Italian tortellini soup is a typical dish from Emilia, a region in central Italy. This traditional soup is one of the symbols of winter holidays, prepared especially in Bologna and Emilia Romagna but also in many other regions of Italy.

Italian tortellini soup, the perfect comfort food for a good winter lunch 

Imagine waking up on Christmas or New Year’s morning, still wrapped in your blankets and looking out the window, admiring the winter landscape, perhaps with snow falling. What would you like to be able to serve to your guests at the table? Definitely a hot, tasty and fragrant soup, which adds a touch of love and imagination to one of the most festive lunches of the whole year. Italian tortellini soup is a perfect choice, because they are rich in flavour, prepared with many fragrant ingredients and also beautiful to look at, especially if served in a beautiful ceramic tureen and on good service plates. And then they are a concentrate of high-quality Italian ingredients such as mortadella from Bologna, prosciutto crudo (for example Prosciutto di Parma) and Parmigiano Reggiano (or Grana Padano).

Italian tortellini, a simple recipe, to prepare in company 

Meat broth

Let’s start with the broth. Emilian tradition dictates that the broth is prepared with capon. Hen or perhaps a good free-range chicken that is not too fatty is certainly fine too. Alternatively, you can also prepare a mixed meat broth by adding some veal to the capon or chicken. A cut that is rich in connective tissue and not particularly valuable is fine, such as beef ribs brisket or muscle. Here are the ingredients for the broth for six people:

• Beef or veal ribs 2 kg
• Hen or capon 1 kg
• 2 White onions
• 2 Carrots
• 3 celery sticks
• Cold water 5-6 litres
• 2 Cloves 
• Salt as required
• Pepper as needed.

Let’s see together which are the steps for preparing a perfect broth.

1. Immerse the meat in cold water, addvcelery, carrots and onions. You can also immediately add salt and, if you like, a little pepper and one or two cloves.
2. Cooking will be long and slow, generally lasting about three hours and the water must never boil, but simmer. The perfect temperature for cooking a good broth is 95 -97°C.
3. However, remember one important thing, especially at the beginning of cooking, when the temperature has not yet risen too much, you will need to eliminate all the proteins and impurities that come to the surface. You will easily recognize the broth scum (a grayish foam), which can be easily removed with a slotted spoon or a fine mesh strainer.
4. Then, according to your preferences, you can also remove part of the fat that will deposit on the surface. It is easily recognizable because it appears as an oily stain separated from the liquid.
5. After three hours of cooking, remove the meat and vegetables, then filter the broth well to remove as much as possible all the impurities and residues of meat and vegetables. The objective is to obtain a clear broth.

Preparing tortellini

While the broth cooks slowly on our stove, we can dedicate ourselves to preparing the tortellini. Here are the ingredients needed for 6 people:

• Pork loin 150 g
• Mortadella 150 g
• Prosciutto crudo 150 g
• Parmigiano Reggiano or Grana Padano 180 g
• Eggs 1.5
• Salt to taste
• Nutmeg powder as needed
• Pepper as needed.

It is necessary to finely chop all the meat (like minced meat), the ham and the Mortadella, then knead the mixture obtained with grated Parmigiano Reggiano, salt and spices, finally bind everything together by adding the egg. At this point you can leave this stuffing to rest in the fridge while you prepare the egg pasta. Here’s a tip: if you can, prepare the stuffing the day before, it will become more compact and creamier and the flavors will mix perfectly, to create the typical aroma of the Emilian tortellini.

For the egg pasta sheet we knead three simple ingredients:

• 500 g of type 0 flour
• 5 medium eggs (about 270 g)
• A pinch of salt

Let’s see together the steps for a perfect egg pasta and how to form tortellini:

1. Pour the flour into a steel or glass bowl, create a well, i.e. a large hole capable of containing the eggs, pour in the eggs and salt.
2. Beat the eggs to combine them, then start kneading with a fork, mixing the flour and eggs. You will get some lumps of dough at the beginning, but don’t worry. When the dough begins to be too sticky and sticks to the fork, so much so that it becomes difficult to continue kneading, clean the fork and put it away.
3. Begin kneading with your hands until you obtain a more homogeneous ball of dough.
4. Now you can put the dough onto a wooden, silicone or steel pastry board and start kneading by making folds. The aim will be to make the dough elastic and quite hard, not sticky and of a nice orange color.
5. Once you have achieved this, wrap the dough in cling film tightly, then let it rest for 45 minutes in the fridge.
6. When you take the dough back from the fridge, you will need to sprinkle some flour on it and start rolling it out with a rolling pin or, better yet, with a pasta sheeter (as thin as possible).
7. Once you have obtained the sheets, cover them well with cling film, because they must absolutely not dry out.
8. With a knife or a specific pasta cutter for tortellini, cut out squares of dough measuring approximately 4 cm per side.
9. Place a ball of filling in the center of each square.
10. Close the squares, pressing all the sides well so that they must weld perfectly. You will thus form triangles. If the dough is too dry, lightly wet the edges with a little water. Then wrap the triangles around your finger and push the ends of the triangles together. You will get the typical tortellini shape.
11. Once all the tortellini have been formed, you can cook them directly in the boiling broth for about 3 minutes.
12. Serve piping hot and enjoy your meal!

You are ready to immerse yourself in this fantastic culinary adventure. If you want to discover other wonders of Italian cuisine, you can consult our article on ragù or discover the secrets of preparing ravioli.

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