Tortellini with a Tomato, Courgette and Truffle Sauce

A new year and a new pasta dish 🙂

We both love filled pasta and although it takes some time to make it is worth spending some time in the kitchen when the finished pasta is so good. We have been making our own pasta for a year now and homemade, fresh pasta is always so much better than bought pasta (even fresh pasta from shops). It is also so much fun to do together so, if you have the time, invest in a pasta machine and make your own 🙂

We used 2 different ways of folding the tortellini in this recipe and the inspiration for the second example is taken from the cookbook “Simply Italian, Cooking at Home with the Chiappa Sisters”.

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Ingredients Serves 4
Cooking time: 1 h 15 mins

• 300 g durum flour
• 4 eggs (1 for the filling)
• 125 g fresh spinach
• 50 g parmesan
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 tbs bread crumbs
• 15 vine tomatoes
• 1 courgette
• 25 g butter
• 50 ml cream
• truffle oil
• salt
• pepper

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1. To make the pasta, see the steps here.
2. To make the filling for your tortellini:
   1. Put 2 cloves of garlic, the spinach, 1 egg and the parmesan in a food processor and blend until it is finely chopped.
   2. Add the bread crumbs to the mixture and mix well.
   3. Add salt and pepper to taste.
      
3. Chop the courgette in small cubes.
4. Chop 2 cloves of garlic.
5. Fry the courgette and garlic in some butter in a frying pan for 5-10 mins.
6. Cut the vine tomatoes in smaller pieces. Add them to the courgette in the frying pan and fry for another minute.
7. Remove the frying pan from the heat while you do the tortellini.
8. Roll out your pasta sheets using a pasta machine or by hand.
9. Cut out 5 cm circles of the pasta sheets. (You can use a cup to do this.)
10. Don’t cut too many circles at once because they will dry out quickly.
11. Place a teaspoon of filling in each circle (if you have too much filling it will be difficult to fold the tortellini) and fold the tortellini as follows:
    1. Fold the circle in half to make a half-moon shape.
       2. Squeeze the edges together tightly and flatten the half-moon shape. If the dough is too dry to seal, put some water around the edge of the circle.
       3. Fold the two ends together to form a ring. Make sure you firmly squeeze the ends together,
       4. Fold down the top part of the tortellini to give it a nice shape.
       
12. You can also try to fold your tortellini in this way:
    1. Fold one side of the circle to the middle.
       2. Do the same thing with the other side. This side should slightly overlap the first side.
       3. Begin to pinch the circle together, starting at the end of the folded part of the circle.
       4.  Continue pinching the circle together all the way to the top.
       
13. Let your tortellini dry for 10 mins on a drying rack, that makes the tortellini hold its shape when you boil it.
14. Boil the tortellini for 3-4 mins in salted water in a large saucepan.
15. Turn on the heat again for your courgette and tomatoes.
16. Add some salt, pepper and truffle oil.
17. Add the cream and let it simmer on a low heat until your tortellini is ready.
    
18. Place some tortellini on a plate and add the sauce.
19. Serve with a light salad.
20. Enjoy!