This is my grandma’s recipe: you won’t find a lot of measures because she always tastes to understand if the flavor is ok. Anyway, it depends on what you prefer: these are very sweet tortelli, and if one wants to enhance the sweet taste, he/she will put a little more of pumpkin and less of the spices, if one wants to enhance the spicy part, he/she will put a little more of nutmeg and amaretto biscuits, if one likes tasty fillings, he/she will put a little more of cheese.
Ingredients
For the filling
Pumpkin, cooked in the oven cut in slices with its peel and a little salt for about half an hour at high heat (200°C) , or until tender
A handful of amaretto biscuits, minced in the blender
mostarda di mele mantovane, the juice (Fragrant, spicy, tasty: mostarda is a very appreciated preparation in Italian cooking as accompaniment for cheeses, meats and desserts. Which is its original recipes? Fruit, sugar and mustard essence: a very simple mix of ingredients, which today is still unchanged, even if its recipe has been adapted to the local traditions of many Italian regions. The Mostarda Mantovana is made with campanino apples, which are very small and they taste slightly acidic.)
Grana Padano, minced in the blender
Breadcrumbs, freshly ground
nutmeg, freshly ground
For the pasta
1 egg
50 gr flour + as required
50 gr bran
How did I do
I made the pasta by putting the flour and the bran on the pastry board forming a mountain, making a hole in the center with the hands and pouring the egg in it. I started to knead until I had a smooth and compact dough. I wrapped it and leave it for few hours in the fridge.
I prepared the filling: I mashed the pumpkin with the fork, I added the Grana Padano, the nutmeg, the juice of the mostarda, the ground bread and the amaretto biscuits adjusting the taste as I preferred.
I stretched out the pasta cutting the dough in parts and stretching them one by one, thin. I put a little filling on it, leaving a distance of a pair of centimeters between every ball of filling. I closed the pasta on the filling, I pressed with the fingers in the spaces between every ball of it, I cut with the pasta wheel and I closed every tortello making the air going out from the center to the borders.
I put the ready ones on the trays sprinkled with flour and I finished the dough and the filling in this way. I let them dry completely and I put them in the freezer.
When it was the time to cook them, first of all I prepared the sauce. One can also serve them with melted butter and sage leaves.
I made a sautèed with minced onion, a little garlic and olive oil. I cooked for few minutes then I added some homemade tomato sauce, salt, pepe, ground chili pepper, cinnamon, laurel, sage, basil and let I cook for about half an hour at low heat. I turned off the heat and I added a little butter and mixed well.
I let plenty of salted water boil, I lowered the fire and I poured in the tortelli. I waited for them to come on the surface and to slightly boil for few minutes, then I dried them and I served with the sauce, and lot of ground Grana Padano.
Buon appetito!
