Parsley and ricotta tortelloni. Recipe of Bologna

This is the recipe for ricotta tortelloni, a dish deeply rooted in the culinary tradition of Bologna and the surrounding area. While tortellini is the holiday dish, ricotta tortelloni, like cappelletti romagnoli with cheese, respected the Catholic Church's precepts of a meatless menu on the days of Eve and Lent. The recipe has been registered…

ByMonica20 May 20240Comments

Cheese Christmas COURSES INGREDIENTS OCCASIONS RECIPES Soups Sunday Lunch

Cappelletti romagnoli with cheese recipe

Filled pasta evokes memories of rituals and traditions that belong to my family history. Maybe it is that the Holiday season is coming, or it's the passing of time that is to blame, but I admit, for the past few years since mid-November onward, I have started to make stock pots and tons of fresh stuffed…

ByMonica27 November 20230Comments

COURSES First Course OCCASIONS RECIPES Sunday Lunch

Homemade dried porcini mushrooms pasta dough

I associate the memory of the first taste of some foods among the keenest gastronomic moments of my life. For example, with oysters, it was a disaster. They were exceptionally high in quality and fresh, but my palate and stomach expressed a different opinion. The experience with porcini mushrooms was of the opposite sign. I was with…

ByMonica6 November 20230Comments

COURSES First Course RECIPES

From Ferrara. Pumpkin cappellacci pasta

I often tell you stories and tastes of the Via Emilia, the road of Roman origin that runs through Emilia-Romagna from Piacenza to Rimini. Anyway you should know that my region also has another main highway, less busy and quieter but just as significant, the Po River. Significant Italian gastronomes and writers have written about the…

ByMonica26 October 20230Comments

Ingannapreti con salsa affumicata al pomodoro e mascarpone

COURSES First Course RECIPES

Sorpresine with smoky tomato and mascarpone sauce

Sorpresine (little surprises), bugie (lies), or inganna-preti (deceive-the-priests) are some names to indicate the same kind of pasta shape that looks like it should be a filled pasta, but forget the filling because it is without the filling. In fact, sorpresine are little squares of pasta dough folded twice to resemble tortellini or cappelletti without the…

ByMonica11 October 20230Comments

COURSES First Course RECIPES

Tuna tortelli with tasty olives sauce

I kept a memory related to food for almost every vacation I did. In some cases, it is connected to the purchase, in others to the preparation, or, finally, to the tasting. Recently, I asked my husband to share three-holiday food memories, excluding Sunday and Christmas lunches. Then I, too, answered the same question. We found…

ByMonica3 August 20230Comments

COURSES First Course OCCASIONS Sunday Lunch

Creamy zucchini and basil lasagna

I remember the taste of that creamy zucchini and basil lasagna from when I was a child. Grandma created this dish from just a few eggs of pasta dough and zucchini from the garden, which she cooked slowly with lots of basil until they were almost mushy. It is a summer and vegetarian version of lasagna.…

ByMonica28 June 20230Comments

COURSES First Course RECIPES

Tortelli di erbetta recipe from Parma to celebrate St. John

This is a traditional recipe from the city of Parma and the small towns surrounding it. Tortelli di erbetta features delicate fresh pasta rectangles filled with ricotta and sweet chard. On the evening of June 23, the eve of the feast of St. John the Baptist in Italy, people in and around Parma celebrate by dining…

ByMonica23 June 20230Comments

Stuffed tortelli with salame rosa, cheese, and sage pears

Bologna Food COURSES First Course OCCASIONS RECIPES Sunday Lunch

Stuffed cappelletti with salame rosa, cheese and sage pears

About stuffed cappelletti and failures in the kitchen. I am a home cook, and my teachers have been the grandmothers, aunts and azdore who frequented my home kitchen. Often the teaching was unintentional. In most cases, I learned through what I saw and the molecules of scented particles I breathed in. The kitchen and I I cooked, for…

ByMonica10 May 20230Comments

COURSES First Course RECIPES

Butter and sage spoja lorda (stuffed pasta squares)

Spoja lorda (sfoglia lorda), which literally means dirty pasta sheet, is a fresh stuffed pasta typical of Romagna. The recipe is traditionally served in broth. From hence its second name: minestra imbottita (stuffed minestra). It is born as a dish to use leftover filling from other preparations. Here is the reason for the adjective dirty (lorda):…

ByMonica28 April 20230Comments