Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a fun (and food) filled New Year’s Eve and I wish you all the best for 2014!!! Today I want to celebrate the beginning of the new year with a special recipe. We had these on Christmas Eve and they were a huge hit. Every year we have some kind of stuffed pasta and we try to vary both the shape and filling… so this time, I thought of making something similar to tortellini, but big – about 5 inches – and roundish. I filled them with a hearty sausage, porcini and potato stuffing and served them with a porcini and cream sauce… they were amazing. Decadent, tasty, elegant yet rustic and hearty. They satisfied every palate in the family! I loved the fact that being big, they took less time to make than small tortellini and they looked impressive. Besides, the bigger the more stuffing! I suggest serving no more than 5 each, as they are filling. Enjoy and again, Happy New Year!
Cappellacci with Sausage and Porcini
How to make beautiful and delicious stuffed pasta: Cappellacci with Sausage and Porcini!
Ingredients
Filling
- 500 gms – 1.1 lbs. porcini fresh or frozen, cleaned and sliced
- 3 garlic cloves halved
- 400 gms – 1 lb. pork sausage with fennel
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 50 ml – ¼ cup white wine divided
- 2 tbsp parsley
- 4 medium potatoes boiled and roughly chopped
- 60 gms – 2 oz. Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Sauce
- Porcini Sauce
- 150 ml – ¾ cup heavy cream
- Parmigiano Reggiano finely grated
Cappellacci
- 2 eggs
- 200 gms – 7 oz. all purpose flour
Instructions
Filling
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Sauté the garlic in the extra virgin olive oil for a minute.
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Add the sliced porcini and mix well.
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Add half the white wine and season with salt. As soon as the alcohol from the wine evaporates, add the chopped parlsey and put the fire off.
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Remove 1/3 of the porcini sauce and all the liquid and keep it aside (you will use this for the sauce).
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Put the 2/3 of the porcini back on the fire, add the chopped sausage (casing removed) and sauté it until brown.
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Put this mixture into a food processor, add the boiled potatoes and roughly blend. Add the finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano and adjust the seasoning if required. Keep aside to cool down completely.
Cappellacci
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Make the Cappellacci following my tutorial on How to make Cappellacci.
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Sauce
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Put the remaining cooked porcini and their sauce in a big pan and add the cream. Bring to a boil, season with salt if required and put the fire off.
Assembling
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Cook the Cappellacci following the steps on “How to cook pasta al dente”. Only in this case you will not have a pre set cooking time. This will vary on the thickness of your pasta (it should take approximately a couple of minutes to cook if you have just made the pasta. If a number of hours have passed since you made the pasta then it would be slightly dry and could take between 10 to 12 minutes to cook). So, the best solution is to taste it! Remember, to check the joint, where your pasta is thicker. It does have to remain firm to be al dente.
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When the pasta is cooked, drain it and put it in the pan with the porcini and cream sauce. Add 3 tbsp of grated Parmigiano Reggiano and mix well on low fire for a minute.
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Serve hot with some thinly grated Parmigiano Reggiano on the top.
Wow. This is amazing. I am going to make this and will share with you my results!
Hmm, that really reminds me of the Jewish Kreplach, although obviously our filling is without any pork or Parmegiano (but I do remember having Kreplach filled with mashed potatoes and mushrooms some time ago). Great recipe, I should definitely give it go with the pork and all 🙂