Tortellini in brodo
A Bolognese Christmas dish whose recipe was deposited with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in 1974 so no one would change it. The tortellini should be tiny, the size of a fingernail, filled with pork loin, Parma ham, mortadella and parmigiano, and float in capon broth. Purists eat them only in broth — this is soup, not pasta. The shaping is painstaking and traditionally done by the whole family together.
Your own work in that: 3 h.
- Broth 180 min
- Filling 30 min
- Pasta dough 30 min
- Shaping the tortellini 180 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneMake the capon broth
Cover the capon and bones with cold water, heat slowly skimming, add the vegetables and simmer 3 hours with the surface barely trembling, seasoning with the salt towards the end. Strain through muslin and lift off the fat. The broth should be golden and clear.
Ingredients: 1 pcs capon or boiling fowl · 500 g beef bones · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 4000 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Cook the pork in butter
Dice the pork and cook it in butter for 5 minutes, until set but not browned. Cool. Pork cooked in butter is part of the official recipe — it gives the filling a deeper, buttery flavour.
Ingredients: 100 g pork loin · 100 g Parma ham · 100 g mortadella · 130 g parmigiano · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch nutmeg · 20 g butter
Grind the meats into a fine filling
Grind the pork, ham and mortadella twice through a fine plate, then mix with the parmigiano, egg and nutmeg. The filling must be as fine as paste — a fingernail-sized tortellino has no room for pieces.
Ingredients: 100 g pork loin · 100 g Parma ham · 100 g mortadella · 130 g parmigiano · 1 pcs egg · 1 pinch nutmeg · 20 g butter
Twice through a fine plate — as fine as paste.Knead the egg pasta
Knead the flour with the eggs 10 minutes into a smooth, firm dough, wrap and rest 30 minutes. Tortellini dough is firmer than tagliatelle dough, since it must hold a tightly wrapped shape.
Ingredients: 300 g 00 flour · 3 pcs eggs
Roll very thin
Roll the dough in portions into a sheet thin enough to see through and cut into 3 × 3 cm squares. Work small batches and keep the rest under a cloth — the pasta dries within minutes and stops sealing.
Ingredients: 300 g 00 flour · 3 pcs eggs
See-through and cut into 3 cm squares.Wrap the tortellini round a fingertip
Put a chickpea-sized ball of filling on each square, fold into a triangle, press the edges, then wrap it round your fingertip and pinch the corners together. This is the navel shape that gave rise to the tortellini legend.
Ingredients: 300 g 00 flour · 3 pcs eggs
A triangle round the fingertip — the navel of legend.Cook in the broth
Bring the broth to a boil and drop in the tortellini for 3–4 minutes, until they float. Cook them in broth, not water — the pasta's starch lightly thickens the broth and the tortellini take on its flavour.
Ingredients: 1 pcs capon or boiling fowl · 500 g beef bones · 2 pcs carrots · 2 pcs celery · 1 pcs onion · 4000 ml water · 2 tsp salt
Serve with parmigiano
Ladle broth and tortellini into deep plates — the batch makes about 550–600, so about 90–100 per portion — with grated parmigiano on the side. In Bologna tortellini in brodo is the traditional first course of Christmas Day lunch.
Ingredients: 50 g parmigiano
Before you start
A recipe on deposit
In 1974 the Confraternity of the Tortellino deposited the official recipe with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce: pork loin, Parma ham, mortadella, parmigiano, egg and nutmeg. Bolognese take it seriously — adding ricotta or spinach makes it something else.
Freezing on a tray
Freeze raw tortellini spread on a floured tray, then bag them once hard. They keep three months. Cook straight from frozen, adding a minute.
A boiling fowl instead of capon
Capon gives the goldest, most aromatic broth but is hard to find. An old boiling fowl with a piece of beef on the bone comes very close. A young supermarket chicken gives a broth too flat.
