Disclaimer: This post is a paid partnership with Pastalinda. Like everything that we recommend on our blog, we use and love their products, and hope that you will too!
The Story
We’re back, and we’re better than ever! After a lengthy cookbook-related creative hiatus, I’m so excited to share with you one of our most delicious recipes yet. South America has always been one of Pasta et Al’s most enthusiastic audiences, so I jumped at the chance to test out a gorgeous Pastalinda machine, with our Argentinian-inspired take on the classic tortellini in brodo.
This dish is built on the flavours of the Argentinian locro, a hearty stew of meat and vegetables. We’ve combined these elements with our unbeatable bone broth, producing a clear stock of beef, chorizo, butternut pumpkin, and baby corn. After straining, those ingredients are combined with a punchy chimichurri, forming the filling for our tortellini. Finally, our pasta dough is made in two parts, one with floral pink peppercorns, and the other with classic, warming black peppercorns.
The Machine
Pastalinda dates back to 1930s Milan, where their first factory was established, before they moved manufacture to Argentina in the late 40s. They’ve been producing these high-quality machines ever since. And I’m a huge fan. I could go on about how useful the extra width of the machine is, or how smoothly it turns, the thoughtfulness of the combined thickness and cutter mechanism, the handy double clamping options, or the huge range of colours. But instead, I’m just going to say: look at this gorgeous machine! I’m in love.
So now Pasta Sunday is half making pasta, and half dancing around the kitchen admiring this thing. We couldn’t resist also giving the cutter and drying rack a spin, and they didn’t disappoint: beautiful ridged fettucine or sharp tagliolini, and a fantastically engineered stand.
I will point out that this beautifully decorated Tango model was a special gift to Pasta et Al. It’s not currently sold outside of Argentina, but the exact same machine is available internationally in a wide range of single colours.
The Broth
Now, almost exciting as our new machine, is what we’re making with it. You might remember our famous pressure cooker bone broth, so dependable that it also features in our book. Well, this week we’ve adapted that to include flavours from the Argentinian locro.
Begin by roasting your beef bones for about 20 minutes at 200 degrees Celsius. We’ve gone for a mix of joint bones for that collagen goodness, and marrow bones for flavour. While they’re in the oven, sauté the butternut pumpkin, baby corn, chorizo, pancetta, leek, onion, and garlic. Toss in the whole spices for another few minutes, then add the bones, vinegar, and paprika, filling with enough water to cover everything (depending on your pot, probably around 2 litres). Pressurise and cook on a low heat for 3 hours. Make sure that you let it cool for up to half an hour before depressurising the pot, to avoid a face full of delicious but scaldingly hot broth.
Lift or strain out all of the big chunks, then pour the broth through a damp double-folded cheesecloth, or similar. Retain all of the meat and veggies, as they are going to be our filling! Note that you should get a bit of extra meat off the bones.
Once cool, cover and refrigerate overnight. You should then be able to scoop the fat solids off the top with a slotted spoon first thing in the morning, before pouring yourself a superb cup of brekky bone broth. You can either hold on to that fat to use for cooking, or discard.
The Pasta
Our dough this week is half pink peppercorns and half black peppercorns. You can of course do all one, or neither, but we find that the pink pepper has a light, floral flavour that nicely contrasts and balances the heat of the black.
Crush the peppercorns, divide your other dough ingredients into two benchtop wells, and then mix and knead your two doughs, one with each type of pepper. 10 minutes kneading, then seal in cling wrap and rest for 30. Remember to keep it out of the sun and away from any heat.
While the doughs are resting, blend all of the chimichurri ingredients together, then add in the roughly 400 g of meat and vegetables that you should have been able to retain from the bone broth. If it seems too dry, add a splash of broth or water, if too wet, try a little breadcrumbs. Once smooth, load it into a piping bag with a medium round tip.
Next, roll out your doughs, gradually stepping through to a medium-thin thickness, before cutting into squares. Pipe a small grape-sized amount of filling into the centre of each square, and then form into tortellini. My favourite method is to first form triangoli, sealing around the filling, then give it a little poke in the inner side. I then twist them around my thumb, drawing a little from underneath to produce its little tortellini belly. Overlap and pinch the outer points against your thumb, then pop free. You can find a short video tutorial on our Instagram profile here: Pasta et Al Tutorials: Tortellini.
To cook, drop them into salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes, or until they’re still firm but with no raw white dough visible when the dough is cut into. Spoon directly into the broth, and optionally top with a load of grated pecorino.
Buon appetito!
– Al, Al, and El.
Ingredients
Bone Broth
- 1.2 kg beef bones
- 2 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- 200 g butternut pumpkin roughly chopped
- 200 g baby corn
- 100 g chorizo thickly sliced
- 80 g pancetta thickly sliced
- 1/2 leek roughly chopped
- 1 small onion roughly chopped
- 5-6 cloves garlic peeled and whole
- 2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp black pepper corns
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp paprika
- 2 litres water approximately
- Salt to taste
Pasta Dough
- 250 g plain flour
- 150 g 00 flour
- 4 eggs
- 1 tbsp olive oil extra virgin
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tbsp pink pepper freshly cracked
- ½ tbsp black pepper freshly cracked
Chimichurri and Meat Pasta Filling
- 400 g meat and vegetables retained from the bone broth
- Small handful parsley roughly chopped
- 3-4 cloves garlic peeled
- 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 red chilli
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- Salt to taste
Instructions
Bone Broth
- Heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and then roast the bones on an oven tray for 20 minutes.
- While the bones roast, use the olive oil to sauté the pumpkin, baby corn, chorizo, pancetta, leek, onion, and garlic, on medium heat, in the pressure cooker pot. After 15-20 minutes, with the pumpkin softening and some browning occurring, drop in the cumin seeds and black peppercorns; stir for another 2-3 minutes,
- Add in the bones, vinegar, and paprika, and then enough water to submerge everything. Depending on your pot and the shape of your bones, this should be approximately 2 litres. Be sure to not fill your pressure cooker beyond 2/3. Salt to taste, and then seal. Cook pressurised, on a low heat, for 3 hours.
- Allow the pot to cool for 30 minutes before depressurising. Then lift out all meat (including any that comes off the bones) and vegetables, retaining. Strain the broth through a cheesecloth and, once cool, cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Scoop the solidified fat off the top of the broth and either retain to use for cooking, or discard.
Tortellini
- Begin by measuring out and forming two wells of the dry pasta dough ingredients, with half of the flour, eggs, oil, and salt in each. Add the ground pink peppercorns to one, and the ground black peppercorns to the other. Bring each together into a separate shaggy mass, and then knead for 10 minutes. Lightly wet your hands if the dough seems too dry, or add a little flour if too wet.
- Seal in cling wrap and rest for 30 minutes, away from sun and heat.
- While the dough rests, prepare the filling. Into a food processor, add the roughly 400 g of meat and vegetables retained from the bone broth and all other filling ingredients, and blend. If it seems too dry, add a little bone broth or water; too wet, add a small amount of breadcrumbs or grated hard cheese.
- Once smooth, load into a piping bag with a medium round tip.
- Next, separate the dough into 4 lumps, and then roll through the machine one at a time, keeping the others sealed until required. Begin by passing it through the thickest setting a few times, folding over itself in between passes, before stepping through to a medium-thin thickness.
- Cut the pasta sheets into squares of 4-5 cm, and then pipe a small grape-sized dollop of filling into the centre of each.
- Fold into triangles and seal around the filling. Take one outer corner between your thumb and index finger as you roll the centre point of the triangle forwards towards your wrist. Wrap the other corner around your thumb, overlapping it with the held corner, and press together against your thumb to complete.
- Drop into a large pot of boiling, salted water, and cook until still al dente but without any raw white dough showing when the pasta is cut into; 3-4 minutes.
- Serve in the warmed broth; optionally top with grated pecorino.
For the Pink and Black Pepper Tortellini with Pumpkin, Corn, Chorizo, and Chimichurri, in Locro Bone Broth recipe, I don’t know what is the meat🤔? is it the beef in the bone that you used or is it another meat?🤔, love you past machine ♥️ (that is the color I’m taking about) and also the tortellini look wonderful too🎃🙂🎃
Thank you. Yes, it’s mostly the meat that comes off the bone, plus the chorizo and pancetta. Butchers will often leave a bit of meat attached to the bone because it’s too hard to get it off, but the pressure cooking will lift it free. If you don’t get enough off the bone though, you can just add more of the strained vegetables.
This dish is an absolute flavor explosion! The pink and black pepper tortellini are perfectly cooked and provide a delightful contrast to the rich and hearty locro bone broth. The addition of pumpkin and corn adds a touch of sweetness and a wonderful textural balance.