Tortelloni with Parsley-Infused Butter Glaze

BY: LITTLE SCOTTIE
JUN 15, 2020 • 3 MIN READ

Of course I like eating it, but I also like the challenge of making pasta. Getting the dough on your hands, working it to the right hydration, rolling it. It's an art. I'm getting better, but I have lots to learn. This was my first go at making tortelloni.

Making the dough is like any other egg pasta dough. You use approximately 2:3 ratio of eggs to flour. One egg is the equivalent of a full serving, so two eggs—you guessed it—makes two servings. You can weigh things out, or just guesstimate it. I use the guesstimate plan.  One big handful of flour is about what you need for each egg.

Here I'm using the well method. Make a well with the flour and scramble the eggs in the center. Slowly mix the flour into the scrambled eggs. This is a good procedure because you want to slowly hydrate the flour. Always add the flour to the liquid (and slowly) so you don't add too much flour. It is much easier to add a little flour to a wet dough than to add water to a dry dough. Pro tip: slow is pro. Just add flour slowly.

Eventually the dough will come together and you will need to use a bench knife to fold in the flour. When it becomes stiff enough begin kneading the dough. When the dough is elastic, bouncy and slightly tacky then you are done. There are plenty of videos showing how to make pasta dough, but the best way is to just start doing it. You'll figure it out after a few tries, and you'll develop some of your own tricks and techniques along the way.

After the pasta dough has rested, roll it into a thin sheet and cut it into approximately 5 cm squares. You can do this very carefully with a knife or use a tool like this. I cut the pasta sheets carefully with  knife and ended up with a few odd sizes here and there. I made ravioli with the odd rectangular shapes.

After a few rounds I figured out how much filling to use and how to shape the tortelloni. It took some time, but I'm patient and I like the idea of trying to make each piece perfect. Here are a couple of instructional videos showing how to shape them here and here.

Like all fresh pasta, cooking was quick and easy. Because the pasta cooks in about 2 minutes, I started the parsley-infused butter about 10 minutes prior to boiling the tortelloni. I put the butter and parsley into a small sauce pan on low-medium heat and let the flavors merge together. After the tortelloni was done cooking I combined the butter glaze and pasta.

I let the pasta dry for about 30 minutes before cooking. Next time I'll allow at least this much time if not a little more. Pasta holds its shape better the more time it has to dry.

The pasta was delicious and I'm looking forward to making it again.