Italian Food Recipes

This is a typical Italian recipe that comes from Mantua in the Northern part of Italy. This Italian dish is particular: indeed it is made of pumpkin that it has a sweet taste and with mostarda (pickled candied fruit in a spicy syrup) that it has a hot taste. For this reason this recipe has a bittersweet taste. This dish is also a typical Italian recipe of the Christmas period in particular it is prepared in the occasion of the Christmas Eve.








INGREDIENTS (for 6 – 8 people)
FOR THE DOUGH
500 g of Flour
4 Eggs
Some warm water

FOR THE FILLING
500 g of Pumpkin
150 g of Mostarda of pears from Mantua (pickled candied fruit in a spicy syrup)
100 g of Macaroons
Some nutmeg
1 / 2 Lemon peel grated
Some breadcrumbs

FOR THE DRESSING
30 – 40 g of Butter
10-12 Sage leafs

PREPARATION TIME: 2 hours

COOKING TIME: 10 – 12 minutes

WINE: Lambrusco Mantovano (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the filling. Peel the pumpkin, cut it in pieces, place them in a pan with some water and let them cook for about 15 minutes or until they become soft.

Drain the pumpkin, place it in a bowl and reduce it in pulp.

Then chop the mostarda and the macaroons, add them to the pumpkin
together with the lemon peel grated, a pinch of nutmeg, salt pepper and some breadcrumbs.

The filling is ready non let it stand for about 1 hour and 30 minutes
In the meantime prepare the dough. Place on a floured worktop the flour as a fountain, add in the middle of it a pinch of salt, the eggs, and some warm water and begin to knead.


Knead until you obtain homogeneous and elastic dough. Cover it with a towel and let it stand for about 30 minutes.

Let salted water boil for tortelli. After 30 minutes roll up the dough with a rolling pin to a sheet of thin thick.

Cut the pastry in rectangles of 10 cm, put in the middle of them a teaspoon of the filling


and close them folding in half and sealing the edges with a fork.


When all the tortelli are ready cook them for about 10 – 12 minutes in the salted water. In the meantime place in a pan the butter, sage leafs and let the butter melt.

Drain them with the help of a skimmer in order to not break the tortelli. Place 5 – 6 tortelli in a dish and pour on them some butter and sage. Serve hot.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!