Tortellini in brodo

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5 from 2 votes

These delicious homemade meat-filled pasta in broth are a comforting dish, perfect as an appetizer, lunch or main.

Prep Time3

Cook Time10

Total Time3 10

Course: Appetizer/Starter, Lunch

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: (or more, depending how served)

Calories: 472kcal

Author: Caroline

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Ingredients

For broth

1 whole chicken bones or equivalent odds and ends of bones
1 carrot roughly chopped
½ onion halved
1 stem celery
1 handful parsley stems
7 cups water (approx, more if needed)

For the pasta

2.125 cups all purpose flour plain flour (2.125 cups is 2 cups plus 2 tbsp)
3 eggs (large)
1 pinch salt
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil (or a little less/more as needed to bring dough together)

For the filling

½ tablespoon butter approx
5 oz pork loin
3 ½ oz prosciutto
3 ½ oz mortadella
3 oz parmesan grated
1 egg
1 pinch nutmeg

Instructions

To make the broth

Place the chicken bones, vegetables and parsley stems in a large pot and cover with water. Cover and bring to a boil. Simmer for a god two hours or more.
Leave to cool a few minutes then skim fat from the top. Strain to remove all of the solids. The stock can be made ahead of time - you can store in the fridge for a couple days or freeze if storing longer.

To make pasta

You can make the pasta by hand or in a food processor. In food processor, put everything but the oil in the food processor and blend to combine. Add a little oil as needed. By hand, place the flour on a baking sheet/tray and make a slight hollow in the middle. Crack the eggs into the hollow and sprinkle on the salt. Use a fork to break the egg yolk and start mixing in the flour, then continue by hand. Add oil as needed to bring everything together.
Knead the dough slightly then bring together in a ball, wrap and refrigerate for around 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling.

For the tortellini filling

Melt the butter in a skillet/frying pan and fry the pork loin on both sides. Remove from the heat, cut off any fat/grizzle and dice the meat.
Roughly chop the prosciutto and mortadella. Grate the parmesan.
Put the pork in a food processor or blender and pulse to grind. Add the prosciutto and mortadella and pulse to break up and mix. Add the parmesan, egg and nutmeg. Pulse all together to mix.

To form and cook tortellini

Once the filling is ready and the pasta dough has rested, take roughly ⅙ to ¼ of the pasta dough and leave the rest covered. Roll the piece out very thin, to around a '5' on a pasta machine or ideally thinner. You can do by hand but it is difficult - you want to make it really as thin as possible.
Cut the dough into squares approx 1 ½in (3-4cm) square. Cover the ones you are not working with immediately with a damp cloth to stop them drying out.
Put some filling on a few tortellini at a time (6 or so) - you will only need around ¼tsp for each, at most ½tsp. Take opposite corners of one square and pinch together then seal the sides to form a triangular pocket, ensuring you press out any air as you go. You can dampen one side with water to help it seal as needed. Then roll the middle tip over slightly and bring the side points together and pinch them to seal (see also video to see how it's done). Repeat with the other pieces with filling on, then on to more squares and other pieces of dough etc. Place the formed tortellini on baking sheets as you go - you'll needed 2 or more.
Once you have made them all (you'll get around 210 or more) warm the stock to a simmer ( a rolling boil will be too much and may break them up). Cook the tortellini in the broth for a minute or two until they float to the top. Then scoop them out, along with some broth, and serve. You can top with some grated parmesan.

Video

Notes

I find it easiest to cook the tortellini in batches as otherwise the pot can become too crowded.

You can make the tortellini ahead and freeze them - cook them from frozen, just giving them slightly longer to cook than freshly made. As with fresh, wait until they float to the top.

Serving size can vary depending on whether you are serving for lunch, appetizer etc - I'd suggest around 15-20 tortellini per person as appetizer, but can eg double to make it a larger meal.

Nutrition

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