasta before? Me neither. I found this video very helpful.
Top Tips
It’s essential that you keep rolling the pasta until it is very thin, otherwise your tortelleti will be tough and chewy (like mine were). Ideally, the pasta should be about 2mm thick. No ruler handy? You should be able to see your hand and fingers through the dough.
Don’t try to roll all the pasta at once …. unless you have a HUGE table. Instead, divide your pasta dough in four and roll each quarter separately. Wrap the other three pieces in a plastic bag, cling film or a clean, damp dish towel to keep the dough from drying out.
Feel free to make your tortelleti any shape you like. Follow May’s advice and make them in the shape of stars of fishes, ravioli squares or re-create traditional Italian tortellini. Never shaped tortellini? Check out this video for a quick tutorial.
Don’t overfill your tortelleti (again, voice of experience here). If you are making traditional Italian tortellini, you’ll only need about a 1/2 teaspoon of filling for each 2” x 2” square of pasta.
Finally, this recipe makes a LOT of tortelleti. Good news! They freeze really well. Just lay them out on a tray and pop them into the freezer. Once they’re firm, you can transfer them into a plastic bag.
A batch of dough ready for resting. if your dough is dry at first, don’t worry and keep kneading. Mine took about 15 minutes of steading kneading before it became smooth and elastic.
What NOT to do. As you can see, the pasta is still quite thick. As a result, my tortelleti were pretty darn chewy. Learn from my mistake! Keep rolling until your pasta is about 2mm thick, or you can see your hand through it.
Option 1 - Filling for Tortelleti of Green Peas
Ingredients
1/2 cup dried peas, cooked then measured OR 1/2 cup of fresh/ frozen peas steamed until soft.
1 small onion, diced or minced small
1 tbsp butter or oil
1/2 cup cottage cheese or ricotta , drained
1/2 cup parmesan, grated fine
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 tsp clove
1/4 tsp black pepper
Chicken, beef or vegetable broth, enough to boil pasta
Method:
If using dried peas, soak for a few hours to assist with cooking time. Cook peas until soft. Allow to cool.
If using cottage cheese, allow to drain for at least 1-2 hours (depending on how wet it is).
While peas cook, cook onions in oil at low heat until caramelized, or at medium heat until crispy (personal preference). Allow to cool.
In a separate container, measure and blend sugar and spices
Over a bowl, press peas and curd cheese through strainer (or beat with pestle and mortar, or use food processor)
Stir in spice blend and parmesan. Mix well. Add a little water if too dry. You’re looking for a thick paste.
Make pasta, cut to desired shape. Fill and seal.
Put broth on to boil
Add pasta to broth and cook to desired consistency, about 4-8 minutes depending on the size of your pasta (in the 17th century it was popular to cook pasta to extreme softness - sometimes boiled for hours!)
Serve with a spoonful of broth (to keep them from sticking together), a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a grating of parmesan.
Option 2 - Filling for Tortelleti of Spinach
Ingredients
1 Tbsp of butter
2 cups (packed) of fresh spinach (feel free to substitute any leafy green like kale, Swiss chart, beet tops, etc.)
1 Tbsp of finely chopped fresh herbs (e.g basil, tarragon, parsley, mint, or whatever you have on hand)
Pinch each of cinnamon, ground cloves, and saffron
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Egg
1/3 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup currants
Method
Melt butter in a pan and saute the spinach until it is soft.
Finely chop the cooked spinach and add to a bowl.
Lightly beat the egg (to mix the white with the yolk). Add it to the chopped spinach and mix.
Add the fresh herb(s), spices, parmesan cheese, bread crumbs and currants. Mix.
Taste your filling. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Roll out your fresh pasta dough
Stuff and shape your pasta
Put broth on to boil
Add pasta to broth and cook to desired consistency, about 4-8 minutes depending on the size of your pasta (in the 17th century it was popular to cook pasta to extreme softness - sometimes boiled for hours!)
Serve with a spoonful (or more!) of broth (to keep them from sticking together), a sprinkle of cinnamon, and a grating of parmesan.
As always, snap photo of your tortelleti and add it to the comments section of the recipe post on the Colony of Avalon’s Facebook page for a chance to win the weekly and grand prize.