Tortellini in Broth
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Loading...Tortellini in Broth is a great classic Italian Cooking: a rich dish, elegant, comforting that usually is prepared on Sundays and is definitely in the Christmas menu and New Year's Eve. To be more specific, this is a… 3 dishes in 1. The broth in itself, which must be rich and tasty. Tortellini which are cooked in the broth and then served as a soup. And do not forget the meat, which is served in part, dressed with extra-virgin olive oil and salt or with sauces: this is what we call “bollito” that I will tell you in another post A triumph of taste, therefore: a fairly simple recipe to prepare that has to be perfect, and we must follow some specific rules that I will try to explain in detail, step by step
Ingredients
- Beef Brisket 1 (about 700gr)
- Beef Bones 2 pieces
- Hen (or free-range chicken) 1 half
- Leek 2
- Carrot 2
- Celery 2
- Bay leaves, Cloves, Juniper, Black Peppers Grains
- Sea Salt
Instructions
First you need the right mix of meats which, by tradition, must consist of beef and poultry. I chose half a hen (or some excellent free-range chicken), some beef brisket and I asked the butcher two nice pieces of bone with marrow as well. Washed well all the meat and tie the beef with kitchen twine to prevent it from falling apart during cooking
Clean and chop all the vegetables and put them in a large pan with exactly 3 liters of water. Add the bones, the spices and put on the fire. When the water comes to a boil, add the rest of the meat. After a few minutes of cooking, impurities in the form of foam will begin to surface on the surface of the water: these are the coagulated meat proteins that you will have to remove with the help of a slotted spoon
Let it simmer over very low heat, taking care to remove the residues that emerge on the surface with a spoon. After 2 hours you will see that the liquid has reduced by about one third: add another liter of boiling water and close with a lid, letting it cook for another hour
Taste, add salt and remove the pieces of meat that you can serve separately
Filter a couple of times the tock to remove all the vegetables, filaments and spices and at this point you are ready to cook the Tortellini. Put the broth back on the heat (very low heat) and dip the Tortellini which will have to cook for about 8 minutes: remove them from the heat when they are still al dente because they will continue to cook in the boiling liquid.
Immediately bring to the table, in a tureen, and serve all diners who can add plenty of grated Parmesan cheese to their plate
Notes
Tortellini in broth are a milestone of Italian Cooking, probably one of the most famous dishes of our tradition. However, I will not tell you how to prepare Tortellini because I think they require too much experience (and too much patience, skill, time, etc.) to be made by… mere mortals like us! that is why I kindly suggest you to buy them: the best are the handmade ones, of course, but today you can find excellent industrially produced Tortellini, just check on packaging that they are made in Italy following the traditional recipe. Tortellini are prepared with a cooked filling of veal and mortadella which is sealed in a thin layer of fresh pasta and folded and then folded on itself in that original "navel of venus" shape Tortellini were invented in Bologna, a wonderful city that I absolutely recommend you visit, famous for its ancient University (the oldest in the world, to be precise) but above all for the excellent food that you can enjoy in the many typical restaurants in the historic center. In Bologna Tortellini are eaten exclusively in broth or, at most (but it is an exception to the rule) with cream and cooked ham. Real Tortellini are small: so small that exactly 5 must fit in a spoon, not one more. If you think of a tomato sauce, however, you have to choose the larger "tortelloni", or another type of fresh filled pasta such as "agnolotti" (with a rounded shape)
ItalianCookingTips
Meats are essential for a good broth. In Italian Cooking we prefer a mix of beef and poultry, taking care to choose fatty pieces rich in ribs, which give more flavor to the meat (in the past the broth was made with meat scraps)
ItalianCookingTips
In this photo you can see that I use parsley stems. They usually throw away but instead they are full of flavor and perfect for flavoring
ItalianCookingTips
The broth in cooking must never boil to prevent the meat from flaking, making the liquid opaque and dark
ItalianCookingTips
Vegetables and spices are also important.
In the ingredients I have indicated the classics to which you can add the ones you like best: I, for example, prefer leek, but onion is fine. Always salt to the last.
ItalianCookingTips
A good broth must be tasty and therefore fat. However, you can make it lighter by leaving it in the refrigerator: after a few hours you will notice a patina of solidified fat on the surface that can be easily removed with a spoon.
ItalianCookingTips
In the past, perfectly clear and transparent broth was preferred and for this reason lemon juice was added or it was left to simmer with the egg white which, when thickening, collected all the impurities.
Times have changed and today a rougher broth means it was homemade, without using stock cubes or granular broth!
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