Holiday Recipe: Homemade Tortellini in Capon Broth

As many of you may know, there is no shortage of delicious traditional dishes during the holidays in Italy – lasagna, lobster, sausage, and lots and lots of pasta. From the 24th of December to the 6th of January, we feast on so many different traditional Italian dishes. One of my favorite holiday recipes is what we consider to be a simple pasta dish called Tortellini in Brodo (capon broth). This calls for a very traditional Italian pasta rolled very thin, cut and stuffed with a nice rich blend of pork, mortadella and Parma ham, parmesan cheese and egg and then folded and twisted to create the traditional shape. We cook the tortellini in the capon broth and serve it with some hot broth as well.

This is one of the most popular and famous dishes we make during this holiday season – every Italian knows it and associates with Christmas. It’s certainly one of my favorites and I hope you enjoy it. Be sure to watch my video demonstration of this homemade tortellini recipe for some tips and tricks. Happy Holidays!

Homemade Tortellini Recipe
Serves 6

INGREDIENTS

Stuffing
3/4 cup pork loin cut into ½ inch cubes
2/3 cup of Mortadella cut into ½ inch cubes
1/2 cup of Parma ham cut into ½ inch cubes
3/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1 egg
Nutmeg to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
4 teaspoons butter

Pasta Dough
4 eggs
3 ¼ cups of 00 flour

Brodo
5 quarts capon broth (chicken consommé, beef consommé or a beef & chicken consommé can also be used)

DIRECTIONS

Stuffing
To prepare the stuffing, sauté the pork loin gently with butter in a non-stick pan until you get light browning, remove from heat and set aside so it cools. Once the pork loin is at room temperature, put the pork loin in a food processor together with the Mortadella, Parma ham, parmesan cheese and nutmeg. Mix well, until the mixtures have a nice and consistent texture. Add salt and pepper. Reserve in a bowl, cover with plastic film and refrigerate overnight.

Pasta Dough
The next day, start to prepare the pasta dough. Combine the flour and eggs into a mixer at low speed for 2 to 3-minutes and then at high speed for another 4-minutes. At this point the dough should have a compact texture. Shape as a bowl, wrap in plastic film and reserve for one hour in the fridge. After this time, remove the dough from the fridge, dust some flour on your working table and use a rolling pin (or a pasta machine) to start to flatten the pasta dough, until it is very thin.

Tortellini
Now using a pasta cutter or a knife, cut the dough into 1 ½ inch squares. In the center of the pasta, arrange the stuffing with the help of a piping bag. Close the square in half to obtain a triangle, press your finger on the dough around the stuffing to remove the air and then seal it. Close into a ring by matching the two corners of the pasta at the base by turning them around your finger and overlapping the dough a little bit. Place the tortellini on pasta trays that are floured with parchment paper so that tortellini does not stick to bottom. Cook the tortellini in the Capon broth until they are al dente. Transfer to serving dish and serve your tortellini in the hot broth with a nice dash of grated parmesan cheese on the top. Enjoy!

About Executive Chef Raffaele Saia
Born in Ancona, Italy, Chef Raffaele Saia developed a love for cooking at his grandmother’s restaurant in his hometown. Recognizing his passion, he joined a culinary school and began working at a local hotel kitchen. After graduating, Chef Raffaele joined the culinary team at one of Ancona’s best restaurants, meeting several great Italian chefs during his tenure. In 2002, he moved to London to expand his culinary horizons in one of the great food cities of the world. There, Chef Raffaele professionally matured by working as Head Chef at several restaurants. In 2010, he combined his three loves – travel, cooking and the sea – when he joined Oceania Cruises. Since then, he has cooked on every ship, happily bringing you The Finest Cuisine at Sea®.

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