Stuffed Pasta: Tortellini and Cappelletti

Tortellini are the pasta of Bologna and the subject of one of the most earnest origin myths in Italian cooking: they are shaped, it is said, to resemble the navel of Venus. Whether this is true or apocryphal, the shape is ancient and specific — the dough sheet must be cut into exact 3–4cm squares, each filled, folded, and wrapped around the finger to produce the characteristic ring. A correctly shaped tortellino seals without any gap; a poorly sealed one opens in the cooking water.

Emilian stuffed pasta — tortellini (from Bologna), cappelletti (from Romagna and Ferrara), tortelloni (the larger form) — is the highest expression of the Italian pasta tradition and the preparation for which Hazan has the deepest reverence. The filling must be made fresh, the pasta must be thin enough to be translucent, the shapes must be sealed perfectly (a leak means the filling escapes into the cooking water), and the pasta must be cooked in a genuine brodo — not water, not bought stock.

The tortellini in brodo pairing is the Italian culinary canon's most celebrated marriage of pasta and liquid. Hazan's position: the pasta exists to carry the filling; the brodo exists to provide the medium in which the pasta and filling flavour is most purely experienced. A cream sauce on tortellini obscures the point of the preparation.