22 Sep TORTELLI DI ZUCCA

INGREDIENTS

Egg pasta

3 EXTRA LARGE EGGS

2 CUPS ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR

1 PINCH SALT

Pumkin filling

500 GRAMS PUMKIN

700 GRAMS POTATOES

200 GRAMS MASCARPONE CHEESE

100 GRAMS PARMESAN CHEESE

100 GRAMS MINCED WALNUTS

HERBS AND SPICES TO TASTE (SAGE, NUTMEG, BLACK PEPPER, GARLIC POWDER CINNAMMON)

Bacon creamy sauce

50 GRAMS BUTTER

50 GRAMS PANCETTA (ITALIAN BACON)

200 GRAMS MASCARPONE CHEESE

400 ML DOUBLE CREAM

300 ML HEAVY CREAM

MINCED WALNUTS

FINELY GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE

DIRECTIONS

Egg pasta

Make pasta following classic recipe described before, cover with plastic wrap and let sit while preparing the filling.

Cook the pumpkin using your favorite technique: you can steam the pumpkin until soft, depending on its thickness, you can also put it in a pan with very little water or bake it in the oven. The object is to have the pumpkin cooked but not very wet. Remove the skin from the flesh and cut it in small pieces, heat oil in a pan and fry pumpkin flesh for some minutes with salt and nutmeg.

Reduce the fleshy pulp to a mash with a fork and put it in a colander squeezing out as much liquid as you can..

Put the potatoes in a large pot and cover with water. Bring to boil, turn to heat to medium-low and cook potatoes for 20 minutes or until you can easily pierce with a fork. Drain water and mash the potatoes

Put smashed potatoes, pumpkin flesh, mascarpone, minced walnuts, Parmesan, spices and herbs in a bowl and amalgamate all this to obtain quite a consistent and solid paste.

Roll the pasta dough out into long sheets and spread out on a work surface sprinkled with flour. Place pasta sheets on a lightly floured work surface and cut into 30 x 7 cm squares. Place 1 tsp. pumpkin filling in the center of each square. Dip your finger or a pastry brush in beaten eggs and dampen edges of squares. Fold in half diagonally to form a triangle, pinching edges to seal. Using your thumb, press the middle of the long edge of the triangle up towards the point, then bring the two bottom corners together. Pinch corners together with a little water to seal and place on a floured tray. Repeat with the remaining pasta and pumpkin filling.

Bacon creamy sauce

To make the sauce fry butter and bacon in a pan, add walnuts, parmesan an what remain of the filling and let cook for some minutes. Add mascarpone, double cream and heavy cream in the pan and stir well. Add some more salt or extra parmesan if needed and cook the sauce till thick and creamy.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Working in batches, add tortellini and stir with a wooden spoon to ensure it doesn’t stick to the pan. Cook for about 4 minutes or until pasta is al dente, then remove with a slotted spoon and transfer the Tortelli in the sauce pan and cook gently for about one minute with the sauce and serve immediately.