We’ve been having a pretty active summer, but on some of these hot, hot days we’d much rather retreat to our kitchen and make something fun than go outside into the blazing sun. These are the perfect times to continue on with our new pasta-making hobby, and to that end we recently tackled a new shape. What we have here is cappelletti, another kind of filled pasta from northern Italy. It’s easy to confuse cappelletti with its more familiar cousin, tortellini, but these are specifically meant to be shaped like a little hat – that’s the literal Italian translation of the name – and you achieve this through a specific technique of shaping and folding. We were nervous this would be a difficult undertaking, but it turned out to be kind of easy and we got the hang of it quickly. And while cappelletti are often stuffed with a meat filling, we went with a good and appropriately seasonal corn filling. So follow along here to make this cool shape!
You’ll need:
- 00 flour
- 5 eggs
- Semolina flour
- 4 ears of corn
- Milk
- Ricotta cheese
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- Butter
- Pecorino Romano cheese
We would suggest making your filling while the dough is resting but before you roll it out (see below) and here’s how: measure out 3 tablespoons of ricotta and put into a food processor, then pulse for just a minute or so until the ricotta is thickened and shiny.
Now cut the kernels off your corn and put them into a pan along with 2 cups of milk. Cook over low heat for about 30 minutes, stirring every so often so the corn doesn’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan and the milk doesn’t boil. Then when the corn is tender take it out of the milk with a slotted spoon and place into a blender. Mix into a paste, adding 1-2 tablespoons of the milk as needed to make sure it’s not too thick. Pour the corn into a small bowl, place that into a much larger bowl filled with ice water, and let chill for 10 minutes.
Gently stir the ricotta into the corn, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it cool in your fridge for at least an hour.
To make your pasta dough, follow the first three steps here, except that you’re only going to roll the dough out to a 5 setting, and when you get to that setting send the dough through twice. Then set the sheets of dough onto parchment paper that’s been dusted with more 00 flour, and sprinkle 00 flour on top of the dough sheets as well.
Cut each sheet in half and lay them on a work surface. Take a 2 3/8-inch round cookie cutter and cut out as many circles as you can across the sheets.
Now take your corn filling and scrape it all into a gallon-sized zipper bag. Seal the bag shut and push all the filling into the bottom, then cut a 1/2-inch slit into one bottom corner to make yourself a piping bag. Place a dab of filling about the size of a large coin into the center of each circle.
Spritz the dough circles with a water from a spray bottle, then pick up individual circles and fold them in half. Use your fingers to pinch the half circle closed along the seam and push all the air out, then go back and pinch it again to make sure it’s closed securely and wipe away any filling that may have squished out.
Hold each half circle in the palm of your hand with the straight side down and use the thumb of your other hand to make a dimple in the center of the bottom, like so …
… then twist the corners around so they meet in the center and just slightly overlap. Press these corners together tightly so they don’t unstick themselves during cooking.
Repeat this for all the dough circles, and lay each one in a single layer onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper that’s been sprinkled with semolina flour. When all the cappelletti have been formed, dust everything with a little extra semolina on top, then let them chill in your fridge for an hour.
When you’re ready to eat, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add the pasta in and turn the heat down so the water is only simmering. You’ll want to cook the cappelletti for only 3 minutes, and while you’re waiting for the water to boil, warm 2 tablespoons of olive oil over low heat in a large pan. Slice 2 garlic cloves thinly and add to the pan, followed immediately by 5 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup of the water the cappelletti is cooking in. When the pasta is done, scoop it out with a spider strainer and add to the pan.
Turn the heat up slightly and carefully stir the pasta around in the sauce for just a minute or so, then take the pan off the heat. Now you can serve up the cappelletti topped with grated Pecorino and lots of pepper.
Honestly, cappelletti weren’t all that hard to make – they were certainly among the easier shapes we’ve tried. The technique is pretty simple to master, and it was fun standing in our kitchen filling and twisting each individual piece. The corn mixture inside was quite fitting for a summer meal, and the butter, olive oil, pepper and cheese make for a simple sauce that lets the cappelletti and their filling shine through. Next week we’re going to tackle another filled pasta, and we’re excited to share it with you!