Broccoli, Gorgonzola Tortellini with Walnut Brown Butter Sauce

I’m so excited to share this recipe because it truly is summin’very special.  I feel I perfect it a little each time and I love the way this is using seasonal ingredients and making them shine.  You could swap the gorgonzola for ricotta as well if you fancied or even the broccoli for peas.  Basically once you have this down, you can play around with the filling.  Whatever you do, make sure the filing tastes amazing and is well seasoned.

Note: I used a pasta machine for this, this is the make I recommend.  I also made my tortellini with a 8cm cutter.

Serves 2-3 (makes 19-20 tortellini)

Vegetarian

For the tortellini:

100g 00 flour / pasta flour

1 medium egg and 1 medium yolk

Pinch of salt

(1/2 tbsp semolina flour for dusting)

For the filling:

100g broccoli, blanched for 3-4 mins (about 80g uncooked)

10g grated @granapadano , plus extra for garnish

1/4 tsp nutmeg 

Zest of 1/2 a lemon

1/4 garlic clove, grated

60g gorgonzola (dolce)

Salt and pepper

For the walnut sauce (enough for 2ppl) :

100g unsalted butter

60g lightly toasted walnuts

Topping:

1 tbsp olive oil

6 sage leaves

X2 handfuls frozen peas

Start with the pasta dough.  Add the flour and salt into a bowl and make a well in the middle.  Crack the eggs in the middle and save the leftover egg white to use to seal the tortellini later.  Use a fork to beat everything together and bring it into a ball.  When it starts to come together, tip dough out onto a surface and start to knead it together.  Work for about 1-2 mins until the dough is smooth and well mixed.  Cover with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.

For the filling, roughly chop up the blanched broccoli and then add this to a blender.  Blend for a few seconds to break it up to quite a fine consistency but don’t let it go mushy.  It needs to be fine and remember it needs to fit in a small tortellini. No chunky bits!  Add the broccoli to a bowl and add the rest of the filling ingredients being sure to really disperse the grated garlic.  I used the back of a spoon to squash the gorgonzola and mix everything into a paste.  Taste to check the seasoning.  Chill until needed.

Remove the dough out of the fridge and very lightly dust a surface with semolina flour.  Half the dough and keep one half in clingfilm and back in the fridge. Setup the pasta machine and on the biggest setting roll out the dough a few times.  I fold the dough and pass it through the biggest setting about 4 times.  Try and get the dough the width big enough for the pasta cutter/or glass.  Then continue rolling out the dough decreasing the size after each go.  Get the dough to 7/8 setting (basically pretty thin).  Start cutting circles of about 8cm (You can use a glass or mug if you don’t have a cutter) and then spoon a small teaspoon of the filling into the middle of each circle.  Use the leftover egg white and use your finger to brush the edges of half the of each circle with egg white.  This will help seal the tortellini.  Pick up one of the pasta circles and bring the two edges together into a half moon shape.  Squish the edges together and try to avoid any air bubbles.  Sit the flat edge on your index finger, wrap one pointy edge round your finger and then fold the second edge around the first sealing them together.  Gently remove your finger. This should make a little hat shape.  Place this in a tray lined with baking parchment dusted with semolina and continue with the rest of the circles.  When finished with the first batch, make sure none of the tortellini are touching. Place the tray in the fridge and continue with the second dough.  Cover them with a sheet of baking paper to avoid condensation.  These will keep for 2-3 days in the fridge or you can freeze them.

For the brown butter, set a small saucepan to a medium to high heat and add the butter.  Let this melt down and then turn colour from yellow to a light golden brown.  It will start to bubble and turn down the heat a little.  It is ready when you start to smell a hazelnut smell around 3 minutes depending on the heat.  At this point, you can quickly remove from the heat and into a blender.  Add the walnuts and blend for about 10 seconds to break up and create an emulsion. It should be smooth but with a few walnut bits for texture.  Season with salt and pepper.

Add a spoon of olive oil to a frying pan and when hot, add the sage leaves laying flat into the pan.  Fry for about 30 seconds on either side and then transfer to kitchen roll to crisp up. 

Put peas in a bowl and pour over with boiling water.  Leave for 1 mins and then drain.

Set a pan of salted water to boil on high.  When boiling, add tortellini and cook for 1.20 mins.  Carefully drain the pasta and mix in with the sauce.  Plate up with peas, crispy sage, a drizzle of olive oil, salt, pepper and a last grating of Grana Padano.