Name: Tortellini stuffed with mortadella and lovage sauce
Prep time: 30 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: serves 2 people
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 200 g all-purpose flour; 2 eggs; 120 g mortadella sausage (cut on small chunks); 150 g cottage cheese or ricotta or mascarpone; salt, pepper; 1 handful of fresh lovage (or parsley or coriander); 50 ml vegetable oil; 50 ml olive oil; 100 ml milk; 2 tbsp yogurt or buttermilk or sour milk; 3 baby zucchini

Tortellini stuffed with mortadella and lovage sauce

First thought: Oh gooosh, this is the perfect date night dinner. Yup, these treats look like they are super complicated with tons of fancy ingredients like mortadella and lovage, but honestly, these tortellini take 30 minutes of prep and 20 minutes of rest in the fridge. That’s it. Pretty quick to make. Plus, this is also a great starter for a celebratory dinner - your dinner guests will be so impressed. So what are these tortellini all about? Originating from Italy, tortellini are a basically a stuffed pasta. You can stuff them with bolognese sauce or cheese, but we created a rich Mortadella (sausage from Italy) and cottage cheese (ricotta and/or mascarpone will work too) filling. The sauce is simple, but the addition of herb oil makes all the difference. We used lovage because it creates a lovely, herbal balance, but coriander or parsley oil will work too.

Ingredients

Tortellini stuffed with mortadella

200 g all-purpose flour

2 eggs

120 g mortadella sausage (cut on small chunks)

150 g cottage cheese or ricotta or mascarpone

salt, pepper

Lovage sauce

1 handful of fresh lovage (or parsley or coriander)

50 ml vegetable oil

50 ml olive oil

100 ml milk

2 tbsp yogurt or buttermilk or sour milk

3 baby zucchini

Tools and equipment

bowl

stand mixer (optional)

immersion blender

fine sieve

pasta machine

saucepan

kitchen knife

METHOD

Pasta dough

In a large bowl (or in a bowl of a stand mixer) combine all-purpose flour and eggs. If you don't have a stand mixer you can knead this dough by hand on a lightly floured working surface. Knead on low speed for about 5 minutes or until the dough is nice and elastic. Place the dough into a plastic bag and place in the fridge for at least 20 minutes (or up to two days).

Tip

The basic pasta dough rule is: For every 100g of flour, add one egg.
Mortadella stuffed tortellini

Add mortadella sausage, cottage cheese (or for an ever creamier texture mascarpone and/or ricotta) to a bowl or a jar. Season with salt and pepper. Using an immersion blender blend the mixture until smooth and tasty. Set aside until needed.
Herb oil

Prepare the herb oil for the sauce. Blanch lovage (or parsley or coriander) and put it into into a large jar with vegetable oil and olive oil. Blend using an immersion blender. Strain through a fine sieve to get rid of any excess lovage leaves. Set aside until needed.

Tip

To blanch, add lovage (or coriander or parsley) to a pot of boiling salted water. Cook for about 30 seconds, then remove immediately and place it to a bowl filled with ice cold water to stop the cooking process.
Roll out the pasta dough

Get your pasta machine ready and lightly dust a clean working surface. Remove the pasta dough from the fridge, cut it in half, use one half and store the other one in the plastic bag until needed, this way you will prevent the dough to dry. Roll out the dough using a pasta machine Set the pasta machine at its widest setting (usually nb.1) and roll the lump of pasta dough through it, fold the pasta in half and repeat the process until you get to number 5 (second to highest number).

Tip

If the pasta starts to stick, light dust your working surface.
Make tortellini

Cut circles (about 9 cm / 3.5 inch in diameter). Place one teaspoon of filling in the middle of each round of pasta. Dip your kitchen brush in the bowl of water and run it along the edge of the round to moisten. Fold the dough over to form a half moon, then draw the two corners together to form a tortellini shape. Seal tightly.

Tip

At this point you can freeze your tortellini for up to a month.
Prepare the sauce and cook tortellini

Pour milk and yogurt (or buttermilk or sour milk) into a saucepan. Place on the stove, season with salt and pepper and bring the mixture to a boil. Then remove from the heat and add about a half of lovage oil, stir to combine. Cook the tortellini in a boiling salted water for about 2 - 3 minutes.
Serve

Thinly slice the baby zucchini. Serve tortellini stuffed with mortadella with thin zucchini slices and your lovage sauce. Optionally add some freshly grated parmesan cheese. Enjoy.