At Christmas, the smell of caldarroste, roasted chestnuts, fills the squares and streets of Florence and encapsulates the joy of the festive season for many Italians. This delicious recipe, from Irene restaurant at Hotel Savoy, brings the rich, earthy aroma of the chestnuts together with creamy ricotta cheese in freshly made tortelli pasta, and served with a pumpkin cream.
Tasty and simple to make, it’s the perfect introduction to a Tuscan Christmas for all the family.
Serves 5-6
Ingredients
For the filling:
400g ricotta cheese
300g raw chestnuts
30 marjoram leaves
100g best quality Parmesan cheese
Olive oil, to taste
For the pasta:
400g semolina flour
200 g ‘00’ flour
15 organic egg yolks
2-3 organic whole eggs
20g olive oil
10g salt
For the pumpkin cream:
200g pumpkin, peeled and deseeded
Olive oil, to taste
Salt, to taste
Butter, to taste
Method
Begin by preparing the tortelli filling. Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Cut the chestnuts into quarters and roast them until they are fragrant and turn a deeper brown, this should take about 20 minutes. Then place the chestnuts in boiling water for half an hour.
Prepare a buerre noisette by cooking the butter in a saucepan until it turns a caramel colour, starts foaming and gives off a nutty aroma. Once the chestnuts are cooled, peel and chop them and add them to the browned butter. Then, mix the chestnuts together with the ricotta and the rest of the filling ingredients.
For the fresh pasta, combine all the ingredients together in a mixing bowl and knead until you have a smooth pasta dough. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and leave it to rest for 20 minutes.
To make the tortelli, roll the dough out into two thin sheets. Evenly space 20g balls of the ricotta and chestnut filling onto one pasta sheet before placing the other sheet on top. Carefully use your fingers to seal the pasta and remove any air bubbles, then cut it into squares, with the filling at the centre of each square. Allow to rest for a few minutes.
For the pumpkin cream, place the cubes of chopped pumpkin into a pan of boiling water. Once the pumpkin is soft, add it to a blender with the olive oil, salt and butter and blend until you achieve a smooth consistency.
Cook the tortelli in a pan of salted boiling water for about three minutes. Once cooked, serve on top of the pumpkin cream and sprinkle grated parmesan on top.
Enjoy more delicious Tuscan dishes that the family will love at Hotel Savoy’s Irene restaurant. For more information and reservations, call +39 055 2735891 or email irenefirenze@roccofortehotels.com
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