Fusilli with Asparagus and Squaquerone

This Italian first course is prepared with asparagus and squaquerone, two traditional Italian food that I use here in order to prepare delicious pasta based first course. The preparation of this Italian recipe is easy: the asparagus are simply cooked with some onion, water and sprinkle with salt and black pepper. Then I divided them in two parts and I reduced one of them in cream, I put the two parts together and I added to them the squaquerone. Squaquerone is a traditional Italian cheese, from Emilia Romagna where it is usually use as the main Italian food of Piadina. It has a very soft consistency ans for this reason it can be mixture very well with other Italian ingredients.


INGREDIENTS (for 4 people):
320 g of Fusilli
200 g of Asparagus
100 g of Ham steak cut in squared pieces
300 g Squaquerone (an Italian fresh cheese)
1 / 2 Onion
4 Tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

PREPARATION TIME: 10 minutes

COOKING TIME: 20 minutes

WINE: Torgiano Chardonnay Doc (White Wine)

PREPARATION
Let salted water boil for fusilli. Clean the asparagus removing the woody part of the stem and cut them in pieces. Preheat the extra virgin olive oil in a pan, chop the onion and place it in the pan, let it brown



and then add the pieces of asparagus. Let the asparagus sauté for some minutes,



sprinkle with salt and black pepper then add some water and cook the asparagus for about 10 -15 minutes.



When the asparagus are cooked remove from the pan a half of them and mix them with the help of a mixer in order to obtain a sort of cream. Add to the asparagus in the pan the ham steak,



then add the cream of the asparagus and mix all together.



Add the squaquerone cheese and mix.



When the pasta is cooked pour on it the sauce of asparagus and serve hot.
This is the result:



BUON APPETITO!

Cappelletti with Broth

Cappelletti with broth is a typical Italian recipe that comes from Emilia Romagna, they are small squares or circle of pasta stuffed with meat filling. The elements that make this Italian dish so delicious are the preparation of a good stuffing, of good broth and of good dough. The simplest thing to prepare is the dough: you should simply knead together one egg for each 100g of flour; the preparation of dough is easy but a bit difficult if you use a rolling pin instead it results more easy if you have a pasta machine. Simple is also the preparation of the meat stuffing: it is important to use different type of meat, in particular meat of veal, pork, chicken, ham and mortadella that together with eggs and Parmesan allow you to obtain a so good stuffing for yours cappelletti. In the end another important element to have delicious cappelletti is the broth: prepare it with water, carrot, potato, onion, celery and a piece of veal meat called “Cappello del Prete” that is the piece of shoulder of the veal that is lean and with a long shape ideal roasted or boiled. It is better if you prepare the broth the day before so that during the night the fat part can deposit and solidify in the bottom of the pan, so the following day you can remove this part and obtain a more light broth. This Italian recipe is typically prepared the Christmas day in Emilia Romagna but I like to prepare and eat it also during all the year.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE DOUGH (for 12-14 people):
700 g of Flour
7 Eggs
INGREDIENTS FOR THE STUFFING:
250 g of Meat of veal
100 g of Meat of chicken breast
150 g of Meat of pork
1 Sausage
50g of Mortadella
100g of Ham
80 g Parmesan
2 Yolks
1 Egg
Salt
Nutmeg
Extra virgin olive oil
INGREDIENTS FOR BROTH:
1, 5 Kg of Piece of meat of veal called “Cappello del prete”
1 Onion
1 Carrot
1 Celery
1 Potato

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour and 30 minutes

COOKING TIME: 2 hour for the broth, 15 minutes for the stuffing, 10 minutes for cappelletti

WINE: Bosco Eliceo Fortana Doc (Red Wine)

PREPARATION
Start with the preparation of the broth: clean and peel the onion, the potato, the carrot and the celery, place them in a large pan with 2 liter of water, some salt and the “Cappello del prete” (piece of meat of veal), let them cook for about 1 hour and 30 minutes or 2 hour. Continue with the preparation of the stuffing: cut all type of meat (veal, chicken, pork and sausage) in small pieces

and place them in a pan with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, some salt and pepper, cook them for about 10 – 15 minutes.

In the meantime mince the ham and mortadella. When the meat is ready minced it with the mincer or with a chopping knife, let it cool and then add the minced ham and mortadella

together with the yolks, the egg, the Parmesan and some nutmeg.

Mix all together in order to obtain a homogeneous mixture like this

Now prepare the dough: knead the flour with the eggs


until you obtain homogeneous dough that you let stand for about 20 minutes.


After this time roll out the dough in order to obtain a thin pastry then cut it in small squares of 3,5 cm of side.


Place the stuffing in the middle of the squares, close the squares in half, close the pastry and join the points, give them the characteristic shape of cappelletti as shown in the picture below.



Let water boils for cappelletti then place them in it and cook for about 5 – 8 minutes.
img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="http://www.italian-food-recipes.net/images/cappelletti11s.jpg" alt="Cappelletti with Broth" border="0" />
Drain cappelletti and serve them with hot broth, place in a dish about 20 cappelletti for people and if you like sprinkle with some Parmesan.
This is the result:

BUON APPETITO!