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Old Place, New – carb-loaded! – Soul Food |
 When I stumbled over this recipe in one of my (German + apple-themed  ) cookbooks, I immediately had this scene before my Inner Eye:Vince Romano, my novel/story series' MMC has arrived to surprise FMC Laura with... nah, HUGE spoiler!  BUT: the following day is Laura's bestie Agnieszka = Aggie's wedding day, when she marries her boyfriend, Marek at Munich town hall (in Germany/Europe the civil – as opposed to the church – wedding is the "valid" wedding. The other is just religious fluff in the eye of the law  ).Vince, who thought the wedding would happen two days later on the weekend (which the church wedding does) now is the wedding crasher who doesn't even have a gift.  From what he finds in Laura's stock he whips up these, in Aggie's favorite color, and with the help of his sister, Elena, who lives in Munich with her family, and is guest to Aggie's wedding, too. Unfortunately, not only Laura, in whose flat they go to work, but also the bride surprise them when they come in on the look for Ellie. Lots of happy tears threaten... until lo chef waves them off, sniffing telling them they shall cry outside.  Bloody heck, I always cook SUCH inspiring stuff, eh?  But, as I never tire to say, Food is an own character in my stories. Wanna surprise someone not only for their wedding, too?  Then let's get to the kitchen. It'll take some time, BUT: the Puglia is decanted, and a nice playlist on the phone. Serves: 3 main courses à 10 tortellini. That's a whole plate. Prep Time: 2.5 hrs (me) ; 1.5 hrs (recipe) Guess experienced Italians do all that in half an hour Degree of Difficulty: Tedious but SO worth it And it's the easiest thing for them  WE NEED TORTELLINI 300 gr / 10.6 oz. flour type 00 That's traditional Italian pasta/pizza flour, to get in a Deli; if you absolutely must, white flour's okay, too, but mind that especially US white flour is highly polluted with pesticides.  If that's your choice, mix 5.3 oz. each of flour + semolina 1 tsp salt 120 ml / 4 US fl.oz. red beet juice Organic quality when you get it, and un-processed/-flavored/-etc.! 1 egg M-sized 1 tbsp oil Used olive oil, extra vergine FILLING 100 gr / 3.5 oz. gorgonzola 100 gr / 3.5 oz. cream cheese Not Philadelphia, which doesn't contain cream cheese at all , neither here in Europe, nor in the US! Oh, and UN-processed, -flavored1/2 middle-sized apple I used Granny Smith, like that fresh green sourness.  SAUCE 2 garlic cloves (1/2 small red onion Not in the recipe, but needed to be used up. ) 1 twig thyme 1 twig rosemary 2 tbsp olive oil extra vergine 100 ml / 3.4 US fl.oz. dry white wine Wanted: Pinot Grigio; got: Chardonnay 200 gr / 7 oz. whipping cream salt pepper GARNISH Parmesan, grated (from the wedge) Only Parmegiano Reggiano as you only then get a real, quality-assured product 1/4 apple, grated finely use up the Granny 1/2 lemon, finely zested WE DO 1. TORTELLINI: Mix pasta flour + salt, add red beet juice, egg + oil, and, for 5-10 minutes knead them into a smooth dough with your hands. I started off with the kneading hooks of my electric hand mixer, and continued with my hands after everything had loosely assembled. Add some flour when it's too gooey. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 2. FILLING: Crumble the Gorgonzola into the cream cheese – so it's easier to=> – Stir them together with a whisk. Wash (hot!), dab dry, quarter + deseed the apple and grate – or blitz – it into the cheese mix. Halve two apple quarters, so you have four slim slices. Now grate/blitz them, and add them one by one. I, for example, only needed 3, means not the whole apple half. That's so because the filling may become too liquid because of the apple's juice, which would threaten the pasta's integrity! Put the filling into the fridge. 3. MAKING: portion-wise roll out the dough about /2-3 mm / 1/10 in thin on a lightly floured work surface. I just used the pasta flour. Also, I divided the dough into 3 portions à 180 gr / 6,5 oz., storing the respective rest in the fridge until use so it didn't dry out. With a cookie cutter / glass cut out 8cm / 3,14 in circles. Place about 1/2-1 tsp filling in the middle. Prepare a bowl / glass of water, in which you barely wet your finger tip and moisturize the inner rim. Then fold the circles into half-circles, thoroughly pressing together the rims, so the filling doesn't spill out. At the thickest point, wrap the half-circle around your index finger. Again, moist the endings pointing at each other and squeeze them tight.  =>  =>  Repeat until you have about 10 tortellini, which you "store" on the lightly floured work surface while you bring a large pot of water to the boil. 4. SAUCE: finely chop garlic(/onion). Wash + shake dry thyme + rosemary and finely chop them. Heat the olive oil in a pot and sauté garlic(/onion) until translucent on middle heat. Deglaze with the wine. After 1 minute, add whipping cream + herbs. Simmer for 5 minutes then season to taste with salt + pepper. 5. COOKING: amply salt the pasta water (just before it boils), then lower the tortellini portion-wise (3-4) into the pot with a skimmer and cook until they float upwards. Recipe says 1-2 minutes, but go with the float, even if it takes longer. Only then, they're done. Also fish out any pasta floating with the skimmer as some are done quicker than others, and these become overdone if you leave them in the water until they're ALL are finished. "Store" / drain pasta on a plate while you  6. PREPPING: grate/blitz a quarter apple. Wash (hot), dab dry and finely zest the lemon. Ladle sauce onto the plates until the base is covered. Then place the tortellini in it. Almost only sprinkle a ladle-load onto them so they're drizzled but still visible (COLOR!). Then sprinkle apple + lemon onto them and grate parmesan on top. Buon Appetito + Guten Hunger!     |
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