Recioto: What to serve it with? Tortelli di Zucca! Recioto della Valpolicella is a rich, sweet Veronese wine that Roman aristocrats eagerly sought out 2000 years ago. It's popularity has waned of late in favor of Amarone, but it remains one of the finest accompaniments for cheeses one could think of, especially soft piquant cheeses along the lines of Gorgonzola, which generally clash with the tannins of red wines. Another option is sweet foods...
Prep Time: 90 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Ingredients:
- For the filling:
- 2 1/4 pounds (1 k) squash (butternut in the absence of Italian squash, though you could also try pumpkin,
- and a friend uses sweet potato)
- 4 ounces (100 g) amaretti (almond macaroons)
- 4 ounces (100 g) raisins
- 4 ounces (100 g) mostarda (a traditional fruit preserve with mustard; you'll find a link to a recipe below)
- 2 cups (100 g) grated Parmigiano
- Salt
- A little (1/8 teaspoon or so) freshly grated nutmeg
- For the pasta:
- 3 cups (350 g) flour
- 2/3 cup (100 g) semolina
- 4 whole eggs
- 1 tablespoon milk
- For the sauce:
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 2 cups freshly grated Parmigiano
Preparation:
Maureen Fant recently enjoyed ravioli di zucca (ravioli with a squash filling, which is rather sweet) in a restaurant in Modena, and the chef suggested she try Recioto as an accompaniment. It worked, she said, very well, and she thinks that Recioto will also work well with other sweet dishes, for example risotto alla zucca, dishes that have lots of carrots, and perhaps dishes with onions that are cooked slowly enough that they caramelize, imparting sweetness.
As for Tortelli di zucca, they're one of Mantova's signature dishes and date to the 1500s, according to the authors of Sua Maestà il Raviolo (a fascinating book put out by Slow Food), who go on to say that the dish subsequently faded from favor, to return to prominence following the introduction of other kinds of squash from the Americas (if you are not in Italy, butternut squash will work quite well as a substitute for Italian squash in recipes calling for zucca, squash). Tortelli di zucca are common throughout the Province of Mantova, from the hills of the Apennines to the flatlands around the Po river, and there are many variations to the filling; as a general rule the squash is cooked first, pureed (people adopt various strategies to remove excess moisture at this point), and then mixed with mostarda made from apples or pears, mustard, amaretti, Grana cheese, and nutmeg; some also add raisins or grated lemon zest.
Shapes vary too; though the basic shape is a half moon, on the left bank of the Mincio River they're square, on the right bank of the Secchia river they're shaped more like tortellini, and towards the Province of Cremona they're shaped like candy wrappers.
The cooking is pretty much standard, boiling in salted water for a few minutes, then arranged in a tureen, seasoned with the sauce of choice and grated cheese, and left to rest for a few minutes before being served. The sauce? Melted unsalted butter and cheese without so much as a hint of sage for purists of Mantova. Elsewhere one can also find tomato sauce: with lard in the Viandese area, with salamella sauce (sausages to be cooked) along the Mincio, with sliced onions around Porto Rusco, and with minced celery towards Reggio Emilia.
Having said all this, the recipe: To serve four you'll need the ingredients listed above. Begin by cutting the squash into pieces and roasting it in the oven until it's fork-tender.
While it's cooking, grind up the amaretti, and mince the raisins. When the squash is done, trim away the rind and put the pulp through a food mill, or blend it. Then combine the pulp with the amaretti, raisins, cheese, and a hint of nutmeg; mix well. Cover the filling with a damp cloth and let it sit in a cool place for several hours.
During this time prepare the pasta, by making a mound of the flour and semolina on your work surface. Scoop a depression in the center of the mound, crack the eggs into it, add the milk, and then mix the ingredients to obtain a firm dough that you will want to knead quite well, for 10-15 minutes or more. When you are ready to make the pasta, roll the dough out dime-thin (about 1 mm) and cut it into 4-inch (10 cm) squares. Put about an inch-diameter (2.5 cm; a little more than a tablespoon) ball of filling in the middle of each square and fold the squares over the filling, tamping down along the edges to make them stick.
While you're making the tortelli, bring abundant water to a boil, and then salt it. Cook the tortelli for a few minutes, (one usually figures until they rise to the surface, though I prefer to taste one to make sure the dough is cooked; it should be al dente) and then remove them with a strainer, since they're delicate and would break if you poured the pot into a colander to drain them. Put them in a serving dish, sprinkling them with melted butter and grated cheese as you go, and serve, with a Recioto. Allegrini's is quite nice, and readily available.
As for Tortelli di zucca, they're one of Mantova's signature dishes and date to the 1500s, according to the authors of Sua Maestà il Raviolo (a fascinating book put out by Slow Food), who go on to say that the dish subsequently faded from favor, to return to prominence following the introduction of other kinds of squash from the Americas (if you are not in Italy, butternut squash will work quite well as a substitute for Italian squash in recipes calling for zucca, squash). Tortelli di zucca are common throughout the Province of Mantova, from the hills of the Apennines to the flatlands around the Po river, and there are many variations to the filling; as a general rule the squash is cooked first, pureed (people adopt various strategies to remove excess moisture at this point), and then mixed with mostarda made from apples or pears, mustard, amaretti, Grana cheese, and nutmeg; some also add raisins or grated lemon zest.
Shapes vary too; though the basic shape is a half moon, on the left bank of the Mincio River they're square, on the right bank of the Secchia river they're shaped more like tortellini, and towards the Province of Cremona they're shaped like candy wrappers.
The cooking is pretty much standard, boiling in salted water for a few minutes, then arranged in a tureen, seasoned with the sauce of choice and grated cheese, and left to rest for a few minutes before being served. The sauce? Melted unsalted butter and cheese without so much as a hint of sage for purists of Mantova. Elsewhere one can also find tomato sauce: with lard in the Viandese area, with salamella sauce (sausages to be cooked) along the Mincio, with sliced onions around Porto Rusco, and with minced celery towards Reggio Emilia.
Having said all this, the recipe: To serve four you'll need the ingredients listed above. Begin by cutting the squash into pieces and roasting it in the oven until it's fork-tender.
While it's cooking, grind up the amaretti, and mince the raisins. When the squash is done, trim away the rind and put the pulp through a food mill, or blend it. Then combine the pulp with the amaretti, raisins, cheese, and a hint of nutmeg; mix well. Cover the filling with a damp cloth and let it sit in a cool place for several hours.
During this time prepare the pasta, by making a mound of the flour and semolina on your work surface. Scoop a depression in the center of the mound, crack the eggs into it, add the milk, and then mix the ingredients to obtain a firm dough that you will want to knead quite well, for 10-15 minutes or more. When you are ready to make the pasta, roll the dough out dime-thin (about 1 mm) and cut it into 4-inch (10 cm) squares. Put about an inch-diameter (2.5 cm; a little more than a tablespoon) ball of filling in the middle of each square and fold the squares over the filling, tamping down along the edges to make them stick.
While you're making the tortelli, bring abundant water to a boil, and then salt it. Cook the tortelli for a few minutes, (one usually figures until they rise to the surface, though I prefer to taste one to make sure the dough is cooked; it should be al dente) and then remove them with a strainer, since they're delicate and would break if you poured the pot into a colander to drain them. Put them in a serving dish, sprinkling them with melted butter and grated cheese as you go, and serve, with a Recioto. Allegrini's is quite nice, and readily available.
