Cappelletti Pasta In Broth Recipes

CAPPELLETTI PASTA IN BROTH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F. Put the duck bits in a large roasting pan and drizzle a little oil over them. Mix to coat, then salt well. Roast until nicely browned, about 45 minutes to an hour.
• Move the roasted duck pieces to a large stockpot, add the roughly chopped chicken or duck feet and cover with cool water by 2 inches. The reason you use feet in this stock is for their collagen, which adds a tremendous amount of body to the broth. A pig's foot will do the same thing. Bring the stock to a gentle simmer and cook for at least 2 hours, and up to 8 hours if you'd like. Do not let it boil.
• Add the vegetables, herbs and spices and simmer gently for another 90 minutes to 2 hours. Turn off the heat.
• To strain your broth, set a strainer over a large container and put a paper towel or cheesecloth inside the strainer. Ladle the broth from the stockpot into the large container through the strainer. Keep doing this until you get to the bottom of the pot. Do not pour the pot into the container and do not try to get the last inch or so of broth from the pot -- if you do this, you will cloud your broth, and a clear broth is what we are looking for.
• Chill the broth and set in the fridge. You can make the broth up to 5 days ahead of time before you need to freeze it.
• In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients and add salt to taste. Keep chilled until ready to use. You can make this a hour or two in advance.
• Get out a baking sheet and sprinkle semolina flour or cornmeal on it. This is for your completed cappelletti.
• Whisk together all the flours with the salt. Make a well in the center and crack the eggs inside. Using a fork, beat the eggs and then incorporate the flour until you get a shaggy mass. Get all the flour off the fork and switch to your hands. Knead the dough for 4 to 6 minutes, then coat with a little oil. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 1 to 2 hours on the counter.
• Cut the dough into 4 equal pieces. Start with one and leave the others under the plastic wrap. Roll the dough out thin; on my Atlas machine I go to No. 7, where No. 9 is the thinnest.
• Get a small bowl of cool water handy. Use a 3-inch circle mold, or a wineglass, to cut out circles of dough. Put about a teaspoon of filling in the center. Dip your finger into the water and moisten the top half of each circle. Fold the pasta into a half-moon and seal it.
• To make a cappelletto, moisten one sealed end of the half-moon with a little water. Fold both ends back towards each other, letting the sealed part on the top of the "moon" fold upwards. Press the ends of the "moon" together with your fingers to seal. Repeat until you're done.
• Bring to a simmer enough broth to feed everyone (the recipe makes more than a gallon, so you will have plenty). Drop the heat to its lowest setting to just keep the broth warm. Don't let it boil.
• Fill your largest stockpot 3/4 full of water and bring it to a boil. Add a palm's worth of salt to the water; you need more salt than you might think to cook pasta. The water should taste like the sea.
• Boil the cappelletti until they float, and then for 1 more minute. Arrange them in shallow bowls for everyone and ladle over the broth. Garnish with minced chives or parsley.

CAPPELLETTI ("LITTLE HATS" OF FILLED PASTA) RECIPE

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• In a small saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the chicken.
• Let cool and then cut into small chunks.
• Using a food processor or blender , combine the sautéed chicken, ricotta cheese, Parmigiano-Reggiano, whole egg, egg yolk, nutmeg, lemon zest (if using), and salt and pepper to form a fine paste. (If the ricotta is very soft, leave out the egg white and use just 2 yolks instead. If, on the other hand, the mixture is too stiff, add an extra egg yolk.)
• Gather the ingredients.
• Make a mound with the flour on your work surface and form a well in the middle.
• Crack the eggs into the center of the well and add the salt.
• Work the eggs and the flour together with your hands until you have a smooth dough , adding just a few drops of water, if necessary, and no more.
• Knead the dough for 10 to 15 minutes, until it is smooth, firm, and quite elastic. Don't skimp on the kneading or the dough will tear while you're rolling it out.
• Separate the dough into 2 pieces.
• Flour your work surface (marble countertops are ideal for this, though wood or Formica work as well) and start to roll out the dough, rolling out from the middle, flipping it over occasionally, and flouring it as necessary to keep it from sticking.
• Keep on flipping and rolling until you have a sheet that's almost transparent-as thin as a dime or thinner if you can manage it, as the pasta will almost double in thickness while cooking.
• Once you've rolled out a thin sheet of pasta on a well-floured surface, use a round cookie cutter (you could also use a round or square raviolo stamp or a fluted-edge rolling pasta cutter) to cut out 2-inch-diameter circles of dough.
• Place 1 level teaspoon of stuffing in the middle of each circle.
• Using your fingertip or a pastry brush , moisten the edges of the circle with a little water so they will seal.
• Fold the circles in half over the filling to form half moons, pressing down with your fingers to seal the edge.
• Then pull the two corners towards each other, overlapping one over the other, and press down on the tips to help them adhere together.
• Continue until all of the cappelletti are made.
• Boil the pasta in either broth or water for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how you'd like to serve the cappelletti, and serve.

CAPPELLETTI IN BROTH RECIPE

Steps:

• For the Filling Heat the olive oil over medium high heat in a sauté pan; brown the meat pieces well on all sides. Do this in batches if necessary; do not crowd the meat or it will not brown uniformly. As the pieces brown, remove them to a dish. Grind the meats together in a food processor or meat grinder until they are almost a paste consistency; transfer the meats to a large bowl. Stir in the egg, cheese, parsley, zest, nutmeg, and salt, and pepper. Mix well. Cover and refrigerate the mixture until ready to fill the pasta rounds. For the Dough Whirl the eggs and salt together in a food processor or whisk them together in a bowl. Gradually add the flour until a ball of dough forms that is not tacky or sticking to your hands. What you want to achieve is a smooth, not too dry dough or it will be difficult to seal the edges of the dough when forming the cappelletti. Knead the dough on a lightly floured work surface until it is silky and very smooth. Cut the ball into 4 pieces and work with one at time, keeping the rest covered. Flatten each piece with a rolling pin; run each piece through the rollers of a pasta machine to thin it out. Do not make it too thin or the filling will poke through the dough. If you can just see your hand when placed behind the sheet of dough, it is thin enough. Alternately use a rolling pin to thin the dough. I like to use a 1-inch square cutter to cut out the dough; re-roll the scraps to make more. Place scant 1/2 teaspoon of the filling in the center of each piece square, then enclose the filling, folding the square in half to form a triangle. Bring the two ends together and pinch closed with your fingers. If the dough will not seal, brush a little water or beaten egg white along the edges before sealing the dough. As you make the cappelletti, line them up on towel-lined baking sheets. Do not pile them on top of each other or they will stick together. Freeze them on the trays, and when frozen transfer them to heavy duty plastic bags. Take out as needed and cook them in boiling broth just until they bob to the surface. Ladle the cappelletti into soup bowls, add a thin slice of lemon, and sprinkle the top with Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.