Tortellini is a type of egg pasta usually filled with meat and cheese. And, although we have taken the habit of accompanying it with all kinds of sauces, the truth is that it is traditional to take it with broth, as a soup. But, as with all pastas, it is a very versatile food, so it is also great with sauce. However you take it, if you like tortellini you will love this recipe to prepare them completely homemade, especially to make the pasta. Well, although in our recipe we are going to add a meat filling, the most typical one, you can take advantage of it and make the filling you like the most.
But, what are tortellini?
Before we begin, let’s learn a little more about tortellini. And the fact is that, with the number of different types of pasta we find, it is normal to get lost among all these terms.
However, tortellini are one of the most popular. Known worldwide, they have become very famous all over the world. Especially in the United States, where they have triumphed greatly.
As we have already mentioned, they are a type of stuffed pasta. The dough is made with egg, and, although it admits all kinds of fillings, the most common is meat and cheese. They are ring-shaped, because the pasta squares are filled and folded diagonally. So that, when the package is closed, it has a circular shape, with a hole in the middle.
The most traditional way to serve them is in broth, as if it were a soup. In fact, the purists will say that they are not authentic tortellini if they are accompanied by sauce. Be that as it may, we are committed to originality in the kitchen. So go ahead and prepare these homemade tortellini and accompany them as you like. Well, in addition to the recipe, we will see some options to accompany them.
Recipe for homemade meat tortellini
To elaborate this recipe, the first thing we will do is the filling. But remember that, this same straight, the part in which we are going to elaborate the dough, is going to serve you regardless of the filling you want to put. In fact, later we will see some other ideas for a different tortellini filling.
But if you want to make it with meat, we are simply going to cook the minced meat together with a good handful of bacon also chopped, in a frying pan. Here you can choose to make a sofrito with onion first, or you can omit it. We have not included it to simplify the recipe.
We have to cook the meat beforehand because the cooking of the tortellini is very short, as you will see in the recipe. You will see that the pasta is ready immediately. And it is not enough time for the meat filling to be cooked.
When we have already cooked the meat, we will put it in a bowl and we will include the rest of the ingredients. Cheese, spices and egg. Mix all these ingredients very well until you get a homogeneous dough. Once finished, let it rest until the tortellini dough is ready. This way, the flavors will be homogenized, and it will be much better.
How to make homemade Tortellini, including the dough, easy recipe
We will continue with the dough. The flour we use is very important for our dough to have the desired consistency and avoid complications in the recipe. For this reason, we suggest flour 00, special for pasta. Besides this, the proportion is very important. The general rule tells us that we will use one egg for every 100 grams of flour. Although this proportion may vary slightly depending on the flour used and the size of the eggs. So, if you see that the dough is too wet, add a pinch more flour while kneading until it has the desired consistency.
If, on the other hand, it is too dry, we can add a little water.
With the dough ready, we will have to knead it until it has a homogeneous, soft, smooth texture. At that moment, it will be ready. But, before making our tortellini, we will have to let the dough rest. So we will cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest, out of the refrigerator, for half an hour.
To shape the tortellini we have to prepare our dough ball. We can do it in the traditional way, with a good rolling pin. Or with fresh pasta presses if we have one. Regardless of how we do it, remember that the dough must be very thin, so that our homemade tortellini turn out well.
The ideal thickness of the pasta is when it starts to become transparent. So, if when lifting the pasta sheet we can see slightly through it, it will be ready to start cutting the tortellini.
And, at this point, we only have to cut into squares, fill, fold and close. Our tortellini are ready to cook.
How to close the tortellini
Now that we have the pasta ready, we just have to close our tortellini. To do this, we are going to close them diagonally, that is to say, wrapping one of the corners towards the opposite corner, so that we will have a little bag with the filling inside. With the other two ends we will close the tortellini, pressing lightly so that the pasta sticks.
A good way to make it stick is to wet the areas we want to join with water. It will be enough that, with the wet finger, you moisten the edges of the tortellini that must stick.
Recipe for Homemade Meat Tortellini
Ingredients
For the pasta
- 300 g Flour for pasta
- 3 eggs
For the filling
- 200 g Minced meat of your choice, pork, veal, mixed….
- 150 g Bacon
- 150 g Parmesan
- 1 egg
- Provençal herbs
- Nutmeg
- Salt
- Pepper
- Extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
We begin with the stuffing, so that it rests and all the flavors mix well.
- In a large frying pan, with a drizzle of oil, put the minced meat and the bacon, also finely chopped. Cook until the meat is to our taste. Remove to a large bowl.
- Add the cheese, egg, spices and salt and pepper. Mix well and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rest until the dough is ready.
For the dough
- We continue with the dough. We put the flour on a wide and smooth table, in the form of a volcano.Add the previously beaten eggs in the middle of the volcano. We go mixing, taking the flour from the outside to the eggs. We repeat the process until we obtain a consistent dough, moment in which, we can begin to knead with the hands.
- We have to knead until we get a smooth dough, with a fine texture. Then, cover it with cling film and let it rest on the table for half an hour.
- To smooth the dough we can do it in the traditional way, with a rolling pin; or with a pasta machine if we have one. But, above all, we must try to make the dough as thin as possible, even transparent.We extend the dough well, smooth it with a rolling pin until it has the desired thickness and cut it into squares. It will be enough to have between 3 and 4 centimeters on each side.
- Now that we have cut the squares, we are going to fill them. We put a little bit of filling in each one and close diagonally, and then join the two corners that have been left loose. So that they acquire that typical appearance of tortellini, in the shape of a ring.When we have finished filling all the tortellini, we continue with the cooking.
- In a pot with plenty of water add a handful of salt and a dash of oil. We bring to boil.
- As soon as the water starts to boil, add the tortellini, being careful not to break them; and let them cook until they start to float, when they will be ready.You will see that just a few minutes of cooking is enough.When they float, remove them with a skimmer and serve with the sauce of your choice.Now we have ready some wonderful tortellini completely homemade.
To prepare the authentic tortellini in soup
Let’s see how we have to continue the recipe if we want to prepare our tortellini in the most traditional way, in broth.
When we already have the tortellini ready, before cooking them, we are going to prepare the soup. In that same broth will be where our pasta will cook. We will need an onion, meat broth, and more Parmesan cheese.
We will begin by chopping the onion very well, and we will sauté it in a pot. When it starts to become transparent, we will add the meat stock. As soon as it starts to boil, add the tortellini and cook until they start to float. At this point, they will be ready.
Serve hot, sprinkling a little cheese on top.
With sauce
If you prefer your tortellini with sauce, we can accompany them with all kinds of sauces. It will only depend on the filling we have put in them. Depending on the filling, one sauce or another will be better. But we can accompany them with tomato sauce, carbonara, mushroom sauce… In short, any option that combines well with pasta, will be great in tortellini.
The best fillings for tortellini
Although, as we have mentioned, you can elaborate this same recipe with an infinite number of fillings, as we only have to use our imagination, let’s take a look at some ideas:
The classics are meat and cheese fillings. We can prepare fillings with minced meat, as we have done in the recipe. Choose the one you like best, beef, chicken, pork… Or even mixed. We have also added bacon. But if you want other ideas to prepare a meat filling for your tortellini, take a look at these options:
- Mortadella, Serrano ham, Parmesan.
- Chicken and cheese
- Bacon
- Bacon and mushroom
Another option is to prepare a fish filling for our tortellini. They will also look great, and it will be a very original option.
- Fresh salmon and ricotta cheese
- Grouper and onion
- Prawns
With vegetables, or other vegetables are also great tortellini. Of course, do not hesitate to try all kinds of combinations, as you like.
- Cheeses of all kinds: mozzarella, blue cheese, brie…
- Mushrooms of all kinds, to your liking
- Green asparagus and cheese
- Spinach and ricotta
- Zucchini and cheese
- Eggplant and tomato
Whenever you choose a filling that needs to be cooked, such as fish if it is raw, meat, or some vegetables, we will have to cook it before stuffing the tortellini. Well, remember that, with the short time in which they are cooking, it is not enough for the filling to be done.
And here we finish our recipe of homemade tortellini. If you liked it, remember to leave us your comments, ideas, tips… We love to read them! And don’t forget to follow us on social networks to keep up to date with all our publications. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
