cappelletti pasta with kamut Recipe
cappelletti, winter delight of every Umbrian home
I have been keeping this post for one of those rare days when I have enough time in my hands. I wanted quiet and concentration to explain in sufficient detail what might be one of the best pasta recipes in the world. To tell you that cappelletti, the Umbrian diminuitive version of tortellini, is pasta Nirvana.
Well. We are snowed in. We have no car because it has seriously broken down just before the storm. Most of Italy is under the snow so the replacement parts will not be arriving for a while. The rare phone call is of friends wanting to know if we are all right. The next shop is 8 km downhill on a windy road presently covered by ice and almost a foot of snow. We are not going anywhere.
The term cappelletti, means little hats. In Umbria they are generally made for Christmas. I know families who make a few thousands of them and keep them in the freezer to enjoy during the winter months. They are better served in a chicken or capon stock. However, I am not opposed to a dressing of truffle shavings in olive oil or a good porcini sauce.
In my quest of wheat free alternatives, I have made these cappelletti with organic kamut flour also named khorasan. The recipe works as well, if not a little easier, with regular flour. To choose the right type of flour, please make sure to read my flour tips here.
To freeze, place them individually on floured plastic trays until hard, then transfer into sealed bags or tupperwares so you can scoop as many as you need. Boil in plenty stock or salted water for 3 min. slightly less if fresh.
Recipe
For the filling
- 120 gr / 4 oz. each of ground turkey breast, lean beef and pork
- 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
- 60 gr / 2 oz. each charcuterie boiled ham, mortadella, grated Parmesan
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- a pinch nutmeg, salt, black pepper
Heat a shallow heavy-bottomed pan, add two tablespoon olive oil and saute the ground meats on medium-high heat until just starting to brown. If you cook the meat too slowly it will release liquid, loose flavor and feel like sawdust.
Increase heat to maximum, deglaze with white wine, season with salt, nutmeg, a pinch of black pepper and set aside to cool.
In a food processor, pulse the cooked meat, ham, mortadella and grated Parmesan until finely ground.
For the pasta dough:
3 eggs
300 gr kamut flour (khorasan)
3 tablespoon olive oil
Using the ingredients above, make my food processor pasta dough and roll it into thin sheets using a pasta machine. Cover the sheets with a cotton tea towel. Kamut pasta sheets dry quickly and tend to break, so you need to work faster than when using regular flour.
Now follow the instructions in the photo captions below. Click on one of the picture to start the slideshow.
place a small amount of filling over the sheet
note the rustic texture of the kamut pasta
fold over making sure that the edges are even
cut around the filling with a circular 4 cm / 1.5 ” stamp
to obtain half moons
turn the half moon around your finger
pinch the tips to close the little hats
ready! perfect cappelletti must be tiny
This recipe makes 350 cappelletti. You will need about 25 per person, so you either have a feast or freeze 3 heavenly family dinners for 4 and 1 tete a tete.
kamut cappelletti on the left, wheat cappelletti on the right