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Tortellini in broth

Traditional Bolognese tortellini featuring delicate hand-formed pasta filled with a rich blend of pork, mortadella, and prosciutto, served in crystal-clear beef and chicken broth. A labor of love that rewards with deep, comforting flavors.

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Nonna Maria
Nonna Maria's Tips

Tortellini in broth is tiny hand‑made meat‑filled pasta served in rich, clear meat broth, a festive Bolognese comfort dish centered on depth of flavor and delicate texture.

  • Adjust your filling so that pork loin, mortadella and prosciutto are in roughly equal proportions by weight, and increase the Parmigiano Reggiano to about one‑third to one‑half of the total meat weight for proper Bolognese intensity.

  • Roll the egg pasta dough as thin as possible, almost translucent, and cut into small 3 cm squares so the tortellini remain tiny and delicate in the broth rather than large dumplings.

Avoid

  • ⚠

    Cooking tortellini in aggressively boiling liquid, which can break them and cloud the broth.

  • ⚠

    Filling that is bland or under‑salted, lacking distinct Parmigiano and nutmeg notes.

Ingredients

0/17 gathered
Serves 4

11 oz Type 0 flour

3 whole Eggs

4 oz Pork loin

4 oz Mortadella

4 oz Prosciutto crudo

5 oz Parmigiano Reggiano PDO cheese

1 whole Eggs

Fine salt

Nutmeg

4½ lb Beef steak

½ whole Hen

1 whole White onions

1 whole Carrots

2 ribs Celery

17 cups Water

Cloves

Salt

Preparation

0/12 steps
1
Begin filling 12 hours ahead. Cut 100g each mortadella, prosciutto, and pork loin into chunks, removing any hard edges. Grind through medium plate into bowl. Add 150g grated Parmigiano, 1 egg, salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg. Knead thoroughly by hand.
2
Grind mixture again through finest plate for smooth texture. Compact well, cover tightly, refrigerate 12 hours. After 8 hours, start broth: halve 1 onion, stud each half with 3 cloves.
3
Char onion halves in dry hot pan until deeply browned. Roughly chop 2 celery ribs and 1 carrot. Place ½ hen and 2kg beef in large pot.
4
Add vegetables to pot. Transfer charred onions from pan to pot using fork.
5
Add 4 liters cold water and pinch of salt. Bring to gentle simmer, cook 4 hours from boiling point. Meanwhile, make pasta: form 300g flour into well, add 3 lightly beaten eggs to center.
6
Mix with fork from center outward, then knead 10 minutes until smooth. Wrap tightly, rest at room temperature. Skim broth foam every 30 minutes.
7
Roll pasta extremely thin (almost translucent). Cut into 3cm squares. Place small amount of filling (size of a chickpea) in center of each square.
8
Fold into triangle, seal edges firmly. Wrap corners around index finger, pinch to seal into classic tortellini shape. Place on floured cloth-lined tray.
9
Remove all meat and vegetables from finished broth. Taste and adjust salt.
10
Strain broth into two pots: one for cooking (bring to gentle boil), one kept warm for serving. Cook tortellini in batches until they float (2-3 minutes).
11
Transfer cooked tortellini to bowls with skimmer. Ladle clear broth from warm pot over tortellini. Serve immediately.
12
Cook tortellini in boiling broth until they float. Transfer to plates with skimmer, add clear broth from warm pot.