Tortellini from Valeggio sul Mincio
The most delicious tortellini come from Valeggio sul Mincio south of Lake Garda. Traditionally, you stuff the tortellini with meat, but they also taste fantastic filled with other ingredients. In this variation, Tortelli alla Zucca, from Mantova, they use a pumpkin stuffing.
The Tortellino di Valeggio is also called love knot or Nodo d'Amore. This name goes back to a fascinating story, which is said to have taken place in Valeggio.
Recipe for 6 persons:
For the pumpkin filling:
- 1.5 kg of pumpkin
- 160 g of Amaretto biscuits
- 80 g butter
- 180 g of grated hard cheese
- Nutmeg
- Zest of an untreated lemon
- Salt
- Pepper
Wash the pumpkin, dry it, slice it, remove the skin, the threads and seeds. Roast the slices in the oven at 180 degrees. Allow to cool, blend in a blender. Crumble the biscuits and mix with the pumpkin, cheese, lemon zest and nutmeg. Season with salt and let rest for about an hour.
For the meat filling: Roast 600 g of mixed minced meat (beef, pork, chicken) with an onion and rosemary, season to taste and mix with 50 g of bread crumbs and 100 g of hard cheese.
For the pasta:
- 600 of flour
- 6 eggs
- 1 pinch of salt
Sift the flour, mix with eggs and salt and knead well. Roll out the dough very thinly; This is the secret of this special tortellini dish. Cut out squares and fill them. Fold so that triangles form and squeeze the edges well. The two ends of the triangle are then compressed or "knotted". You then dry the tortellini on a kitchen towel or floured surface until you are ready to cook them in salted water. After 2 minutes of cooking in the water, they should be al dente, and then you serve them in broth or with melted butter and sage.