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The Story
If you want to light a fire in the pasta world, just ask someone what these little guys are called. Even the ravioli versus tortelli debate is easier to settle than this one. Manti, fagottini, ravioli, cofanetti, lanterne. Whatever you want to call them, they look great, taste fantastic, and are one of the easiest filled pastas to make.
Why not pause here and talk origins? There are so many fascinating histories behind Italy’s various types of pasta, but we normally only touch on regions and influences. Here’s an example of why we dance it around it. Our first posted pasta, fettuccine is a southern cousin to tagliatelle. If you were to ask me the difference, I’d say tagliatelle is a vaguely thinner version of fettuccine, as pappardelle is a wider version of it. But if you were to ask the Bologna Chamber of Commerce (bless them) they’d refer you to their solid gold display example of tagliatelle and its non-negotiable dimensions of 1x6mm. Everybody just be cool.
So anyway, fagottini. If you overlook the fact that any number of pasta makers could have independently folded their squares edge-to-edge for the ‘first time’, some of the earliest recorded examples of the shape are found in the Turkish manti (from ‘mantu’, simply meaning ‘dumpling’). This seriously delicious dish is made with a filling of lamb and onion and served with a yoghurt garlic sauce. In Italy, the shape is often referred to as ‘lanterne’, or sometimes described as a type of sacchettoni (though this more accurately refers to those cute little money-bag pasta with the round bottoms and twisted tops).
Drawing inspiration from good old Bologna and their penchant for tortellini in brodo, we served our fagottini with our delicious pressure cooker bone broth. Their firm texture is perfect with the silky clear broth, and they have an amazing concentration of flavour in their complex, cheesy, filling. Guilty of plating up beautifully and then burying under further grated cheese.
The Pasta
You should be pretty familiar with preparing pasta dough by now, but if not, check out some of our earlier posts like our spinach fettuccine or the dough instructions for our spinach ravioli. Essentially what you want is to combine the wet ingredients into the dry using the old familiar pasta well. Mix and then knead the ingredients together vigorously for 10 minutes, and then cover to rest for 30 minutes away from direct sunlight or heat.
Remember that the dough shouldn’t be sticking to your hands or the kneading surface. Any number of factors can influence this, from the size of your eggs to the humidity in the room. Assess whether it’s too wet early in the knead, and then if required add flour at a rate of no more than 1 tablespoon at a time.
This is another simple but delicious cheese-based filling. Just mix everything together with a fork until it’s creamy! To make life easier for yourself, use a piping bag with a medium-sized round tip. You can also use a teaspoon or your fingers, but it will slow you down and increase the chance of you getting filling all over the place.
Cut the dough into four pieces and then work with one at a time, leaving the remainder of the dough covered until required. After passing the dough through the thickest setting on your pasta machine a few times (folding over itself in between), step through each thickness setting until you reach 6. Then use a pasta cutting wheel or square cookie cutter to cut the dough into squares of about 60mm. If you’re not sure of how fast you can work, it might be worth covering some of these squares while you begin filling.
Place a small grape-sized dollop of filling into each of the squares, and lightly spritz a mist of water across the pasta. Bring the corners together in the centre, above the filling, and then seal the edges together where they meet. Transfer them to baking paper lined trays.
As with most of my pasta, I prefer to refrigerate these uncovered overnight before cooking. I just find that it improves the bite. Even half an hour makes a difference. Otherwise you can freeze them in a tray, noting that you may find the cheese filling becomes slightly granulated by doing this. To prevent sticking, leave them on the tray until frozen, and then transfer into smaller freezer containers.
If you’re after an ideal serving suggestion, try these with our pressure cooker bone broth! The combination of refined and silky broth with its subtle flavour, and the bitey fagottini with their punchy hit of four cheeses is just perfect.
Make it with care and love, and buon appetito!
– Al & Al.
Equipment
- Pasta roller and cutter (if not using a rolling pin and knife)
- Kitchenaid pasta roller and cutter attachment (optional, instead of manual cutter or rolling pin)
- Air tight container for resting
- Pastry/pasta cutting wheel
Ingredients
Dough
- 200 g 00 flour
- 100 g durum wheat semolina flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 45 ml water
Filling
- 200 g ricotta cheese
- 35 g grana padano cheese
- 35 g romano cheese
- 30 g gorgonzola cheese
- 1 egg
- pepper to season
- few sprigs parsley chopped
Instructions
- Mix the flours and salt together, and form into a well on a large chopping board or benchtop.
- Add the wet ingredients into the centre of the well, and use a fork to gently draw in and mix the dry ingredients.
- Once dough is holding together, knead vigorously for 10 minutes. Use a downwards and forwards motion to roll the dough over itself. Note that after a couple of minutes of kneading, the dough should not be sticking to the benchtop or your hands. If it is, add flour at a rate of no more than 1 tbsp at a time.
- Place into an airtight container or bag, and leave to rest away from direct sunlight or heat for 30 minutes.
- While the dough rests, use a fork to mix together the filling ingredients, until creamy.
- Divide the dough into four pieces, and store those not being worked on back in an airtight container. Roll it out into sheets using either a pasta machine or rolling pin. If using a machine, make sure that you pass it through on the thickest setting a few times (folding over itself in between passes) before stepping up to your desired setting. For this pasta, we recommend a setting of 6 on the manual machine.
- Using a straight-edged pasta cutting wheel or square cookie cutter, cut the dough into squares of approximately 60mm.
- To fill, use either a piping bag with medium round tip, or teaspoon. Add a small grape sized amount of filling into the centre of every square.
- Lightly spritz a mist of water across the pasta. Bring the corners together in the centre, above the filling, and then seal the edges together where they meet. Transfer them to baking paper lined trays.
- Transfer to baking paper lined trays and chill uncovered in the refrigerator overnight. These are best served within a day of making them; you can freeze them, but may find that the cheese mixture becomes a little granular.
- To cook, bring a large pot of water to the boil, add a pinch of salt, and cook until no white is left in the dough when the pasta is cut. If you’re looking for the perfect dish to serve this with, try out our pressure cooker bone broth recipe!
