Ricotta tortellini with lemon and tomato juice

The first time I made homemade pasta and saw how easy it was (for some reason I had imagined it much more complicated), I decided to always make my pasta. He didn't even have a pasta machine, he stretched it out with a rolling pin, rolled it up, and cut it into noodles. With my roommates we experimented with cuttlefish ink, spinach, turmeric etc. to give it different colors and aromas.

Then a friend signed up and we started making stuffed pasta. We would meet one day a week at about noon, and talking, with a glass of red wine we would get to work. We had just prepared the pasta at five in the afternoon, starving and already more than a little drunk. And we enjoyed it like the children that now I think we were. What good memories!

I am not going to deny that preparing stuffed pasta by hand, one by one, filling it and shaping it is hard work. But if you find yourself a buddy so you don't get bored and also give yourself a glass or two of wine while you prepare it - then you will enjoy the preparation as much as the final result.

And eating a pasta that was made one by one, always makes me stop much more at the moment of eating it. Knowing what work is in each tortellini, I concentrate a lot to perceive the texture, the mixture of aromas and tastes. I eat it very little by little, savoring each bite.

And this recipe, because it is stuffed pasta, is one of the simplest . No need to cook the filling, just mix the ingredients . And it's still one of my favourites. Because the filling is soft and creamy, but at the same time surprising with the touch of lemon and the tomato juice, it has very few ingredients, but it is spectacular when the tomatoes are in season.

Grades:

• The recipe is for 4, but I think you can make stuffed pasta by hand for a maximum of two people without being exhausted. If you want to make this recipe for more than two, I recommend that you invite the diners to participate in the preparation (which is fun!).

• If you want to make this recipe for two, you can keep the rest of the dough in a tupperware container, a waxed cloth or a damp cloth in the fridge and make noodles the next day (or more tortellini, I know they are so good they make you want to repeat right away ;-).

INGREDIENTS

For the pasta dough:

• 280g / 2 cups of spelled flour or special flour for pasta (type 00)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup + 1 tablespoon water

For the filling:

• 1 Ricotta (250 g)
• 1 organic lemon (zest and juice)
• 1 handful of fresh basil (optional)

For the tomato sauce*:

• About 400 g cherry tomatoes
• ½ teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon maple syrup (you can substitute coconut or brown sugar)
• 1 teaspoon salt

*If you want to save doing it at home and replace the sugo with a natural tomato sauce, in the pantry section we have an authentic pomodoro sauce from Italy that is the most natural and healthy (it is 100% squeezed tomato juice, nothing more ).

To serve (optional):

• Sage leaves fried in oil or butter
• Parmesan

PREPARATION

1. We start with the pasta dough. Mix flour salt to a bowl . Make a mold in the middle of the flour and add the egg and, little by little, the water. Go mixing with your hands until you get a homogeneous mass. Let rest for 20 minutes to allow the gluten to develop and the dough to become more elastic.
2. Meanwhile, mix the ricotta with the zest and lemon juice . If you use basil, cut it up and add it. Mix with a fork.
3. When the dough has rested, divide it into 4 equal portions. Shape it into a rectangle with your hands, flattening it a bit, so that it fits well into the pasta machine (if you don't have a pasta machine, stretch the dough with a rolling pin, it's not as thin, but it works too).
4. Flour the dough a little so it doesn't stick. Pass the dough through the machine set to the thickest. Repeat with the next smallest measurement and so on until you reach the penultimate adjustment (I usually go in twos, it works very well). If you see that the dough is getting too long, cut it in two. Once you have the pasta to the thickness you want, be sure to leave it on a well-floured surface so it doesn't stick. Continue with the rest of the dough until you have several strips. Using a round cookie cutter about 7cm in diameter (or a glass), cut out as many circles as you can.
5. Gather the leftovers of the dough, form a ball and stretch and cut again until you have all the dough in circles.
6. Put half a teaspoon of the filling on each circle. It is important not to go too far, otherwise the filling ends up coming out and it is difficult to give it the desired shape. Have a bowl with a little water next to you so you can wet the edges and stick the tortellini together.
7. Fold the tortellini in half and gently pinch the edges so it is well closed.
8. Position the tortellini - which should now be in the shape of a crescent - so that the line is facing you. Pull the two corners towards you and up a bit and glue the ends together. Repeat! Place the tortellini on a plate or floured surface.
9. For the tomato sugo, cut the tomatoes in two.
10. Add butter, oil, and syrup to a pot and heat over high heat.
11. Once the butter is melted, add the tomatoes, cover and cook over high heat for 5min.
12. Add the salt and balsamic and continue cooking for another 5-10min over high heat, stirring occasionally.
13. For the pasta, bring salted water to a boil. Once it boils, add the tortellini (carefully, one by one) and boil until they rise to the surface. I leave them for another minute once they have risen.
14. Mix with the tomato sauce and serve hot. Enjoy!

Ricotta tortellini prepared with the Imperia SP150 pasta machine