Turmeric Tortellini Aglio e Olio
Continuing with my series on making beautiful naturally colored pasta, we now land on a color that best represents lemons, sunflowers, and McDonald’s. I, of course, speak of yellow.
Making naturally yellow pasta isn’t as daunting as one might seem, in fact when you use whole eggs in your pasta dough it does give off a slight yellowish hue, but that’s not what I’m here for. I wanted to figure out a way to tint my pasta even more yellow for an even brighter color palate.
Now, there are ways to achieve such a pleasant yellow color. You could use saffron, if you have about $16 to shed, golden beets should also help you out, but I just did beets for red so I wanted to stay away from that, so the only real option is turmeric. A member of the ginger family, turmeric is best known for an earthy, spicy flavor as well as giving off a vibrant yellow hue to anything it goes into from curries to flatbread.
So, the plan is to make a turmeric pasta dough, but I think I will also add a touch of semolina flour to help enhance that color even more. and you know what? I’m in the mood for some kind of stuffed pasta today, so I will be doing a beautiful mini pork tortellini that will be bursting with flavor, and since I don’t want to mask the beautiful flavors I have going on, I will be preparing this in the classic garlic and oil combination known as Aglio e Olio.
I think that the fruity olive oil and sweet garlic flavor will pair beautifully with the earthy turmeric. Let’s get into it!
Serves 4
For the Turmeric Pasta:
200g (7oz) 00 flour or all purpose flour, plus more for dusting
200g (7oz) semolina flour
4 large eggs
1 tsp ground turmeric
Salt, for the cooking water
For the Tortellini Filling:
1 1/2 oz prosciutto
4oz mortadella
4oz ground pork
1 1/2 oz finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp salt
A dash of freshly grated nutmeg
For the Aglio e Olio
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
8 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp chili flakes (Or more if you like it spicy)
Grated Parmigiano, for topping
Combine both flours and dump into a mound on a clean workbench. Make a well in the middle, then add the eggs and turmeric. Use a fork to beat the eggs and slowly incorporate the flour until the dough thickens. Switch to your hands and, using a bench scraper to help you out, bring all the ingredients together to form a loose dough. (See note 1)
Knead the dough on a floured surface for a few minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour if it’s too sticky. Cover the dough with an inverted bowl, then leave to rest on the counter for about 20 minutes.
To make the filling, grind the prosciutto and mortadella in a mini food processor until finely chopped. You’re not making a paste, more looking for a ground pork texture. Add this to the remaining filling ingredients, then stir to combine.
Cut the dough into 4 pieces, dust each piece with flour then, working with one piece at a time and keeping the rest covered, use a rolling pin or pasta roller to roll the dough out into very thin sheets, starting with the widest setting on the roller then working your way down one notch at a time.
Cut each dough sheet into 1-inch square, then put about a 1/2 teaspoon of the pork filling into the center of each square. Pick up each square, then fold two of the corners together to create a triangle shape. Squish the ends together to press out the air and seal the pasta around the filling. Wrap the two sideways pointing ends around your pinkie finger, then fold the top corner down. (See note 2)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a simmer.
In a wide frying pan, heat up the olive oil, garlic and chili flakes over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Don’t turn up the heat or you’ll risk the garlic burning.
Meanwhile, lower the tortellini into the simmering water and let them cook about 3 minutes, or until the tortellini float to the surface of the water. (See note 3) Steal a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water and add that to the pan with the oil as soon as you see the garlic turning brown.
Drain the tortellini, then add to the pan with the oil and garlic, toss to combine, then cook for another minute to let the oil mixture coat the pasta just right. Then you’re ready to serve, topping with cheese.
Notes
The faster way to make your pasta dough would be to blend all the pasta ingredients in a food processor, but I love doing it by hand. It’s up to you and up to how much time you have before dinnertime.
Making fresh tortellini is quite labor intensive, especially so if you’re planning on feeding a large crowd, but you can always freeze any tortellini you make in advance and simply boil them as you would when using store bought tortellini.
Since the filling went into the tortellini raw, it is going to take a bit longer to cook then, say, a fresh cheese tortellini.
