How To Make Tortellini - Cooking With Nonna Episode 3

Hi everyone!

Welcome to Cooking With Nonna Episode 3 - How To Make Tortellini
(or cappelletti as we call it!)

In today’s video Nonna shows us step-by-step how to make her traditional, homemade tortellini - walking us through what goes into the filling, cutting the pasta into little squares and finally how to tie up and fold the little parcels to turn them into cappelletti ("little hats")

My Nonna and Nonno have been making cappelletti with their friends Nino and Clara for the past 36 years! They all get together and have a little production line going so they can make big batches for all their family. We eat cappelletti (as the first course!) for special occasions like Christmas, Easter and birthdays, and they are so delicious (way better than the tortellini you buy from a store!)

Nonno definitely enjoyed joining in this time too, he kept saying “I’m the cook in My Kitchen Rules” (it’s an Aussie TV show if you didn’t know) :p

We hope you enjoy the video and would love to hear if you give it a try yourself!

Tag me on Instagram @laurennatalia.co and use #CookingWithNonnaAnna if you share any photos!

The Recipe:

Keep in mind that Nonna usually makes this in huge batches. In the first part of the video she used about 500g of mince but she usually uses about 2 kg! Adjust amounts to suit you, it doesn’t need to be exact!

The Filling:

Beef mince (approx 500g)
Parmesan cheese (approx 1 cup)
Salt
Pepper
Nutmeg
Parsley
Garlic
2 eggs (enough to make everything “stick together”)

It’s important to make sure you continue stirring the beef mince as it cooks so it breaks up and becomes very fine. You also need to allow the mince to cool completely before adding the rest of the seasonings!

The Pasta

This makes a lot of pasta, but if you’re going to the effort of making fresh pasta, you may as well make a decent amount! You can always freeze it!
If you don’t want to make this much feel free to adjust to suit your needs - it’s not an exact science!)

4 cups flour (maybe 5 if you have large eggs)
Pinch of salt
6 eggs
1/2 cup water

Check out the Cooking With Nonna Episode 1 Video and Blog Post for more details on making the pasta

How To Fold Tortellini

This is shown in the main video, but I’ve also put together a short bonus video for you below, that quickly goes over how you tie up the little parcels.
It takes a little practice but is fairly easy once you get the hang of it!

How To Serve

We usually eat the cappelletti with chicken broth but you can really serve it however you like. As mentioned in the video there are two rather fussy people in our family (My Papa and cousin!) who don’t like the broth, so Nonna always makes a little tomato sauce or bolognese sauce for them!

Always top with plenty of fresh parmesan cheese!