Pear & Pecorino Tortelli
Pear & Pecorino Tortelli
If you’ve been to Florence during the autumn/winter seasons, then you hopefully got to taste the magical combination of Pear & Pecorino. These flavors are filled into in a stuffed pasta shape served with melted butter from a local region and decadent grated cheese. Pear and Pecorino is such a beautiful pairing, I like to add toasted walnuts that impart a nice bitterness to compliment the flavor of the sweet, in-season pear. I used Abate pears for this recipe, but feel free to use any variety of pear local to you if you can’t find Abate.
I happen to love sweet and savory flavors together, and if you enjoy that as well, then this fresh pasta recipe is right for you.
Pear & Pecorino Mise en Place
Pear & Pecorino Tortelli
Serves 2
Ingredients:
1 to 2 pears
100 grams (1 cup) ricotta
¼ cup (30 grams) grated pecorino, plus more for plating
1 tablespoon (5 grams) grated parmigiano reggiano
50 grams (1/3 cup) walnuts, toasted & chopped
Butter
Egg dough: 200 grams flour, 2 eggs
Salt to taste
Method:
Peel, core, and dice the pears. Place the pears in a small saucepan, and sauté on medium heat for about 8 minutes until the pears are soft and can be mashed. When mashing, just use the back of the spoon. You can mash the pears for a coarse texture or use an immersion blender to blend them smoother. Let them cool, add half cup of the ricotta, some of the grated pecorino and parmigiano reggiano. Season with salt to taste and mix well. Continue to check the taste and make adjustments as needed, by adding salt or additional grated cheese. If the mixture’s consistency is on the liquid-y side, add more ricotta. The filling should be thick and not watery. Place your filling into a piping bag.
When you’re ready to roll out tortelli, grab your piping bag, a spray bottle or small bowl filled with water, a pasta cutter and your pasta machine. Start out by rolling a half portion of dough out with your Atlas Marcato 150 pasta machine from level 0 until you get to level 6. Lay your sheet flat and cut squares at about 7 cm (2.75 inch) apart. Then, pipe the pear and ricotta filling into the center of each square. To shape your tortelli, fold in half diagonally to get the 2 points to meet, squeeze the air out, then join the bottom two points. See here, for step by step instructions.
Place a large pot of water to boil to cook the pasta. When the water is boiling, season the with salt, add pasta and boil for 6 minutes. While the pasta is cooking, melt about a tablespoon of butter in a skillet pan. When the butter is melted, shut off the heat. Drain the fully cooked tortelli, and reserve some of the pasta water, add the pasta to the pan with the melted butter and stir to coat the pasta evenly. Add splashes of the pasta cooking water, and continue to stir. The pasta will end up with a nice, shimmery coating created by emulsification of the starchy water with butter.
Plate the pasta, add toasted walnuts and add more grated cheese to your liking.
