POTATO TORTELLI WITH BUTTER & SAGE SAUCE
Ingredients for the filling:
1000g POTATOES (=35,27oz= 3 large potatoes)
100g unsalted BUTTER (=3,53oz=½ cup)
1 EGG
300g PDO PARMIGIANO REGGIANO 24 months (10,58oz=3 cups)
TABLE SALT to taste
Ingredients for the dough:
4 EGGS (about 200g=7,05oz)
about 133g DARUM WHEAT SEMOLINA (=4,69oz=¾ cup)
about 267g PLAIN FLOUR (=9,42oz=1 ⅔ cups)
12g EXTRA-VIRGIN OLIVE OIL (=0,42oz=¾ tbsp)
TABLE SALT to taste
Ingredients for the sauce:
80g unsalted BUTTER (=2,82oz=⅓ cup)
80g PDO PARMIGIANO REGGIANO 24 months (=2,82oz=¾ cup)
10-15 SAGE leaves
Method:
Prepare the pasta dough breaking and weighing the eggs, then calculate the double of the egg weight and the result is the total amount of flour needed. Divide this amount in three parts: ⅓ darum wheat semolina and ⅔ plain flour. Proceed with one pinch of table salt for every egg yolk and then add extra-virgin olive oil.
Knead until it becomes smooth, elastic and homogeneous, then cover it carefully with plastic wrap. Let the pasta dough rest in the fridge for minimum 1 hour before using it.
In the meantime, wash the potatoes and boil them with skin in salted water over high heat for about 30-40 minutes (you can check the potatoes softness with a fork or a toothpick, but it would be better not to let water in). Once cooked, peel the potatoes and mash them in a bowl with a potato masher.
Add butter to the warm potatoes and mix to let it melt. Add a pinch of salt, then mix and press with the hands to widen the filling to fasten the cooling process. After about 15-20 minutes add PDO Parmigiano Reggiano and egg, then mix.
Take the pasta dough out of the fridge and cut a little pasta (the right amount for 3-4 stripes of tortelli, according to the size of your pastry board). Always remember to cover the remaining pasta dough with its plastic wrap.
Roll the dough thin with a pasta machine: flatten a bit with your fingers or with a rolling pin and insert in the pasta machine between the rollers starting from the larger hole (setting the adjustment knob of the machine to 0). Decrease the thickness step by step and pass through the rollers each time until you get to your chosen thickness (my machine has 9 levels and I stop at 7 for tortelli).
Lay the pasta sheets on the pastry board, then lay nuts of filling along an imaginary line in the middle of the pasta sheet. Fold the pasta sheet so as to completely cover the filling. Press to seal, making sure to let all the air out (I usually use my left hand index finger in a straight position together with my right hand pinky finger curved so to touch the edge to the index). Cut with a pasta wheel providing a rectangular shape. Anytime you prepare a stripe, you can re-use the scraps of the stripe before (if they are still humid enough).
Lay the shaped tortelli on a cardboard tray (with this pasta recipe you don’t need to flour your working surface nor the tray as it is not a sticky one).
You will get about 100 tortelli with this recipe. You can decide to eat them all fresh (depending on the amount of tablemates) or you can freeze all or some.
In the latter case, in order to make sure they don’t break when cooking them frozen, you have to sear them. To do so, put a pot filled with water on the stove and bring to boil. Toss the tortelli in and cook for about 1 minute (until they start to wrinkle). Drain and lay them outdistanced on a table cloth until dry. Then place them on the cardboard tray and freeze them laying one tray at a time in the freezer (do not overlap trays) for minimum half an hour (the more the better) and then move the frozen tortelli in a plastic freezer bag.
To cook tortelli (either fresh or frozen), put a pot filled with water on the stove at high flame. When water boils, add coarse salt. As it comes to boil again, toss the tortelli and stir gently with a perforated spoon. It will take about 3-4 minutes if fresh and 5-6 if frozen (and thus pre-seared).
In the meantime, wash and dry the sage leaves, then melt butter together with the leaves in a small pot at low flame (without frying it).
Strain the tortelli with the perforated spoon and lay them in a wide colander to lose all the water (I usually place a soup plate below). Place 12 tortelli (this is the average serve per person) on each dinner plate.
Drizzle with sage-flavoured melted butter on top and then sprinkle with PDO Parmigiano Reggiano. You can decide to serve the sage leaves as well or to leave them apart (I love sage so I usually eat it together with tortelli).
As the making of tortelli is the same, have a look at our Potato Tortelli with black truffle Video Recipe on our YouTube channel to better understand how to shape tortelli… you just have to change the final touch!
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