Parmesan Cappelletti

by Nicholas87 in Cooking > Pasta

2987 Views, 9 Favorites, 0 Comments

Parmesan Cappelletti

cappelletti 005.jpg
Cappelletti is a traditional filled homemade pasta dish. In Italy it has conutless names depending on region or place where it is made, with many local variations. Cappelletti are to be served floating in meat broth, which perparation I will not discuss here; any will do fine though it is usually a chicken broth. This is a 1 day long recipe so it is better to start the first step on the evening of the day before. Oh yeah, you will need a pasta machine! and and an instrument like that shown in step 7 or something similar you may have.
I will not describe how to use a pasta machine in details (you should already know the basics)

Ingredients

7 eggs
500g of flour 00
water
salt
250g of lean veal
250g of pork meat
250g of chicken/turkey (or in general three different kinds of meat: one of bovine one of suine and one of bird)
rosemary
carrots
red wine
olive oil
pepper
laurel
shallot
celery
nutmeg
200 gr of parmesan cheese

The Filling (brasato Ripieno)

cappelletti 003.jpg

put the three pieces of meat in a cooking pot along with the spices
that is:
salt,rosemary, carrots, pepper, laurel, shallot, celery and nutmeg

add a certain amount of red wine as shown in the image 
close the pot and leave it like that over a night

The Filling Part 2

cappelletti 010.jpg
remove the wine with a stainer
add the olive oil (enough to cover the base of the pot) and put it on a kitchen stove until it start to boil
at this point add two glasses of red wine and leave everything on a low flame for 3 or 4 hours until it has the apparence it has in the image. During this period of time occasionaly turn the meat and make sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pot.

Finishing the Filling

cappelletti 013.jpg
cappelletti 015.jpg
cappelletti 016.jpg
cappelletti 017.jpg
cappelletti 029.jpg
again remove the sauce with a stainer and keep it in a container
remove the meat from the pot and start to mince it (if you are lazy you can use a blender)
add two eggs and the parmisan cheese and start to mix with your hands
if it feels dry you can add a bit of the sauce you removed before to keep it wet
in the end it should look like in the last image

Making Pasta

cappelletti 021.jpg
cappelletti 024.jpg
cappelletti 025.jpg
with about 600g of flour make a small mound and add 4 eggs in the middle  (make a small well in the center like in the picture)
add some salt and start to mix the dough
if it feels dry you can add a glass of hot water 
in the end the final appearance should look like in the image (if you have never tried to make pasta before I suggest you follow a tutorial like this one: http://www.annies-eats.com/2011/01/10/homemade-pasta-tutorial-part-1-the-basics/)
envelope the dough in a clean cloth and let it rest for 30 min

The Pasta Machine

cappelletti 026.jpg
at this point you can start using the pasta machine 
take a piece from the dough and run it trough the pasta machine to flatten it and turn it into a sheet 
fold the sheet into thirds and repeat
keep repeating the process reducing the width until you reach the minimum width
at this point you should have a thin sheet of pasta about a meter long (again if you have never ued a pasta machine I suggest you follow a tutorial)

Making Cappelletti

cappelletti 031.jpg
cappelletti 032.jpg
cappelletti 027.jpg
cappelletti 035.jpg
put the filling on the sheet of pasta in small amounts as shown in the picture 
gently fold the sheet of pasta for its whole length 
remove the air from the inside by gently pressing with your fingers around each amount of filling
now cut out every cappelletto using the instrument shown above (essentially a cylindrical blade)
once you have removed every pieces roll back the extra pasta in a single dough

The Leftovers

cappelletti 038.jpg
the extra pasta and filling can be frozen and stored for future use

Cooking and Serving

cappelletti 006.jpg
cappelletti 002.jpg
cappelletti 001.jpg
the cappelletti can be cooked immediatly or frozen in a container for future consumption
if you want to freeze them dust them first with some flour to make sure they don't stick to each other 
if you want to cook them heat a pot filled with chicken broth and add the cappelletti when the broth is boiling (it is very important to add them when the broth is hot because they cook at very high temperature and are ready after just a couple of minutes otherwise they will dissolve)

serve them with the broth (tipically 30-40 for portion)